The Necessary Energizing of Regional Integration Agreements in Central Africa

Although leaders of central Africa have very well and very early understood the interest and the outreach of regional integration for the development of their countries by concluding Regional Integration Agreements (AIA) upon the independences of their countries, the effects of the agreements are not meaningful today. In fact, these agreements haven’t yet succeeded in scaling up the intra-regional trade among central countries, in increasing investments in these countries, in facilitating free circulation of individuals in certain cases, and in stimulating economic growth in these countries. Nevertheless, it has generally been admitted that economic regional integration can accelerate economic growth and sustainable development in Africa by (i) giving to markets the critical mass needed for specialisation and industrialisation, (ii) facilitating harmonisation among donors, (iii) encouraging domestic investments and foreign direct investments, (iv) rendering African economic more competitive, and (v) increasing trade among members of the regional integration. The failure of AIA in central Africa is due to a number of complex factors. The origins of these factors are political, economical and historical. However that may be, central African countries should go today beyond bottlenecks of their regional integration and find out concretely how they can reap advantage from their AIA in a global context characterised by big economic blocks. In this perspective, our paper aims at providing with concrete measures and ways to guarantee significant positive impact of AIA in central Africa. In this respect, we will previously assess the state of regional integration in central Africa on the basis of lessons from the theory of regional integration.