1. 7 th Session of the Committee on Trade, Regional Cooperation and Integration 2 - 3 June 2011 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Observatory on Regional Integration Mkhululi N Ncube

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE OBSERVATORY Promote exchange and sharing of information, ideas and collaboration among stakeholders on Africa’s regional integration process, and foster synergies in efforts and actions whilst creating a de-facto Regional Integration Community of Practice. Foster the promotion of standardization, harmonization and coordination amongst REC programmes, polices and activities including those in trade, monetary, financial and fiscal polices, transport and communication inter-linkages, energy and movement of persons. Provide a one stop shop of data, facts and figures on Africa’s regional integration agendas across RECs and Member States. Provide a framework for the general public to acquaint themselves with the evolution of Africa’s integration process, and be empowered as informed active participants in the integration process, rather than passive onlookers. Facilitate the dissemination of activities and publications of the AU, UNECA, RECs, Institutions and partners in the field of regional integration.

3. ELEMENTS OF THE OBSERVATORY Key protocols and treaties on regional integration State of ratification of treaties and protocols RECs profiles including staff and management structures, policy organs, key milestones; and major challenges RECs’ major achievements, short and long-term goals (FTA, Customs Union, Monetary Union) Membership of RECs Selected information on economic, social and other data of RECs and Member countries (Population, GDP, GDP per Capita) Performance of countries in fulfilling protocol and treaty obligations (e.g. tariff reductions, macro-economic policy convergence, financial contributions etc)

4. Data and information on key Sectors (trade, macroeconomic policy, infrastructure, peace and security) Inventory of meetings, conferences, seminars, workshops on regional integration Virtual Interface between Member States, RECs and AU Up coming events and announcements on Regional integration ECA’s publications and key deliverables on regional integration Links to most relevant sources of statistical data and information related trade, infrastructure, energy, communications etc Links to the various stakeholders and partner’s home-pages (RECs, AfDB, NEPAD, AUC and other institutions that are relevant to the regional integration agenda) Links to collaborative projects (Multi-Year programs, inter-REC programs, etc) ELEMENTS OF THE OBSERVATORY

5. The Observatory of Regional Integration aims to ensure the active involvement of Member States, RECs, and partner institutions such as the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Development Bank, in the implementation of the activities. To popularise the Continent’s Integration process, the Observatory has established Social networking links on Twitter and Facebook and aims to create more links on other networking media sites to further enrich the constituency of Regional Integration Actors. The Knowledge Management Platform on which the Observatory is currently based, offers an avenue for stakeholders to build a Community of Practice on Regional Integration. IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

6. Observatory On Regional Integration (Group & Page) AfrObservatory 7 th Session of the Committee on Trade, Regional Cooperation and Integration 2 - 3 June 2011 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Https://eca.unteamworks.org/node/65506