The objective of this study was first to analyse the participation of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries in the global value chain. Then, an analysis was done of the export performance of these countries in value added trade through export competitiveness and sophistication. The results show that the participation of these countries in the global value chain is strongly driven by downstream integration, that is, exports of primary products. With regard to export performance in value added trade, the results suggest that the export basket of these countries is uncompetitive. The results also highlight the low sophistication of the export basket with a very high degree of heterogeneity between countries.
