Cam-Nig trade: Reaffirmation of political will

The Abuja Trade Fair tells of Cameroon’s determination to translate into action the political will taken at the last bilateral summit between Presidents Biya and Buhari.

The zeal of deepening economic cooperation and trade in particular between Cameroon and Nigeria came out in full force during the State visit of President Paul Biya to Nigeria from May 3 to 4 this year and that of President Muhammadu Buhari to Cameroon from July 29 to 30, 2015.

Points 12, 13, 14, 20 and 21 of the Joint Statement issued at the end of the Abuja visit clearly translates the political will of the two Presidents to enhance trade between the two nations.

This political will was and continues to be driven by the increased interest by investors of both nations in each other’s economies. On the bases of this growing interest, the two leaders pledged their readiness to work with each other to harness the investment potentials that both countries have in order to open up opportunities for their peoples and urged the Ministers of Economy of the two countries to convene the Nigeria – Cameroon Business Forum in Abuja as soon as possible.

Trade between Cameroon and Nigeria has to say the least operated within much uncoordinated frameworks in spite of the spotty effort made in 1963 through the signing of the protocol on Free Movement of Persons and Goods.

Even though this protocol was important for the promotion of economic activities between the two nations, it was not clearly linked to trade until April, 2014 when another agreement on trade was signed during the 6th edition of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission in Yaounde.

The Abuja bilateral summit opened up floodgates of new cooperation tailored to reinforce the ambition of the two nations to build up a new framework on which the two countries can orient their trade. Cognisance of the fact that trade entails movement of people and goods; they agreed to make a review of the 1963 protocol putting it within new dispensation.

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Technical Consultation for the Management of Water Resources of the Benue Basin and Agreement on Trade went a long way to demonstrate how ready the two countries are to foster trade links between them.

Cameroon on her part appears to be ready for the deal as testified by the holding of the enlarged inter-ministerial meeting extended to the private sector where in about 20 contracts are already being earmarked for signing in Abuja.

The two countries are quite aware of the fact that trade between them is inevitable considering their historic background and their common long boundary.

In this vein, all is being done to pave the way for the two nations to foster their trade. This in effect, entails pushing down all the road blocks and defining a clear framework of operation.