Opening of the strategic retreat of the College of Commissioners of ECCAS

Libreville, Gabonese Republic, 09 March 2026-The work of the first retreat of the College of Commissioners of the Second Mandate of the Commission of the Economic Community of Central African States opened this morning in the Gabonese capital in the presence of all the Commissioners, staff with mandates, the Acting Secretary General, the Director of Cabinet, advisers, certain directors and heads of service, as well as some staff and officials of the ECCAS Commission.

The start of work was given by the Chairman of the ECCAS Commission, His excellence, Ambassador DR. EZECHIEL NIBIGIRA who delivered an opening speech for the occasion.

In his speech at the same time as a programme speech, the President of the Commission stressed the importance of the event, which he said "is a real starting point for our collective action" so that this mandate is measured not only in terms of its duration, but above all in terms of what it intends to transform," he said in substance.

On transformation, Ambassador DR. EZECHIEL NIBIGIRA called on all participants and through them the people of Central Africa to transform our many natural resources in order to consolidate our strategic position at the heart of the continent, for it has increased, "resources and potentials alone, do not create prosperity and development. »

The Chairman of the ECCAS Commission then addressed the challenges facing the region, namely: insecurity in certain areas, lack of infrastructure, fragmentation of markets, weak diversification of our economies and very strong social expectations from the people. Solutions to these challenges inevitably involve accelerating regional integration, which is the only way to achieve tangible objectives in terms of security, economic and infrastructure, the implementation of Community policies, as well as those relating to population mobility and shared prosperity.

The Chairman of the Commission also hoped that the vision of the ECCAS Commission would become that of a strategist institution capable of driving, coordinating and, above all, producing results, as its credibility depended on it. He stressed the culture of performance, the mobilization of more resources and the strengthening of technical and financial partnerships with, inter alia, the private sector.

Ambassador DR. EZECHIEL NIBIGIRA invited all participants to become fully involved in the changes expected within our organization because men and women remain at the heart of the institutional transformation

The President of the Commission recalled the priorities and the objective of the retreat, namely, to enable the new Commissioners to take full ownership of the history, missions and institutional architecture of our organization, to draw with clarity the lessons of the first mandate, through the review of the review of the PSIMT 2021–2025 and the strategic analysis of our institution and above all, to build together the strategic bases of the next step through the finalization of the Vision 2050 and the Strategic Indicative Plan at Medium Term 2026–2030.

The aim of retirement is not only to produce documents but also and above all to build a team. A team capable of acting, deciding and transforming.

Finally, Ambassador DR. EZECHIEL NIBIGIRA expressed the hope that the necessary skills, experience and energy demonstrated by the participants will lead to a new stage in building a more united, connected, stable and prosperous Central Africa.