Watch Out for Ripe Fruits!

The talk on every lip of members of the impressive delegation of governmental officials and those of the Cameroonian corporate world who accompanied the President of the Republic to Turkey last week is the same: the Turkish example has to be followed and even exemplified if our country resolutely wants to attain emerging economy status come 2013. 2035 is just 17 years away and nothing makes such an ambition so unattainable. Turkey was able to transform itself into an enviable robust economy with state-of-the-art infrastructure sometimes hard to find even in the most advanced economies, in just 23 years.

Visits like the one just effectuated have been organized before and we have heard about such enthusiasm before. But quite often, such came from traditional cooperation partners from the North whose business people come and go complaining of this or that without ever caring to scale difficulties. They would rather want that everything was well rolled out for them to simply come and cart away profits or whatever they had come for. But this is Turkey whose actions are speaking rather loudly. Louder than words! It did not take months or years of negotiations for a transport agreement signed between Cameroon and Turkey to see the introduction of regular flights between Douala and Yaounde and Istanbul. It took a short agreement to ensure that travel by governmental officials between the two countries be done without the cumbersome process of obtaining visas. And last week's trip to Turkey clearly vindicated that desire to ease things.

President Paul Biya's trip to this nation which is like a bridge between Europe and Asia has very many palpable advantages for our country from the dual standpoint of politics and economics. The fruits of such a visit are ripe and only need careful harvesting; take politics. Turkey's voice is becoming increasingly heard in centres of world decision-making and its influence within the Organisation of the Islamic Conference of which Cameroon is a member, makes it an important partner with which Cameroon can scale through some difficult situations. Cameroon can only score points on the world political stage by having such a country as an interlocutor.

And contacts such as those made by President Biya are important because in world diplomacy, being able to talk on a first-name basis sometimes counts in decision-making. But there is also economics. Here our country stands to gain especially as Cameroon finds in Turkey a reliable business partner ready to do things in a win-win spirit which is necessary in safeguarding national interests. The level of business is still very low; but there are prospects because, of all of the sectors proposed to Turkish investors be they of the energy sector, mining, petroleum or petrochemicals, tourism or public works, there were ready Turkish partners, coming in as joint-venture undertakings or simply running for contracts.

Two important outings by the Head of State - the first in Ankara when he visited the OSTIN industrial zone and in Istanbul where Cameroonian and Turkish business people met in a one-on-one business forum - were enough to sell the efficacy and quality of Turkish enterprises.

The political will is there as expressed by the political authorities of Turkey, be it the President of the Republic or the Prime Minister whom the Cameroonian Head of State personally met. In fact, the Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during his meeting with President Biya, expressed the desire to see exchanges go up from its present 75 million US dollars to some 500 million US dollars, given the existing potentials. Simply put, there are ripe fruits on each side of the lawn (Cameroon and Turkey). It just needs astute people to pick these fruits.

All said and done, the just-ended trip will definitely give a new thrust to relations between the two countries, as exemplified by the fact that Turkey is becoming a growing destination for Cameroonian businessmen, as can be seen in the Douala or Yaounde airports at the arrivals or departures of the now regular Turkish Airlines fights.