Cameroon-World Bank cooperation ‘excellent’ – Diop

Vice-president of the World Bank in the African sub-region, Makhtar Diop, recently revealed in Yaounde that 'cooperation between the World Bank and Cameroon is excellent'. He made this statement while reviewing his recent visit to the country during a press conference. Makhtar Diop arrived in Cameroon, Monday for a four-day visit and concluded his stay in the country by making a stop in the economic capital Douala on Thursday, where he met with the private sector before flying out in the evening to Kinshasa (DRC). In addition to an audience with President Paul Biya, he pointed out that during his stay, his delegation and the Cameroonian authorities reviewed the portfolio of the World Bank in Cameroon and identified issues and topics that can be enhanced or reoriented to maintain the beautiful fixed cooperation between both entities. During his stay, he had exchanges with the Prime Minister, the Ministers in charge of the economy, higher education, as well as other heads of other ministerial departments. On the occasion of his visit to the construction site of the Lom Pangar dam in the eastern region, Tuesday, Makhtar Diop was impressed by the pace with which this dam construction project is executed financed for close to 64 billion f CFA by its institution, to support the economic development of Cameroon and improve the access of populations and companies to electricity. Regarding multimodal transport project, the World Bank intends to allocate a credit of about 34.6 billion FCFA to help in the financing and improvement of road and rail along the Yaoundé-Kousseri, in order to facilitate intra trade and inter-regional infrastructure along the Douala-N'Djamena corridor and increase the effectiveness and efficiency of multimodal transport along this corridor. The minister in charge of economy, Emmanuel Nganou Njoumessi, who also took part in the press conference, stressed the need for a 'convergence of views between Cameroon and the World Bank, in order to strengthen the partnership with this institution through the implementation of other projects whose realization by legal acts will be announced very soon. Moreover, the eligibility of Cameroon to access the counters of the International Bank for Reconstruction and development (BIRD), will help the funding of structural infrastructures in the country and in this perspective, the Government and the World Bank have initiated an investment programme of approximately 400 billion CFA FRANCS.