Health, education, business get new support

Two framework agreements and a cooperation agreement were signed between China and Cameroon to support the health, education and business sector with a sum of FCFA 121 million in Beijing.

The documents were signed on Thursday June, 18 during the Prime Minister of Cameroon, Philemon Yang's recent visit to China.

The framework agreements were signed between the two governments, while the cooperation agreement was signed by two banks.

Emmanuel Djoumessi Nganou, Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Planning (Minepat) and his Chinese counterpart signed an agreement for a grant value of 100 million yuan or a billion FCFA.

Minepat explained that the money is for feasibility studies for construction of the new headquarters of the Cameroon National Assembly and hospital rehabilitation work of Guider in the northern region and Mbalmayo in the Centre.

The second agreement, according to him covers the financing of the establishment of a computer network for higher education. The transaction cost 935 million yuan which is equivalent to FCFA 93.5 billion.

The third agreement was signed between Alphonse Nafack, Director General d’Afriland First Bank Cameroun (AFB) and Hu Huaibang, Chairman of the Board of the China Development Bank (CBD) for an amount of 40 million Euros (FCFA 26.2 billion).

This signed agreement comes in line with the policy adopted by the 4th Ministerial Conference of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum in November 2009.

The Chinese government had announced measures to assist African countries especially the enhancement of the continent in "improving its financing capacity and support from Chinese financial institutions in promoting the establishment of special loans, for the development of African small and medium enterprises."

The Chinese government is convinced that SMEs will contribute to improving the standard of living, strengthen the economy and create jobs. The CBD and AFB will share their experiences in financing practices, and organize staff exchanges and training.