Germany reaffirms support for natural resource management

Additional FCFA 62 billion to be disbursed for the three-sector project to span 2014-2016.

Günter Nooke, the personal representative of the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Angela Merkel, to Africa, has told pressmen that his government has supported Cameroon since its independence with a contribution worth FCFA 595 billion. The information was revealed at a press conference in Yaounde as part of activities culminating Günter Nooke’s four-day working visit to Cameroon.

However, the desire to keep stretching out to the needy is burning and Germany, it was disclosed, has decided to pump additional FCFA 62 billion for the execution of a three-sector project related to decentralisation, rural development and the sustainable management of natural resources spanning 2014-2016.

Günter Nooke who was accompanied to Cameroon by the Chargée de mission in the Federal Ministry of Economy and Development, Angelika Suelzen, also announced the disbursement of 16 million euros (about FCFA 10.495 billion) partitioned as 6 million euros (about FCFA 3.935 billion) for technical cooperation and 10 million euros (about FCFA 6.559 billion) for financial cooperation.

Refugees

The government of Germany has conceived a support programme to assist refugees from the Central African Republic and Nigerians in Cameroon’s northern and eastern regions. The country in 2014 allocated 6 million euros (about FCFA 3.935 billion) and has announced an additional 2 million euros (about FCFA 1.311 billion) to improve the livelihood of refugees and internally displaced persons. The project, it was stressed, will be implemented by the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF.

Maternal Mortality

Günter Nooke says his country has sentimental attachment to the wellbeing of others. The country holds the programme to improve access to health services, especially reproductive health in high esteem. Additional funding on grounds of financial cooperation worth 8 million euros (about 5.247 million) has been made available within the framework of the country’s sector strategy and national programme to fight against maternal mortality.

The project intends to improve health service quality through the rehabilitation and equipping of health centres. Meanwhile, the same programme under technical cooperation is benefitting 6 million euros (about FCFA 3.935 billion) for the training of experts and midwives.

Regional Aid

The Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development in its special health programmed code-named “Santé en Afrique” begins this year with 205 million euros (about FCFA 134.471 billion) and focuses on Ebola stricken West African countries and its neighbours, as well as other African countries with poor health services.

It also emerged from the press conference that the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, CEMAC, was benefiting a colossal 25.1 million euros (about FCFA 164.645 billion) of financial cooperation to fight neglected tropical diseases and to help prevent HIV/AIDS.

Germano-Cameroon cooperation, according to Dr. Klaus-Ludwig Keferstein, has no bounds, and will continue to grow in as much as such ties continue to impact the lives of Cameroonians.