Report of the 18th Ordinary General Assembly of the « COSPECO »

In keeping with article 13 of the internal regulations of the Kinshasa-Brazzaville Special Cooperation Commission (known by its French acronym as COSPECO) under the joint authority of Messrs André KIMBUTA, Governor of the city of Kinshasa, outgoing Chair of COSPECO, and Hugues NGOUELONDELE, Deputy Mayor of Brazzaville and in-coming Chair of COSPECO, the 18th Ordinary General Assembly of COSPECO was held in Kinshasa from the 27 to 28 August 2015. The opening ceremony took place in the “Samuel KITOKO” hall of the Kinshasa Town Hall.

In his speech, the Governor of Kinshasa, COESPECO’s Chair, welcomed and wished a happy stay to his counterpart and brother, the Deputy Mayor of Brazzaville and to his entourage. On the same occasion, he saluted all other personalities who in spite of their busy schedule decided to grace the ceremony with their presence.

The Governor continued by defining, for attendees and COSPECO experts, the framework of deliberations for this general Assembly which according to him is in line with the 17th general Assembly held last May in Brazzaville marking the end of the 2013 – 2015 mandate. Under such circumstanced, he said, it would be necessary to evaluate the balance sheet of the ending mandate.

In conclusion, the out-going Chair paid a vibrant homage to the Heads of State of the two countries, their Excellencies Presidents Joseph Kabila Kabange of the Democratic republic of Congo and Dénis SASSOU NGUESSO, of the Republic of Congo, all of them architects of the continuing consolidation of renewed neighbourly relations between the two brother nations, the framework within which COSPECO’s activities are situated.

After the opening, deliberations of the 18th Assembly continued in the conference room of Kinshasa’s provincial Government, under the joint chairmanship of Messrs François LUKANZU and Emma Clesh ATIPO NGAPI, respectively out-going and in-coming Secretaries general.

The agenda covered the following aspects:

1. Verification of attendance
2. Review and adoption of agenda
3. Review and of the general programme of the 18th General Assembly
4. Reading of minutes of the 17th Ordinary General Assembly held in Brazzaville from the 25 to 26 May 2015
5. Reading of minutes of meetings of the Executive Committee extended to Sub-Commissions, held separately in Brazzaville and in Kinshasa, respectively on the 30 June and 16 July 2015, on the road map for implementation of pending resolutions of the 2013 – 2015 mandate.
6. Evaluation of the road map for implementation of pending resolutions of the 2013 – 2015 mandate
7. Reading and adoption of minutes of the extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee held on the 27 July 205 in Kinshasa
8. Balance sheet of the 2013-2015 mandate
9. Review and adoption of draft programme and budget of the 2015-2017 mandate
10. COSPECO-ECAir partnership
11. Miscellaneous

. Review and adoption of agenda

The agenda was adopted with amendments.

. Review and of the general programme of the 18th General Assembly

The programme was unanimously adopted

. Reading of minutes of the 17th Ordinary General Assembly held in Brazzaville from the 25 to 26 May 2015

Read by the Technical Secretary of Brazzaville’s COSPECO Permanent Secretariat, the minutes did not raise any questions.

. Reading of minutes of meetings of the Executive Committee extended to Sub-Commissions, held separately in Brazzaville and in Kinshasa, respectively on the 30 June and 16 July 2015, on the road map for implementation of pending resolutions of the 2013 – 2015 mandate.

As a reminder and by reason of the charged programme of the 17th Ordinary General Assembly in Brazzaville, the handed over ceremony initially programmed for this occasion was postponed to the 18th Ordinary general Assembly in Kinshasa. In the meantime and while waiting to complete the balance sheet of the 2013-2015 mandate, COSPECO’s acting Chair asked the Executive Committee to draft a road map for pending resolutions of the mandate to be implemented during the intersession. In this regard, separate meetings of technical sub-commissions were organised in Brazzaville and Kinshasa.

Read to members of the General Assembly, the two minutes were approved. The General Assembly then decided to consider these minutes as a basis of evaluation of the road map of pending resolutions.

. Evaluation of the road map for implementation of pending resolutions of the 2013 – 2015 mandate

The General Assembly noted with satisfaction the approval of the road map by each party.

