A critical moment

The natural and human potentials that Cameroon is endowed with are well known within and to a certain extent, out of the country.

The country itself is proud of these potentials and has been talking about it for decades. As fate would have it, policies are being formulated, programmes and projects initiated and other actions taken to explore and put these potentials into effective value. In effect, the word potential entails something that has the power to become more useful to society. A potential success is not yet a success but could be if circumstances are right.

One is considered to have potential if one has a natural but undeveloped ability to do something. The decision by Cameroon to organise the International Economic and Investment Conference tells of the zeal to give value to existing potentials. Cameroon, so to speak, no longer wants to spend time boasting of its potentials rather than putting them into effective use for the development of the country.

Anytime a meeting of this calibre is organised, it is an opportunity, so it is with the Yaounde International Economic and Investment Conference. It is an opportunity for Cameroon because it provides occasion for the country to sell its potentials to experts who are capable of developing them. Why would it not be for a country with such densely rich subsoil that is in harmony with the prospect of sustainable development? The Lomié deposit of nickel-cobalt-manganese has reserves valued at 54.7 million tonnes in the Nkamouna reserve.

The partial reserves of iron ore in Mbalam are evaluated at 200 million tonnes of rich iron and 1.2 billion tonnes of poor iron. The bauxite deposit of Minim-Martap and Ngaoundal has more than a billion tonnes of reserves while there are equally diamond deposits in Mobilong, uranium in Poli and rutile in Akonolinga, which are, respectively, estimated at 750 million carats, 13,125 tonnes and 3 million tonnes.

Talk of Cameroon and minds will run to a country with natural resources that are very well suited for agriculture and arboriculture; a country whose soils and climate on the coast encourage extensive commercial cultivation of bananas, cocoa, oil palms, rubber, and tea. Inland on the South Cameroon Plateau, cash crops such as coffee, sugar, and tobacco are cultivated. Coffee is a major cash crop in the western highlands, and in the north, natural conditions favour crops such as cotton, groundnuts, and rice.

Reliance on agricultural exports makes Cameroon vulnerable to shifts in their prices. Investors are expected to show interest in the agriculture sector, forestry, mining, energy, urban development, tourism and transport among others. The burning zeal in the Cameroon nation to make its natural resources a veritable platform for its emergence tells of its readiness to collaborate with foreign investors in order to develop its potentials.

The Cameroon government is quite aware that the optimal use of the country's resources can best be achieved if it opens up to foreign investors. This, of course once possible will have serious positive impact on the economy through the creation of jobs, reduction of poverty and rendering of the economy more competitive within the context of globalisation. Cameroonian authorities and other experts have two days to identify areas of concrete action as well as the means to put in place to achieve them.

And to do this, participants will reflect on a number of issues including: the macroeconomic situation of the country and growth perspective, contribution of the private sector to the development of Cameroon and Africa, Cameroon's financial attractiveness and digital economy among others. The conference will above all be occasion for Cameroon to present its potentials and state what it has done to facilitate investment in the country. In effect, it is a critical moment for the country.