Convention for Chinese investor protection submitted to parliament for ratification

The Cameroonian government has tabled a bill for the ratification of the promotion and mutual protection of investments between China and Cameroon. According to the bill’s terms, the convention being submitted for ratification dates back to 1997.

Seventeen years later, members of parliament are again being invited to look at the convention, no doubt because of the increasing importance of Chinese investments in Cameroon which has led to the legislation being amended.

Indeed, one might say there is a Chinese spring in investments since the Asian power has financed and snatched up all the major projects undertaken by the Cameroonian government.

Indeed, Chinese involvement is apparent in the construction of the Kribi deep water port, the Douala-Yaoundé and Yaoundé-Nsimalen highways, the Lom Pangar and Memevé’élé dams and various real estate and agricultural projects, to name a few.

From a strictly trade-oriented point of view, the Chinese embassy to Cameroon has revealed that trade between the two countries culminated in 1.8 billion dollars (around 800 billion FCfa) in 2012, compared to 170 million dollars (approximately 85 billion FCfa) in 2000 alone. This represents an increase by more than 800% in 10 years.