The visiting IMF chief Christine Lagarde met with President Paul Biya at State House on January 7, 2016.

It was the first meeting between the President of the Republic, Paul Biya and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde since the senior French lawyer took office on June 28, 2011. And the meeting was extremely warm, beginning from the setting at State House where water works had been activated as early as 3PM and a wide red carpet drawn out right to where the limousine carrying her was to stop.

The welcome also spoke of the importance attached to this visit. State Protocol Chief Simon Pierre Bikele ushered Christine Lagarde out of her car when she arrived at the Unity Palace shortly before 5PM; then she was led a few steps up the entrance into State House where the Minister-Director of the Civil Cabinet, Martin Belinga Eboutou formally welcomed her before the party, including senior aides from the IMF in Washington, DC, was taken to the third floor office of the President of the Republic where President Biya and Madam Lagarde held talks for some 40 minutes.

The business-like meeting took a more benevolent colouring when the two emerged from the talks to exchange gifts. The President of the Republic offered her a statuette representing a Cameroonian rural woman and some paraphernalia on the recent 50^th anniversary celebrations of independence and Reunification while she offered the Head of State a chest containing material on the recent evolution of the IMF. As she quit State House, anxious journalists waiting in ambush at the entrance accosted the IMF Managing Director for a gist of what could have been the main issues of the audience.

Hear her: “I had the great privilege of meeting with the President of the Republic of Cameroon, Mr Paul Biya and we looked back on the very deep and good partnership between the International Monetary Fund and Cameroon. The President indicated his desire to deepen and continue this relationship.” She said, together with the President, the international economic situation and that of international security were also reviewed. With regard to the Cameroonian economy, she said they “looked at the performance and discussed the prospects of the major infrastructure projects and the other development projects going forward”.