National Assembly - Ministers Begin Defending Bills

The bills tabled during the plenary sitting of November 16, 2013 are scrutinized in Committees.

The members of the Foreign Affairs Committee opened the sessions to scrutinize bills yesterday, November 18, 2013 for the November 2013 ordinary session of the National Assembly which is the first in the just-beginning ninth legislative period of the House. The Committee chaired by Hon. Enow Tanjong examined two bills tabled during the plenary sitting of November 16, 2013.

African Tax Administration Forum

The Minister of Finance, Alamine Ousmane Mey and the Minister Delegate at the Ministry of External Relations in charge of Relations with the Islamic World, Adoum Gargoum defended the bill to authorise the President of the Republic of Cameroon to proceed with formalities for Cameroon's accession to the Agreement on the Establishment of the African Tax Administration Forum. The bill was defended in the Foreign Affairs Committee in the presence of the Vice Prime Minister, Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Relations with the Assemblies, Amadou Ali. It is an African organization established in Kampala, Uganda on November 20, 2009, tasked with building the operational capacity of tax administrators and sharing sound practices and experiences in formulating tax policies and management. Government in the explanatory statement disclosed that Cameroon has to regularize its member status by fulfilling all internal admission formalities. This has to be done before December 2014, the date of expiry of the transitional period granted for the purpose.

Kyoto Convention

The Foreign Affairs Committee also examined the bill to authorize the President of the Republic to proceed with the formalities for Cameroon's accession to the revised Kyoto Convention, which was signed on June 26, 1999 and entered into force on February 3, 2006. The Kyoto Convention is aimed at harmonizing and streamlining customs procedures. The revised Convention includes a range of harmonized, simple and transparent rules of the Customs regime, as well as efficient Customs control activities. Government says, "It falls in line with international trade requirements, and sets a balance between Customs control activities and the collection of duties, taxes, as well as trade facilitation." Should Cameroon accede to the Convention, the country will implement international customs standards and benefit from capacity building opportunities.

Economic Zones

The Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi in the Committee on Economic Affairs, defended the bill governing Economic Zones in Cameroon. It specifically lays down the general framework for the establishment, development and management of economic zones, as well as conditions for admission of enterprises to such zones. The bill equally lists the entities authorized to supervise and manage economic zones, namely an Economic Zone Promotion Agency, a Promoter and where necessary a Manager.

Public Investment Expenditures

Members of the Committee on Finance and Budget will today scrutinize the bill to ratify Ordinance N0. 2013/1 of 5 November 2013 to extend the deadlines for committing and authorizing public investment expenditures as well as the additional period for the 2013 financial year. It is justified by the fact that at the end of the third quarter of the current financial year 2013, the level of execution of the public investment budget was abnormally low. The bill therefore extends the end of commitments to December 31, 2013 instead of November 30, 2013; end of authorizations to January 31, 2014 instead of December 31, 2013; and end of additional period to March 31, 2014 instead of February 28, 2014.

Loan Agreements

The bill to ratify Ordinance N0. 2013 /2 of 6 November 2013 to amend and supplement some provisions of Law N0. 2012/14 of 21 December 2012: Finance Law of the Republic of Cameroon for the 2013 financial year, aims to enable government to negotiate and conclude loan agreements above the debt ceiling fixed by the finance law. The explanatory statement to the bill states that government has already concluded loan agreements estimated at FCFA 164 billion and wishes to conclude further agreements with the World Bank, African Development Bank and French Development Agency. Government as per the bill wants to raise the debt ceiling from the initially fixed FCFA 200 billion to FCFA 500 billion. The aim is to finance projects such as the Flood Control Emergency Response Programme in the Far North Region, Yaounde Drinking Water Supply Project and the construction of the Yaounde-Nsimalen highway.