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Deputy Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Minister, Mr Thomas Kwesi Quartey, has called for greater inter- sector collaboration among member-states of the Economic Community of West Africa Countries (ECOWAS), to speed up the development of the sub-region. He said it was important to also help the people to have better understanding of the benefits they stood to gain from the integration of the economies of the countries. Mr Quartey was opening a day�s sensitization workshop on enhancing public sector participation in the regional integration process in Kumasi, jointly organized by the Ministry and the Media Response, an NGO. About 30 participants made up representatives from Government, Ministries, Departments and Agencies, (MDAs), trade associations and journalists, were on hand to deliberate on topics, including �Overview of the ECOWAS regional integration unit,� �Functions of the ECOWAS national unit,� �ECOWAS regional integration process,� and �ECOWAS protocols on free movement.� The Deputy Minister underlined the need to quicken the harmonization of customs procedures, and the inter-state road transit regime, to allow the free movement of goods and services and customs revenue collection. He said while efforts were being made to promote free movement of goods and services, it was equally pertinent to develop the region�s production capacity, remove the constraints to improve quality of products, and maintain macro-economic stability. ECOWAS has adopted a priority road transport and transit facilitation programme to improve the competitiveness of the economies of member nations. The goal, he said, is to reduce multiplicity of official and unofficial check points, harassment and extortion of travelers, delays at road blocks and border posts, and axle load excesses. Countries sharing common boundaries were building joint border posts to tackle barriers to trade and traffic, he added. Mr Samuel Sarpong, Ashanti Regional Minister, in an address read for him, said it was good that sub-regional integration was receiving priority attention. This was critical to the fight against drug and human trafficking, terrorism organized and cross-border crimes. He noted that the promotion of sub-regional trade, industry and commerce hinged on cooperation and interaction not only among political leaders, but most importantly the ordinary citizens.