The Minister of Regional Cooperation and NEPAD, Dr Kofi Apraku, has said the increasing number of Regional Economic Communities (REC) with overlapping membership and mandates is a waste of scarce human resources and an over-stretch of institutional capacity.

Speaking at the consultative meeting on the rationalization of the regional economic communities for Central, North and West African regions in Accra, he called on RECs to collaborate and harmonise resources that would focus on specialization instead of overlapping responsibilities.

Dr Apraku said the existence of economic cooperation organizations throughout the continent gave a positive indication about a shared common vision.

"They are all concerned with issues of free movement of goods, services, capital, trade facilitation, harmonization of customs and tax rules, harmonization of transportation rules, peace and security."

He said the time had come for the RECs to work together as a group to come up with programmes that share coherence: "Pruning down REC to manageable sizes and providing them with adequate financial, and man-power resources are more likely to attract the good will and support of the development partners."

He said as a result of the multiple memberships to REC, when it comes to the adoption of "urgent programmes like the creation of a common external tariff or negotiations of an Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union, countries find themselves in a difficult condition as to which organization would serve their interest."

He said the situation calls for the urgent rationalization of regional integration institutions "to build on our achievements through consolidation and coordination of activities." He called on policy makers to "bridge the gap between policy makers and the people. The involvement of the population is necessary for any meaningful integration process to take place."

The private sector and civil society, he explained, "should not just be informed about government measures. They should be involved in decision taking and policy making. The role of women and the youth should also be recognized and expanded."

The African Union Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Dr Maxwell Mkwezalamba, said AU appreciates RECs tremendous achievements towards regional integration but "more work needs to be done if Africa has to realize the dream of it being economically, politically, and socially integrated."

He said the AU is committed to lending its support in mapping out a strategy for "forging inter-regional cooperation which will facilitate exchange of experiences and harmonization of policies...with a view of accelerating the process of integration."

He advised that "for the rationalization process to be effective and successful there is a strong need for all the RECs to follow a well-articulated framework that will ensure convergence towards the long-run objective of the full integration of the continent."

The representative of the Economic Commission for Africa, Mr. Joe Atta-Mensah, said African countries are realizing the importance of regional integration to achieve economic and political stability. He said the rationalization process should be more realistic so that all would embrace it.