The European Union, EU, Ambassador to Cameroon, Francoise Collet, has called on Cameroonian authorities to reinforce the respect for human rights and intensify the fight against corruption in the country.
She made the call during a cocktail party organised to mark this year’s Europe Day at her residence in the Bastos neighbourhood in Yaounde recently.
She said the EU was continuously calling on Cameroon, as a friend for over 50 years, to fully develop its potential for the benefit of its citizens.
“A reinforced protection of human rights, an improved business climate, a judicious management of public expenses, the effective fight against corruption, as well as paying more attention to youth employment, are among our shared objectives,” Francois Collet stated.
The Ambassador lauded the friendly ties between Cameroon and the EU. She saluted President Paul Biya for leading his country to ratify the Economic Partnership Agreements, EPAS, which will trigger tariff-free trade and a free exchange zone between Cameroon and the EU.
To her, the move was tailored to integrate the Cameroonian economy into the global economy. She lauded Cameroon, her host country, for fiercely fighting against the terrorist group, Boko Haram, and hospitably receiving refugees fleeing from the crisis in the Central African Republic, CAR, and Nigeria.
She promised that the EU and its member countries will continue to support Cameroon in the fight.
Francois Collet said within the national indicative programme, the EU offered FCFA 185 billion to Cameroon in 2014 and will make another offer of FCFA 220 billion in the coming months.
The Ambassador equally recalled that, despite the risk, the rehabilitation of the Figuil-Magaba road in the North Region came to an end. She said the road is very important because it opens a new corridor of land transport between Cameroon and its neighbours.
To her, the big structural projects in Cameroon are marked by the presence of the representative of the European Investment Bank, EIB, Laurence Doumenc, at the occasion. She disclosed that a regional bureau of the bank will be opened in Yaounde soon.
The local EU boss revealed that her organisation disbursed a circa FCFA 40 billion in 2014 for the execution of projects in the rural development and agricultural sectors.
In her own word she noted: “We are proud of having contributed for the construction of 87 classrooms in the East Region, for re-enforcing the cocoa sector by covering over 15 percent of the national needs in the improvement of plants, for having ensured the linking of agricultural zones in the Northwest to the market by rehabilitating 100-kilometre road”.
She remarked that the several meetings that have taken place in Cameroon and Brussels have strengthened cooperation ties between the EU and Cameroon in facing global challenges like climate change, migration and trans-border security in the Gulf of Guinea.
“We are eagerly waiting for the visit of the new EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Chistos Styliandes. Before then, We will have the pleasure to receive a strong Cameroonian delegation led by the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development next week for the first EPAS Committee meeting in Brussels,” she observed.
Within the global context, she said, the EU was appreciating the positive evolution of the Iranian nuclear issue which is on the path of peaceful negotiations led by the E3+ made up of Germany, France and United Kingdom.