Despite the relatively short intersession, all activities were budgeted. However, some of them requiring insignificant amounts were executed, notably:

• Brochures on projects relating to the Congolese Rumba, COPESCO popular music festival (Pool Malebo) were provided even in electronic versions.
• Measures for definite identification of partners for organization of the Brazzaville twinning fair have been taken and contacts made with the Ministry of Trade of the republic of Congo. The latter promised to be committed to the success of this exciting event.
• COSPECO flyers were provided.

At the end of this evaluation, the General Assembly decided that the road map, given that it bears unexecuted projects of the 2013-2015, serve as basis for the programme of the 2015-2017 mandate.

. Reading and adoption of minutes of the extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee held on the 27 July 205 in Kinshasa

The Technical Secretary of Kinshasa’s COSPECO Permanent Secretariat read the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee’s meeting held on this date in Kinshasa, which was unanimously adopted by the General Assembly.

. Balance sheet of the 2013-2015 mandate

It should be recalled that COSPECO’s balance sheet for the 2013-2015 mandate was a subject for discussion during the 17th Ordinary General Assembly held in Brazzaville in May 2015.

On this occasion, achievements of the mandate were presented by the Executive Committee and validated by the General Assembly with recommendation to come up with a road map for execution of pending resolutions during the intersession. As a reminder, some of these resolutions are listed below:

1. Measures to be taken for the running of eviction ad hoc committees ;
2. Forwarding of the Congolese rumba project to AIMF ;
3. Lobbying for funding of projects by partners ;
4. Budgeting of projects under studies ;
5. Organisation of the 1st edition of the Kinshasa-Brazzaville joint trade fair ;
6. Implementation of the Kinshasa-Brazzaville-Dakar triangular twinning cooperation framework ;
7. Conception and publishing of COSPECO’s website.

. Review and adoption of draft programme and budget of the 2015-2017 mandate

Considering the will to base COSPECO’s 2015-2017 programme on pending resolutions of the ending mandate, three areas were retained namely:

• Execution of activities of the road map of pending resolutions of the 2013-2015 mandate;
• Identification of new projects (wider public) and areas of cooperation in the area of city diplomacy;
• Management of emergencies.

. Execution of activities of the road map of pending resolutions of the 2013-2015 mandate

These activities are:

1. Provision of necessary means for the running of ad hoc eviction committees ;
2. Forwarding the script of the film « Rumba Congolaise » to AIMF ;
3. Seeking for sponsors and other partners for the funding of other budgeted projects such as COPESCO popular music festival (Pool Malebo), COSPECO-Pool Malebo football tournament and creation of a training centre in Kinshasa and in Brazzaville.
4. Budget for the following projects : Excursions, meeting of writers, Permanent Committee of river traffic management, partnership between Kinshasa and Brazzaville ;
5. Finalising agreements with the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Congo for the organisation of the 1st edition of the twinning faire ;
6. Drafting legal instruments on the Kinshasa-Brazzaville-Dakar triangular twinning;
7. Distributing COSPECO flyers ;
8. Operationalizing COSPECO’s website.

. Identification of new projects (wider public) and areas of cooperation in the area of city diplomacy

a. New projects (wider public)

➢ Delocalisation of COSPECO Permanent Secretariats to the two beaches.

Actually the general Assembly is of the opinion that these two beaches is the appropriate venue to mark COSPECO’s existence and so this project is very important for the visibility of our common organisation.

➢ Creation of trans-border markets

This markets are the real instruments of trans-border trade desired by officials of both countries. They are the appropriate venue for economic and commercial trade between populations of the two cities.

b. Areas of diplomacy between the cities

-One project was retained in this domain, notably the promotion of COSPECO’s expertise in creating a formal framework for concertation, exchange and dialogue between trans-border cities and communities.

Management of emergency situations

The General Assembly resolved to take appropriate measures in case of situations requiring immediate intervention, hence the need to create a special budget.

The budget for the above-mentioned programme is spread as follows:

1. Execution of road map activities: $.58.200
2. Implementation of the Kinshasa-Brazzaville-Dakar twinning agreement cooperation: $.42.000
3. Identification of new projects and areas of diplomatic cooperation between the cities: $.50.000
4. Emergency budget: $.20.000

Total: One Hundred and Seventy US dollars ($.170.000).

COSPECO-ECAir partnership

The General Assembly noted with satisfaction the proper implementation of the COSPECO-ECAir partnership agreement.

XI. Miscellaneous

The 19th Ordinary General Assembly.

The General Assembly retained the 1st half of March 2016 for the holding in Brazzaville of COSPECO’s 19th Ordinary General Assembly

Done in Kinshasa, the 28 August 2015