Germany pledges support of rural dev't

Germany has pledged their support of rural develepoment during a Germano-Cameroon development experts meeting in Yaounde yesterday.

The Federal Republic of Germany has in the past 50 years supported the government of Cameroon through some of its priority areas that hinge on decentralisation, forest biodiversity, governance and maternal mortality.

The areas of cooperation have since then witnessed progress urging government negotiations in 2013 to offer more support, in rural development.

Opening a two-day Germano-Cameroon inter-government meeting in Yaounde yesterday November 11, 2015, experts were ready to chart the way forward for sustainable rural development.

The delegation leader of the Federal Republic of Germany, Prof Dr. Christophe Kohlmeyer; “In rural development you can do everything but we want to do the most important things with the biggest impact in order to help this country to become a middle income economy.”

In the company of the German Ambassador to Cameroon, Holger Mahnicke, Prof Dr. Christophe Kohlmeyer restated that Cameroon's ambition is to be self sufficient in food supply in the Central African sub-region. Offering jobs to rural youths as ways of keeping them out of harmful activities was also of concern.

The Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Yaouba Abdoulaye, said the necessity to allot substantial financial resources to earmarked sectors was prerequisite to developing the rural sector as promised. He insisted on the need for both partners to remain hardnosed in the identification of projects with respect to sectoral programmes of the concerned ministries.

He however noted with dismay, the hitches to the smooth implementation of the over 98.5 million Euros (about FCFA 646 billion) 2014-2016 three-area development programme.

He outlined procedural complexities, delays in the issuance of non-objection certificates and the inefficiency of some experts on the part of its development partners. Yesterday’s get-together was basically to plan and programme 2017-2019 triennal development projects binding both countries.

Notwithstanding, the German delegation pledged sustainable support in all areas of economic development. They stressed that they were ready to maintain Cameroon’s green sector.

“It is not only a bilateral venture which we are working for but a global task that we are working together,” said Prof Dr. Christophe Kohlmeyer. He noted Cameroon’s rich natural resources in the Congo Basin were huge and needed to be preserved.