Abstract
Ever since, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was created on 28 May 1975, it has been promoting regional integration and economic cooperation as an instrument to accelerate the economic growth of the region of West Africa. The well acknowledged role of commercial blocks is virtually the promotion of trade growth and export expansion which allows member countries to sustain their economic growth. The main aim of this study has been the assessment of the real effect of ECOWAS on Côte d’Ivoire’s trade. This paper has employed a quantitative method analysis. The gravity model has been the main approach, to evaluate the linear relationship among the variables. The estimation encompassed data from 1998 to 2013 and 53 African countries were included. The overall finding suggests that, although the results indicate the positive relationship between the trade of Côte d’Ivoire and the ECOWAS region, the strong evidence to support the claim is insignificant.