On October 3, 1971, the Republic of Liberia and Sierra Leone established the Mano River Union (MRU). On 25 October 1980, the Republic of Guinea joined the union. On 15 May 2008, Côte d’Ivoire also joined the Mano River Union. The aim of MRU is to among other things:
- Intensify efforts for closer economic cooperation between member countries
- Expand trade by the elimination of all barriers to mutual trade
- Create the conditions favorable to an expansion of joint productive capacity
- Secure a fair distribution of the benefits from economic cooperation
- Accelerate the economic growth; social progress and cultural advancement of member countries
- Provide active collaboration and mutual assistance in matters of common interest in economic, social, technical, scientific, and administrative fields.
| Member State | Population | Imports/Exports | Exports | Imports | GDP per capita | GDP (PPP) | |
| Liberia | 5 million | Imports: Fuels, chemicals, machinery, transportation equipment, manufactured goods; foodstuffs Exports: Iron, diamonds, timber, rubber, cocoa, coffee |
$260.6 million | $1.166 billion | $867 | $3.960 billion | |
| Sierra Leone | 8 million | Imports: food products, machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels and lubricants Exports: Diamonds, cocoa, coffee and fish |
$839M | $1.3B | $1,400 | $4,000 million | |
| Guinea | 14 million | Imports: Machines, metals, textiles, and petroleum products Exports: Bauxite, alumina, gold, diamonds, coffee, fish, agricultural products |
$2.9B | $3.64B | $2,000 | 26.47 billion | |
| Cote d’Ivoire | 24 million | Imports: Crude Petroleum, Rice, Non-fillet Frozen Fish, Packaged Medicaments and Refined Petroleum Exports: Cocoa Beans, Rubber, Cocoa Paste, Cocoa Butter, and Refined Petroleum |
$11.74 billion | $9.447 billion | $4,177 | $43.032 billion | |