A national strategy for export discussed in Yaounde

Cameroon and the European Union have agreed to coordinate their efforts to harmonize the various public and private interventions in order to balance the country's trade.

Thursday, January 22, 2015 at Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi the Minister of economy, planning and land use (Minepat) alongside the representative of the European Union in Cameroon, chaired a national workshop at hotel haut perché to launch the study on the development of the national strategy of Cameroon exports.

These works, explained the aim of the two parties at providing Cameroon with a national strategy of exports in order to coordinate and harmonize various public and private interventions for assisting in the equilibrium of the trade balance "which the deficit has stopped worsening", acknowledged the official release.

80% of export earnings of Cameroon comes from oil, timber and banana. Apart from these industries, the business climate, not conducive to the attraction of foreign direct investment, undermines economic growth. "The diversification and the promotion of exports remain essential to the improvement of the country's trade balance," acknowledged Minepat officials in the opening session.

In addition, non-oil foreign trade statistics show that trade with foreign countries have significantly reduced the national external deficit in 2012 (it fell by about 70%). According to the same figures, the external balance excluding oil is at its lowest level since 2007.

With the implementation of the strategy for growth and employment (Ocsg) in 2010, public and private administrations led scattered actions to promote exports in Cameroon. Many actions have been initiated but their impact was slow.