Cameroon publishes 2012 conciliatory report

Cameroon has published its 2012 conciliatory report of transparency in the extractive industries initiative, the first after ascending the “Compliance Country Status” on October 17, 2013.

The report officially presented to the public in Yaounde on Monday December 29 was adopted earlier on the same day by the national committee of the transparency in extractive industries and respects the December 31, 2014 deadline given by the international committee.

Prepared with technical expertise of a British firm, Moore Stephens, the 34-page report presents conciliatory statistics between what is published by the private and public actors involved in oil, mining and transport of oil and the State.

The report takes into consideration production and revenue from the various sectors and shows a variation margin of -0.1 per cent which officials of the British firm said was acceptable.

Successive speakers during the ceremony lauded the commitment of both the public and private sectors and the civil society to institute transparency in the extractive industrial sector.

According to the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Technological Development, Dr Fuh Calistus Gentry, it is hard attaining the compliance status but much more difficult consolidating it but all is being done to remain there and tap from what the status offers in terms of attracting investors for socio-economic development. “We must put all hands on deck and start preparing the 2013 conciliatory report now,” he said.

Presiding at the ceremony, Finance Minister, Alamine Mey, said being a compliant country makes Cameroon a remarkable destination where the use of resources generated from the extractive industries is probably one of the best in the world. “This is to say investors who are interested in our sector of activity notably oil, mining, transport of oil will see a signature that is respecting commitments at the international level.

It is also a strong message at the international level for investors that where they are operating, the country is in full compliance with the extractive industries exigencies,” he said.

Fruits of it, the Minister noted, is already seen in the interest shown by companies in the exploration as well as in the exploitation of the oil sector. “We see that production is increasing from 21 million barrels, we have gone to 24 million barrels and next year we will probably reach 31.1 million barrels.

This is also made based on resources injected and investments made which will help our country benefit from more resources to support its activities in the budget and also communities to benefit from investments made at the local level for their development,” the Minister added.

He announced that the 2013 report will be prepared during the first quarter of 2015 so as to meet the December 31, 2015 deadline for its publication.