China offers its experience in consumer protection

Liu Yuting, vice-minister of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce in the People's Republic of China (SAIC) has in turn been received in audience on Wednesday by Emmanuel Bonde, Minister of Industry, Mines and the technological development (Minmidt) and Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, Minister of Commerce (Mincommerce).

He had meetings with his Cameroonian peers, program in margin of his three days working visit (from 9 to 11 September 2014), at the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI). To Minmidt, "the exchanges have particularly been on the research and exploration of the mines, but also the strengthening of bilateral cooperation in the sector of the industry," explained Liu Yuting in camera with Emmanuel Bonde.

According to Mincommerce, the exchanges have been dominated by the protection of consumer rights, one of the main missions of the SAIC. According to the Chinese vice minister, "the protection of consumers is primarily a responsibility of the government. Then comes the producers and the consumer himself who should be demanding the quality and authenticity of the product that he purchased". The protection of intellectual property was also on the agenda.

Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana emphasized that the Cameroonians consume much of the Chinese products that they appreciate in particular thanks to their accessible costs. "But it would be good to see also the Cameroonian products on the Chinese market", desired Mincommerce, noting that the country exports essentially three products to China: cotton, the raw wood and the sawn timber.

He then asked his host to raise awareness among Chinese enterprises on the potential of the national and sub-regional market, to invest in the processing of local products while promoting the label Cameroon. Liu Yuting noted that local investments can also tame the Chinese market, or there are already 18 Cameroonian companies installed.