They met on Wednesday, 15 March 2023 at the BEAC headquarters in Yaounde, for the 39th ordinary session of the Council of Ministers of the Economic Union of Central Africa (EUCA). It was chaired by the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development of the Republic of Cameroon, Alamine Ousmane Mey, Serving Chairperson of the Council.
This 39th session of the Council of Ministers of the Central African Economic Union, enabled the Ministers in charge of financial, economic and integration issues of the Central African Economic Union (UEAC) to examine and prepare the dossiers that will be submitted to the decision of the 15th ordinary session of the CEMAC Conference of Heads of State, scheduled for 17 March 2023 in Yaoundé. Among the files examined is the issue of the principle of rotation. This is a mechanism to ensure a regular rotation of leadership of CEMAC Community Institutions among member countries.
This reform aims to strengthen the governance of the Community and to promote greater representativeness of the various Member States. The other issue discussed during this session was the financing of the Community through the CIT (Community Integration Tax). This is a critically important topic for CEMAC, which needs to find solutions to ensure more effective mobilization of the financial resources needed to implement community policies. The other issue that was discussed at length was the issue of the streamlining of the two communities. It is a reform aimed at strengthening economic integration within the Central African sub-region by capitalising on the achievements of the two existing communities (ECCAS-CEMAC) in favour of a single and more efficient Community.
As a reminder, the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, whose mandate is to ensure the harmonious development of its member states through the establishment of an economic and monetary unit, has been engaged since 2006 in a series of institutional reforms that have led to major changes in its institutional system, but also in its financing mechanism.
CEMAC institutional reforms became operational following the conclusions of the ordinary session of the Conference of Heads of State on 16 and 17 January 2010 in Bangui, Central African Republic. The Heads of State put an end to the Fort Lamy Consensus and introduced the principle of rotation, in alphabetical order of the Member States, at the position of major officials of all the bodies, institutions and specialised agencies of the Community.
This new organization of the Community, although having given a new impetus to the integration process, has not been able to eliminate all the challenges related to the governance of the Community. Likewise, serious difficulties persist in the Community financing mechanism. In addition to these challenges relating to the governance of its community institutions, the CEMAC zone is also facing the consequences of the multiple crises generated successively by the drop in oil prices, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian war.
It was in this context that the work of the 39th Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers of the UEAC was held, against the 15th Ordinary Session of the CEMAC Conference of Heads of State, scheduled for 17 March 2023 in Yaounde.
