Regional Economic Integration Within The Economic Monetary Community Of Central Africa States:Challenges,and Prospects

The question of integration has always raised many research questions because it contains several forms of nuance.Concerning this thesis,we will focus only on regional economic integration.It must be said that since the advent of economic liberalization the concept of regional integration has developed in all spheres of the world especially in Africa.Hence,the multitude of regional and sub-regional economic communities grouping together countries sharing the same borders,interests,and culture.Currently,it seems necessary,for Africa and in particular for the countries of the Central Africa region to think of new strategies for reviving their economies prone to many challenges.Regional economic integration appears here as one of the best assets for meeting the various international,regional and national challenges which these countries suffer in trade.However,although some regional economic communities stand out positively,the member countries of the EMCCA,meanwhile,are struggling to have real economic impact in regional,inter-African and world trade.Furthermore,it should be recalled that the need to weave and consolidate ties of economic solidarity in Central Africa initiated long before independence.Indeed,in 1959,there was already the Equatorial Customs Union(ECU),which.brought together the Central African Republic,the Congo,Chad and then Cameroon,which joined in 1962.The other states,which also became independent,decided to join it and to set up,the first Central African integration organization called the Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa(CEUCA).Six countries in Central Africa were members,including Gabon,Equatorial Guinea,the Central African Republic,the Republic of Congo,Cameroon,and Chad.It is the Treaty of Brazzaville dating from 1964,which instituted the creation of the Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa whose goal was to promote economic development of these young states barely independent.However,structural,political,economic difficulties,the economic crisis of 1990,and so on.We are not long in coming and despite the efforts made and the internal restructuring implemented,the CEUCA did not manage to achieve the objectives set.It was a total failure.It was therefore urgent to create a new economic integration institution,deemed more modern and more concerned with new inte-regional ambitions in the face of the challenges posed by economic regionalization and the globalization of trade.It is with this in mind that the CEUCA will disappear to make way for the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa(EMCCA).The EMCCA was created in 1994,but the treaty instituting it came into force only in 1999.Made up of six border countries,they all have in common except for Equatorial Guinea colonized by Spain:France as a former colonizer and the use of the CFA Francs as currency.In several years of reforms and internal restructuring,this integration organization remains considered to be the "least integrated" of the African continent.However,one of these objectives is to make this region an integrated,emerging economic space,where solidarity and good governance reign by 2025.Does this objective achievable know that EMCCA is faced with many difficulties?Indeed,since its creation,it must be said that it has so far recorded very few satisfactory results in terms of inter-regional economic exchanges.Although the improvement in this economic performance over the years 2016 to 2019 recognized,closely linked to oil exports,its performance remains very weak and unenviable.To qualify it,some analysts use the terms "integration failure" because it is considered to be the "least advanced","least integrated" or even "least connected" integration from Africa.All these low-value denominations highlight the plurality of difficulties encountered by the EMCCA.Among them,there are problems related to oil,infrastructures(road,sanitary,electric and digital),political instability,insecurity at borders,corruption and so on.As many of the difficulties are within EMCCA,the causes linked to these challenges are also numerous.In this research thesis,it is not only a question of highlighting the difficulties and the causes of the weakness of inter-regional exchanges within the EMCCA,also proposing solutions and recommendations that will help these countries to explore new forms of cooperation because many areas are still unexplored.To achieve our goals,we used two research methods.First,we did a literature search on all kinds of old and new documents.The goal was to collect several data highlighting at first,the different challenges that the EMCCA face,then in a second time,this allowed us to determine the origins of their difficulties.Finally,with the help of the qualitative method,we analyzed and interpreted the results obtained,and make suggestions.Therefore,it is essential to see what extent Central Africa through the states of the EMCCA would benefit from having better visibility on the African and international scene,and would solidify at the same time its integration by promoting good economic profitability for the member countries and these populations.To achieve this,all economic areas without exception must collectively be explored.