West African leaders have failed again to agree to open their economies to free trade with the EU over concerns that nascent industries couldn’t handle European imports.

Saturday’s regional bloc Ecowas summit had been expected to approve a stalled Economic Partnership Agreement after a decade of talks on the deal.

The summit in Ivorian capital Yamoussoukro came days before a meeting between African nations and the EU in Brussels.

Ecowas put the breaks on the pact over the import concerns two years ago but agreed in October to bring its rules into line with other EU free trade deals.

Saturday’s summit endorsed an agreement in principle but regional heavyweight Nigeria again voiced concerns that its industry couldn’t cope with tariff-free imports.

The bloc set a two-month deadline to eliminate the remaining areas of disagreement.

“We need to negotiate an EPA beneficial to our sub-region which will contribute to its prosperity,” said Ghana President John Mahama.

Under the EPA, the EU would offer 15-member Ecowas and non-member state Mauritania full access to its markets.

In return, Ecowas would open 75 per cent of its markets to Europe over a 20-year period.

Technical negotiations wrapped up last month with the EU offering a €6.5 billion (£5.37bn) package to help Ecowas shoulder the costs.