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 On 17-19 November 2008, the African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC) and ECA's Trade Finance and Economic Development Division (TFED) contributed to a capacity-building seminar on the concepts and operating modes of regional integration instruments in Central Africa.
The seminar was jointly organized by ECA's sub regional office in Central Africa (SRO-CA) and Cameroon's Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development following an official request from the Cameroonian government. The objective of the seminar was to sensitize government officials and members of Cameroon's private sector, as well as civil society organizations, to the issues, challenges, opportunities, mechanisms and instruments related to regional integration in Central Africa. The seminar, which took place at the Hilton Hotel in Yaoundé, Cameroon, was opened by the Secretary General of Cameroon's Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development.
The seminar was attended by about 60 participants representing respectively the ministries in charge of economy and planning, commerce, tourism, posts and telecommunication, public works, agriculture and rural development, territorial administration and decentralization, small and medium enterprises and social economy and handicrafts, power and water resources, and transports. In addition, representatives from the National Statistics Institute, private sector, women entrepreneurs associations and academia attended the seminar.
The format of the seminar consisted of a series of interactive presentations within plenary sessions. The presentations covered the following modules: the establishment of the Central African common market, compensation mechanisms within ECCAS and CEMAC, regional integration financing mechanisms, rationalization of Regional Economic Communities issues, peace and security issues in Central Africa, Economic Partnership Agreement impacts in the context of Central Africa, Doha round negotiations issues in the African context, Central African transport programmes and energy programmes in ECCAS and CEMAC. The seminar was conducted by three experts from ECA and ATPC namely Mr. Abdoul Kane, Mr. Tidjani Chétima, and Mr. Ben Idrissa Ouédraogo.
The seminar was well received by the participants and contributed to strengthening their knowledge on the regional integration processes in central Africa. It was recommended that such an event should take place twice a year and be extended to representatives of customs authorities, as well as internal security and immigration departments. ECA recommended the establishment of a national commission on ECCAS and CEMAC to provide a framework for the coordination of national development strategies and Cameroon's regional commitments.
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