Central Africa

In the heart of Yaounde – the city of seven hills, Cameroon’s nature studded capital, lies the Subregional Office for Central Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). The Commission’s journey with the seven countries it covers in the subregion (Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Sao Tome and Principe) with an extension of its services to the rest of ECCAS, started in 1962. This was just four years after its headquarters was established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (in 1958) by the UN’s Economic and Social Council.

ECA’s current mandate is to promote economic and social development of its member States by delivering cutting-edge ideas and prompting action for an empowered and transformed Africa; informed by the 2030 Agenda and African Union’s Agenda 2063. The Commission’s special focus in Central Africa, is to foster economic diversification and structural transformation for inclusive and sustainable development. To achieve this, ECA helps countries and regional economic communities (RECs) in the sub-region formulate and implement relevant policies and strategies with the view to sustainably expanding the contribution of the manufacturing and high-value service sectors to GDP and increasing the share of tradeable and manufactured goods in total exports; deepening regional value chains; and improving the competitiveness and productivity of local economies.