Brazzaville positions itself as regional hub
On 3 November, the marble halls of the International Conference Center in Brazzaville filled with cabinet members, bankers and entrepreneurs as the first Central Africa Economic Forum on Growth and Investment, or FECIAC, opened under the auspices of the Economic Community of Central African States.
The three-day forum is organised by the Central Africa Business High Council in partnership with ECCAS, with the declared ambition of showcasing bankable projects and smoothing the path toward a genuinely integrated regional market at a moment when the African Continental Free Trade Area is reshaping commercial corridors.
Government pledges business-friendly environment
Representing Prime Minister Anatole Collinet Makosso, Economy, Planning and Regional Integration Minister Ludovic Ngatse told delegates that Brazzaville wants “a business climate matching the potential of our soils and minds”, citing agriculture, energy, transport and digital technology as priorities in which coordinated investment could raise shared prosperity.
His remarks were echoed by ECCAS Secretary-General Gilberto da Piedade Verissimo, who argued that Central African states need to move “from declarations to concrete pipelines”, noting that only four percent of intra-African trade currently originates in the sub-region despite its combined GDP of roughly 180 billion dollars.
Infrastructure financing tops agenda
The theme chosen for the maiden edition — accelerating investment to finance infrastructure and build regional value chains — reflects nagging worries that inadequate roads, ports and energy grids keep landlocked areas in Cameroon, Chad or the Central African Republic disconnected from coastal export nodes like Pointe-Noire and Douala.
The African Development Bank estimates the region’s annual infrastructure gap at nearly 10 billion dollars; forum organisers see that shortfall as an investment opportunity. “Project preparation is the Achilles heel,” AfDB country economist Abdoulaye Ndoye observed on the sidelines, urging governments to bundle smaller projects into larger, financeable packages.
Private sector courts regional markets
Congolese entrepreneur and FEC vice-president Eric Monga Mumb believes trade among ECCAS members can rise from eight to ten percent of their commerce within three years if customs hurdles fall. He points to the copper-processing plant his group plans near Dolisie, aimed at supplying Gabonese cable makers.
International groups also signalled appetite. The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa brought a deal team specialising in blended finance, while France’s Proparco and Japan’s JBIC scheduled bilateral meetings with start-ups targeting renewable mini-grids, according to the organisers’ provisional diary obtained by this newspaper.
BEAC urges import substitution
Hard numbers from the region’s central bank framed the debate. BEAC Governor Yvon Sana Bangui reminded participants that Central African states spend about 12 trillion CFA francs, nearly 20 billion dollars, each year on imports that could often be sourced locally, from processed foods to cement.
“Waiting is no longer an option; coordination is,” Sana Bangui said, urging governments to open borders and harmonise standards. He cited the recent relaxation of foreign-exchange rules by BEAC as a signal that monetary authorities are prepared to support investors willing to manufacture inside the region.
ZLECAF offers new leverage
Several speakers argued that the African Continental Free Trade Area, which entered its guided trade phase last year, changes the cost-benefit calculus. By aligning regulations with ZLECAF, ECCAS can brand itself a 200-million-consumer market, luring supply chains that currently stop at Kenya, Nigeria or South Africa.
Cameroon’s Minister of Mines, Gabriel Dodo Ndoke, stressed that such alignment must be accompanied by local content rules. “If cobalt leaves Ndola for Europe without value addition, we miss the point,” he contended, hinting at regional battery-grade refining initiatives under discussion with Congolese counterparts.
Recognition for integration champions
The opening ceremony concluded with awards to companies viewed as champions of regional integration. Telecommunications firm Airtel Congo received a trophy for expanding cross-border mobile money transfers, while Gabon’s Setrag railway operator was honoured for introducing a common wagon standard easing cargo movement between Libreville, Owendo and northern Congo.
Momentum toward actionable projects
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Minister Ngatse said the forum’s outcomes would feed into the national development plan that President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s administration is drafting for 2025-2029. He underlined that projects identified during FECIAC could benefit from sovereign guarantees under consideration at the Ministry of Finance.
Despite the upbeat tone, foreign participants interviewed cited lingering concerns over legal predictability and logistics costs. “Customs reforms must become reality,” said Emmanuel de Brébisson of France’s Egis Group, which is eyeing toll-road concessions. Still, he added, regional coordination meetings like FECIAC “help de-risk the narrative”.
The organisers announced that a monitoring committee will publish a first progress report in March, tracking commitments signed in Brazzaville. A second edition of the forum is tentatively scheduled for Libreville in 2025, giving governments eighteen months to translate memoranda into shovels and cranes.
Stakeholders hope for lasting impact
Whether deals materialise or not, the gathering has sent a political signal that Central Africa intends to seize the continental trade moment. “Integrating our markets is no longer a slogan, it is our survival plan,” Ngatse concluded, earning applause that echoed long after the lights dimmed.