After two days of intense deliberations (16 and 17 January 2010), the Presidents of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad, announced major decisions which will shape the future of the regional grouping. The most notable innovation is the decision to have the management of regional institutions to rotate, following the alphabetical order, amongst the six countries of the community. This measure concerns the CEMAC Commission, the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), the Central African Development Bank (BDEAC), the Banking Commission of Central Africa (COBAC), and all other specialised institutions.
This new measure was immediately applied to BEAC and BDEAC. The consensus of Fort Lamy, which confided the management of BEAC to Gabon was overturned, as Philibert ANDZEMBE, who was recently embroiled in several financial scandals was dismissed from the position of the governor of BEAC, in favour of Lucas ABAGA NCHAMA of Equatorial Guinea, who will have a mandate of seven years non-renewable. The president of the BDEAC, Anicet DOLOGUELE, was also removed in favour of Michael ADANDE of Gabon.
To enhance integration in the region, the headquarters of the future regional airlines, Air CEMAC will be in Brazzaville, the capital city of Congo. The president of the Commission, Antoine NTSIMI announced that the airlines will become operational in 2010. The CEMAC passport is also expected to be put in circulation this year so as to ease the movement of citizens within the region. The economic programme of the region (PER) was equally endorsed by the Heads of State who requested that it should be rapidly implemented.
During the summit, President Paul BIYA stood out as the wise man at the service of the region. It was also a moment of interaction with the population of Central Africa who have a lot of respect and affection for President Paul BIYA and Madam Chantal BIYA. The presidential couple had an enthusiastic welcome from the people of Central Africa and the Cameroonian community during the three days of the stay.
Upon arrival, President Paul BIYA had lengthy discussions with President François BOZIZE of CAR, President Denis SASSOU NGUESSO of Congo and the Chadian President IDRII DEBY ITNO. After the opening session of the summit on 16 January where they were joined by President Teodoro OBIANG NGUEMA of Equatorial Guinea and President Ali BONGO ONDIMBA of Gabon, they held closed session discussions before adjourning for the next day. Later that night, they took part at a gala organised by their hosts, François and Monique BOZIZE during which they had time to dance. The following day, the summit resumed with another long closed door session during which most of the decisions of the summit were taken.
The Heads of also had time to inaugurate a statute in honour of the late President of Gabon, Omar BONGO ONDIMBA, who had several times intervened to broker peace in the Central African Republic.
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