Start of the XXIIIrd Ordinary Session of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of ECCAS

Libreville (Gabon), June 20, 2023– The proceedings of the XXIIIrd ordinary session of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) got underway this morning in the Gabonese capital with a solemn joint opening ceremony for the meetings of the technical segments of the Specialized Technical Committee on Finance and Budget and the Specialized Technical Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs.

The ceremony featured two speeches: one by the President of the ECCAS Commission, His Excellency Gilberto Da Piedade Verissimo, and the other by the Acting Commissioner General for Regional Integration, Blaise Placide Olouba.

More than a plea for a stronger, more prosperous ECCAS, the speech by the President of the ECCAS Commission focused on the issues of the financing mechanism for ECCAS activities and the pursuit of institutional and organizational reform, with the establishment of Community bodies.

This is how Ambassador Gilberto Da Piedade Verissimo The achievement of the objectives set out in the revised Treaty establishing ECCAS…depends on the Community’s ability to mobilize the necessary financial resources”, he said, adding: “It is not possible to implement the ambition of integrating the economies and peoples of our Community space, in a way that will benefit the development of our States, if we are not in a position to assume, through our own resources, the financial cost of achieving our ambition”, end of quotation.

The Commission’s number one then referred to the eminently important nature of the deliberations of the Council of Ministers in February 2023, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, during which the Council of Ministers instructed the Commission to organize a regional workshop to speed up the establishment of the other Community institutions provided for in the revised Treaty, the revision of the remaining fundamental texts and the drafting of the necessary implementing texts.

In a similar vein, Placide Blaise Olouba, Acting Commissioner General of Gabon’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, deplored the fact that “our Community depends almost entirely on Technical and Financial Partners to implement its medium-term strategic plan. He then called for the constraints hindering the effective implementation of the financing mechanism (Community Integration Contribution) to be identified and ways and means found to overcome them.

After the opening ceremony, participants split into two technical segments: the Finance and Budget Specialized Technical Committee segment and the Justice and Legal Affairs Specialized Technical Committee segment.

The meetings are attended by experts from ECCAS member states and the ECCAS Commission.

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