They met on Monday 3 June 2024 at the Yaounde Hilton Hotel, as part of the meeting of the Unit of Experts of the Steering Committee on the Regional Economic Communities Harmonisation in Central Africa (COPIL/CER-AC). The purpose of this meeting was to prepare files to be submitted to the COPIL/CER-AC Council of Ministers scheduled for 6 and 7 June 2024 in Yaounde.

On 3 June 2024, experts from the 11 Central African countries and the implementing institutions and agencies of CEMAC, ECCAS and the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries) prepared the documents to be submitted to the 6th meeting of the COPIL/CER-AC Council of Ministers.
In addition to reviewing the progress of the process of restructuring the Regional Economic Communities in Central Africa (RECs), experts also reviewed the draft transition plan for the transition from the three Regional Economic Communities of Central Africa, namely the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) and the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (CEPGL in short), to the new Regional Economic Community of Central Africa. It was also an occasion to continue the review and validation of other texts governing the Bodies and Institutions of the new REC; to discuss issues relating to community training schools, the financing of COPIL/CER-AC, and the draft agenda of the Council of Ministers.
Opening the proceedings, the Minister Delegate at the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, representing the President of COPIL/CER-AC, commended efforts so far undertaken in Central Africa to rationalise the RECs, one of the major actions of which is the validation in August 2022 by the Council of Ministers of the draft constitutive treaty of the new REC. The Experts Unit has also validated the legal instruments of the structures that are to form the institutional backbone of the new CER, as well as certain measures such as the unification of the CEMAC and ECCAS free trade zones, the adoption of a Customs Code for Central Africa and a Common External Tariff. “This demonstrates how Central Africa is moving inexorably towards the ultimate goal of harmonisation,” Paul Tasong pointed out. The CEMAC Commission also welcomed this progress. Through its vice-president, Charles Assamba Ongodo, the institution invited the States involved in this process to prioritise progressiveness and build on the achievements of the existing RECs.
As a reminder, the harmonisation of the Regional Economic Communities in Central Africa is part of the overall process of strengthening regional economic integration adopted by the African Union, intending to create an African Common Market. The aim is to curb the phenomenon of institutional plurality in Central Africa (CEMAC, ECCAS, CEPGL), by setting up a single Community that is better structured and more efficient, through the harmonisation of integration programmes and instruments between States.