Partnership cooperation between Cameroon and Europe is 50 years old. Both parties agree that the golden jubilee is indeed worth celebrating as the marriage has been fruitful. However, they were unanimous that 50 years is a mature age to reflect on the road covered so as to jointly seek ways of charting a better future, especially with the challenges of the time. Speaker after speaker, at the 8th Cameroon-Europe Friendship Days observed yesterday June 16 on the theme, “50 years of Cameroon-Europe partnership: Combating poverty”, said there was much to show for the partnership.
Trade and Industry
Records show that Europe is a giant commercial partner of Cameroon. While it buys the country’s main exports of timber, cocoa, coffee, crude oil etc, it equally sells finished products highly consumed in the country. To boost Cameroon’s industrialisation, the European Union financed the construction of a cement factory in Figuil and the construction of an electricity plant in Garoua, northern part of the country as well as is involved in mining of the country’s mineral resources, through the various European mining companies operating in the country.
Infrastructure and Communication
Thanks to the partnership, road, railway and port infrastructure have received a boost with projects executed by the European Union and European countries across the country. Worthy of note are the Pitoa-Figuil, Yaounde-Mbalmayo, Ngaoundere-Garoua, Bamenda-Bafoussam and Yaounde-Ayos highways, among others, as well as rail bridges in Edea, Moungo, etc. Through the famous multilateral debt-relief programme, C2D, piloted by France, cities like Yaounde and Douala, to mention just these, have received facelifts in terms of development, notably, road networks.
Education
Europe and the European Union are said to have been supporting Cameroon’s education system since 1963 with contributions in the creation of schools like the Higher Teachers Training College, Catholic University of Central Africa, among others.
Agriculture and Rural Development
Agriculture, being the mainstay of most people in Cameroon, and accelerating rural development to make life better for the rural masses, have not been left out in Europe’s development plan in the country. Through many projects and programmes, the European Union has sponsored the creation of a water point in Maroua, improved livestock breeding in Adamawa, supported the fight against animal pests, boosted rice farming in the Logone and Chari area of the Far North region as well as executed life-changing rural development projects in the Lack Chad zone as well as in the Bakassi peninsula. Recently, the Ambassador, Head of the European Union Delegation in Cameroon, Raul Mateus Paula, accompanied by Cameroon’s Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Louis Paul Motaze, launched development projects to the tune of over FCFA 6.4 billion in the North West Region. Also, concerns like good governance, the respect of human rights and improving on electoral process, have been taken into consideration in the Cameroon-Europe partnership with multifaceted assistance dished out to the country.
Speaking during yesterday’s event, the Minister Delegate in the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Yaouba Abdoulaye, said at a time government has undertaken a long-term development plan contained it the Growth and Employment Strategy Paper, reviewing the partnership and ensuring its effectiveness will give the country a push in its drive to becoming an emerging economy by 2035.
