CEMAC
Under the chairmanship of His Excellency Idriss Deby Itno, President of the Republic of Chad, sitting chair of the Conference, the Heads of State of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) met in an extraordinary session on 31 October 2017 in N'Djamena, Republic of Chad.
The meeting was attended by H.E. Paul Biya, President of the Republic of Cameroon, H.E. Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, H.E. Faustin Archange Touadera, President of the Central African Republic; H.E. Clément Mouamba, Prime Minister, Representative of the President of the Republic of Congo and H.E. Emmanuel Issoze Ngondet, Prime Minister, Representative of the President of the Gabonese Republic.
In considering the items on its agenda, the Conference took note of the decision of Member States to open the CEMAC borders in keeping with the Additional Act No. 01/13 / CEMAC -070 U-CCE-SE of 25 June 2013 to abolish visas for all CEMAC nationals travelling within the community zone.
In order to help in the implementation of this measure, it has decided to authorise BDEAC to withdraw the sum of 1.7 billion CFA francs from the Community Development Fund (FODEC) to pay the balance owed to INTERPOL for securing the CEMAC borders. The Conference also instructed the CEMAC Commission to make all the arrangements for the establishment of secure posts at the borders in order to ensure that the benefit of free movement are enjoyed only by Community nationals. Additionally, the Conference urged member states that have not yet produced CEMAC passports to do so as soon as possible.
In the field of transport, the Conference adopted the Community Transport Policy in Central Africa by 2035. This Policy aims to "ensure the free movement of goods and persons between the countries of Central Africa through a transport policy covering all modes and components of the transport system for the sustainable economic and social development of the region". In this regard, the Conference decided to set up an ad hoc Committee of Ministers in charge of Transport to find ways and means of backstopping national airlines of the sub-region.
The Conference considered arrangements for reviving, within the CEMAC region, the consumption of community-made goods. Consequently, it instructed the CEMAC Commission to develop a list of products available in the area.
Concerning the merging of regional and national stock exchanges, the Conference decided to set the headquarters of the Regional Financial Market Regulator in Libreville and that of the Regional Stock Exchange in Douala. It designated the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) as the central depository.
The Conference recommended that States should exercise the greatest caution in applying the CEMAC common commercial policy instruments, namely the Common External Tariff (CET) and the Generalised Preferential Tariff (GPT), with a view to preserving the internal cohesion in order to maintain and improve the process of regional integration in Central Africa.
(Culled from Cameroon Tribune No. 11464 of 1 November 2017)