Tracing the path to investment

After the International Economic Conference that took place in Yaounde from May 17 to 18, 2016, the taps of real investment are now open as CT kick-starts a series of reports on the way forward.

Three weeks have gone past since experts in the economic sector, investors, government officials and financiers rallied in Yaounde to discuss how best to overcome the hurdles that may hinder Cameroon from attaining its lofty goal of emergence by 2035.

Holding under the theme “Investing in Cameroon, Land of Opportunities”, the Yaounde confab translated the whole gamut of interest the country has been expressing to see its natural and human potentials put to real use for its growth and development.

Cameroon, one would imagine, is proud of these potentials and has been talking about them for decades. Policies have been formulated, programmes and projects initiated and other actions taken to explore and develop them but the results have remained disturbingly mitigated.

The conference brought together participants from several countries as well as very renowned economists and business people. All that threaded through the discussions within the two days (May 17 and 18) conveyed the zeal in investing in the country.

Companies that were present were particularly interested in the opportunities therein and the possibility of investing within the framework of a clean business climate.

In all, 49 projects were presented to investors. These are categorised into three: projects that have already attained their maturity (15) and which were presented during the different thematic workshops; projects with satisfactory maturity (10) presented in form of factsheets and finally those in the process of maturity (24).

It was with particular interest that the over 80 participants, many of them bankers, experts in the energy sector, government officials, business people and decision makers, listened to the presentation of the four major energy production projects proposed for Cameroon which they in turn examined with diligence and made readjustments where necessary.

The projects which centred on renewable energy set out to provide solutions to the country’s energy problems, notably shortage in supply, power failures and poor management.

At the end of the conference, the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Philemon Yang, who closed the ceremony on behalf of the Head of State, reassured the over 800 foreign personalities of government’s determination to monitor the implementation of projects discussed so that the financing should bear the expected fruits. The conference, in effect, showed to the international community, the numerous facets that make Cameroon a choice destination.

In all, the conference helped government to understand how achieve its growth objective in unison with the private sector. “We will work in earnest to improve the business climate in order for the private sector to serve as the driver of economic growth”, Yang said.

Cameroon Tribune on its part intends to play its own role in ensuring that the resolutions of the Yaounde conference are effectively implemented. This, in essence, can only be done by revisiting some of the projects presented for financing and making an assessment of the milestone covered.

The series will run for 25 weeks stretching from June through December and is expected to act as a constant reminder to potential investors and an impetus for stakeholders.