The ECA Conference of Ministers established the Committee on Regional Cooperation and Integration as part of the new intergovernmental machinery of the Commission on 8 May 1997. The Committee was created to assume the tasks of the former Conference of African Ministers Responsible for Trade, Regional Cooperation and Integration and Tourism. The creation of the Committee took fully into account the role of similar organs of African organizations involved in the promotion of regional cooperation and integration.
Indeed, as requested by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) at its 1994 Session in Tunis, the reform of the institutional machinery of ECA was carried out with a view to harmonizing it with those of sister organizations, in particular the African Economic Community (AEC/OAU). In this regard, it was felt that the functions of the Conference of African Ministers for Trade, Regional Cooperation and Integration and Tourism would duplicate at policy making level, those of the Economic and Social Commission of the AEC which became operational in 1996. Such duplication was unlikely to take place with the creation of the Committee since the latter is only a subsidiary technical arm of the ECA Conference of Ministers aimed at facilitating the coordination of the relevant activities of the Commission with the other actors of the economic integration process in Africa. The first session of the Committee was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 27 to 29 April 1999. The second session also took place in Addis Ababa on 3rd March 2002.