EU proposals reviewed to boost economic competitiveness

Improving the competitiveness of the economy and enterprises is the main subject of a two-day forum that kicked off at the Sawa Hotel in Douala on October 9.

Organised by the Competitiveness Committee with the support of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, UNIDO, and the European Union, EU, the forum sought to sensitise managers of locally-based enterprises and to validate indicators of competitiveness from the Competitiveness Observatory.

The objective is to sensitise the participants on the proposals set up by the EU and UNIDO as a pointer to the state of competitiveness of the Cameroonian economy.

Participants to the forum were representatives of the public and private sectors, universities, civil society, and economic experts, among others. “We will review the proposed variables in order that they are applicable to the development of the Cameroonian economy,” said Daniel Claude Abate, President of the Competitive Committee who doubles as the Executive President of the Cameroon Entrepreneurs Movement, MECAM, while opening the forum in the presence of Claude Ferrier, Chargé des Programmes of the EU delegation.

He expressed the fact that the absence or poor state of road infrastructure, high electricity and telephone costs, as well as the comparatively cheaper products imported to the country to locally-made products of the same quality shows that the economy still needs to attain a favourable competition level.

The Competitive Committee has members both from the public and private sectors, charged with improving the competitiveness of the economy and enterprises. The present forum is in line with competitive strategy for the economy adopted by government in August 2010.