Entrepreneurs were sensitised on the benefits of the Economic Partnership Accord in Douala.
As negotiations between countries of the free trade zone and the European Union for an Economic Partnership Accord, EPA, continues, entrepreneurs in the Littoral Region have been edified on how to access the European market so as to tap maximum profits. A seminar under the theme “Stakes and Opportunities of EPA” held at the Chamber of Commerce in Douala on November 5, presided over by the Permanent Secretary of the Regulatory and Competitive Board, Akom Mvondo Moïse.
The on-going arrangement set to create jobs, upgrade the quality of local productions as well as ensure the entry of more local goods into European market, already has 15 national enterprises (some by Cameroonians in the diaspora) registered and 41 others seeking to join the trail for export-import with Europe in line with the EPA. They are poised to invest FCFA 143 billion and create 2,180 jobs in the country.
Most participants asked to know what measures are in place to boost local production for export, considering that the European market is a vast one. The Permanent Secretary sensitised the entrepreneurs on government measures to improve the business environment, notably the regulatory framework on the free trade zone and laws designed to ease private investment and their texts of application.
Some recommendations made during the session include rendering the One-Stop-Shop for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Industries (SMEs/SMIs) functional, ease access to land and loans within the free trade zone, set up a committee to implement decisions taken as regards the zone, among others.
However, the good news is that there is already a Bank for SMEs/SMIs to salvage the problems of financing for SMEs/SMIs. Most entrepreneurs think that since the bank allows a brief period for loan reimbursement, it is necessary that commercial banks should be more open with loan policy for SMEs/SMIs that have 95 per cent of jobs offered in the country.
