COREP Officially Becomes the Recognized Specialized Regional Fisheries Body for ECCAS

Release Date
Thu, 01-10-2015 15:00:00

Agreement on Cooperation in Regional Fisheries Management and Development signed between ECCAS and COREP

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© 2015 AU-IBAR. Mr. Ahmad ALLAM-MI, General Secretary of ECCAS (at left) and Mr. Emile Essema, Executive Secretary of COREP(at right), exchanging of the signed documents and mutual congratulations.

The Secretary General of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), H.E. Mr. Ahmad ALLAM-MI, and the Executive Secretary of the Regional Fisheries Commission of the Gulf of Guinea (COREP). Mr. Emile Essema, concluded the official signing of the Agreement on Technical Cooperation between ECCAS and the COREP, on Thursday 17th September 2015, in the Conference Room of the ECCAS Secretariat in Libreville, the Republic of Gabon.

The signature to this Agreement on Technical Cooperation formalized the relationship between ECCAS and the COREP, with COREP officially now recognized as the specialized recognized Regional Fisheries Body in fisheries and aquaculture matters for the Central African Region. This Agreement accomplished a major resolution by the highest authorities of ECCAS set out in the Decision No. 24 / ECCAS / CCEG / XIII / 07 of XIII th of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Community, held in Brazzaville, Congo, 30 October 2007 which calls for designation COREP as the specialized technical institution of ECCAS in fisheries and aquaculture matters.

It should be recalled that this Agreement on cooperation that formalized institutional collaboration between ECCAS and COREP in regional fisheries management is an initiative of the African Union which aims to bring coherence to respective interventions in the sector by the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Regional Fisheries Organizations (RFOs) on the African continent; a vision that ECCAS shared with and duly embraced by COREP.

To facilitate institutional collaboration and coordination in the fisheries and aquaculture sector at regional level, the "African Platform for Regional Institutions in Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Systems (APRIFAAS)" has been established.