Experts from the six member countries of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) who met in Yaounde within the framework of a three-day workshop (August 12-14) to endorse a report in view of putting in place of an Investment Climate Observatory in the sub-region say legal texts and other basic documents are needed to take the project off the ground. Speaking during a news conference on Wednesday August 14 at the end of the deliberations, participants saluted the Yaounde workshop stating that the observatory can unblock so many investment opportunities for the sub-region.

According to a final communiqué of the workshop, the Yaounde come-together also endorsed the institutional framework for the management of the observatory. The next step, it noted, will be to come out with the list of indicators and their documentation as well as finalise the databank of the observatory. "Based on the importance of the observatory as a tool to improve the attractiveness and competitiveness of the CEMAC sub-region, the participants will sensitise national and the international authorities on the need to mobilise human, material and technical means for an optimal functioning of the observatory," the release stated.

Answering questions from journalists on the workability of the observatory given the diversity of countries and other hiccups to effective sub-regional integration, the Commissioner in charge of Monetary and Financial Policies at the CEMAC Commission, Paul Tasong and the rest of the representatives of the other countries said the initiative came from leaders of the sub-region and nothing will be left to chance to ensure its functioning.