At least 200 companies from Africa and Europe are exchanging experiences that will enhance local economic growth.

The meeting that brought together heads of private sector enterprises from Africa, France, Belgium, and Spain seeks to discuss issues that hinge on the future of their enterprises and national economies.

Placed under the auspices of the Minister of Mines, Industries and Technological Development, the Douala Business Meeting (DBM) opened in the economic capital, Douala, yesterday. The business men will focus discussions on transfer of know-how, experiences, technology and financing economic growth in Cameroon and other African countries. Financed by the European Union (EU) and Cameroon Business Forum to encourage further exchanges with potential partners, the meeting is expected also to strengthen the interest of foreign structures, particularly European, to invest and get into productive partnerships with established local industries. Also, participants from developed nations are expected to propose solutions and responses to the need of African companies for the realization of local projects.

President of the Cameroon Chamber of Commerce (CCIMA) in Douala, Christophe Eken, esteemed the importance of the meeting to Cameroon which will soon begin the crucial phase of its major infrastructural accomplishments in 2012. Local business managers said it is a timely opportunity for them to seek partners who are interested in their services and products. “The infrastructural projects in the country necessitate improved know-how in order to enhance growth, and these Western countries are advanced technologically and by experience to help us,” Eken said. Pascal Maccioni, Chief Economic Service for Central Africa at the French Embassy in Yaounde, pointed to the various projects currently being put in place in Cameroon, in the petroleum sector, energy and mines, as those that should strengthen its enterprises and improve upon the local economy.

The EU within the framework of its support programme for the development of the private sector in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific countries supported the first-ever Business forum, the Africa-Europa Convention, that held in France in 2010, organized by the Rouen Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI). There, the Institute of Development Activities Promotion (IPAD) of the RCCI and CCIMA resolved to hold the maiden business forum, namely, the 2011 Douala Business Meeting from November 28-December 1 at the Douala Sawa Hotel.