Hollande arrives in Cameroon with 76 billion FCfa funding

French president François Hollande will arrive in Cameroon today, July 3, 2015. Hollande is scheduled to be in the country this evening for a six hour visit.

This will be the first visit of a French president since Jacques Chirac came to Cameroon in 2001. Sources say four agreements worth 76 billion Cfa francs will be signed between the Cameroonian State and the French Development Agency (AFD).

First, there will be an agreement of 42.6 billion francs Cfa (EUR 65 million), for the financing of the project "Regional Capitals" implemented by the Cameroonian Government and intended to develop three regional capitals of the country, namely Bafoussam (Western region), Bertoua (Eastern Region) and Garoua (North region).

The second agreement is relative to the financing of the additional facilities for the 2nd bridge over the Wouri (that is already built at 87 billion Cfa francs by the AFD), for a total of 29.5 billion Cfa francs, or EUR 45 million.

This project, said the French Embassy in Yaounde, focuses on "the construction of a new access road to the industrial area of the Autonomous Port of Douala and a ramp on the old bridge with various important facilities to streamline traffic."

The 3rd agreement which will be signed on the occasion of the visit of François Hollande to Cameroon contains the allocation of funds from the 2nd C2D (debt development contract), in the programme of support to SMEs, agriculture and agri-food, for a total of 3.2 billion Cfa francs, or the equivalent of EUR 5 million.

Finally, the fourth agreement is a subsidy from the French State to the support for productive investment in the diaspora, for an amount of EUR 1 million or 655,9 million Cfa francs. This project, said the Cameroonian Ministry of the economy, is under the program of inclusive development and concerted management of migratory flows.

In addition to the signing of the financing agreements, the visit of François Hollande will be punctuated by a meeting of about an hour with his Cameroonian counterpart at the unity Palace, a tete-a-tete which will be followed by a state dinner offered to the guests by the presidential couple.

The French president will arrive in Yaounde at 5.30 p.m. According to the official programme. He will then travel to the French residence, where he will grant audience to French nationals, before flying to Paris at around 11 pm.