Emergence: Korean experience inspires Cameroon

Cameroonians who lived and studied in Korea say they are ready to put at the service of the country’s emergence vision what they tapped from the Korean development experience for 2035 to be a veritable turning point for Cameroon’s economy.

Grouped under the banner, KOICA Alumni Association Cameroon (KAAC), the association of former beneficiaries of KOICA scholarships and training programmes, the Cameroonians organised a one-day conference yesterday November 12 on, “the contribution of KAAC towards emerging Cameroon using Korean development experience.”

According to the President of KAAC, Mrs Amina Abdul, the goal was to share knowledge acquired in Korea by presenting studies, research and bench mark models of some areas of studies that could enhance Cameroon’s development vision.

These included electronic governance, economic development, human resources, public administration and public management. Roundtable and plenary discussions centred among others on, “Korean development strategies and Cameroon-Korea cooperation” and “key elements of Korean development and the application to achieving Cameroon’s development vision.”

Various speakers who took to the rostrum lauded Cameroon-Korea cooperation which they all qualified as excellent, growing from strength to strength and mutually beneficial to all. Sitting in for the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, the Director of Cooperation with Emerging Countries at the ministry, Pascale Essisima, said the long-standing cooperation between the countries has borne diverse fruits.

He said KOICA’s contribution to Cameroon’s economy is in the fields of agriculture with the mechanized rice farming, e-procurement for public contracts and the recent construction of the emergency ward in Yaounde.

He announced a FCFA 28 billion accord to be signed between the two countries in the days ahead for construction of a referral hospital in Garoua as telling of growing and fruitful Cameroon-Korea ties