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Louis Paul Motaze, Minister of Economy (Minepat), signed with Eximbank China, on 4April in Yaoundé, a concessional loan agreement (FCfa 89.4 billion) and a preferential buyer credit agreement (FCfa 326.42 billion) for phase II of the construction project of the deep water port of Kribi. Which brings it to a total of FCfa 415.82 billion with an interest rate of 2%. And the repayment term is 20 years, with a grace period of 7 years.

The different components of this second phase are the extension of the dyke by 675 metres (m), the reconfiguration of the access channel, the construction of a container terminal with a 700m-long dock to double the current capacities and provide twice more handling equipment than in phase I, to increase productivity. “Phase II thus appeared as crucial and above all, its completion before 2020 became a key point for the additional demand in traffic to meet a substantial offer in operational structures”, declared Louis Paul Motaze.

Still according to Minister of Economy, the contribution of the Chinese partner, representing 85% of the global cost of the project, will be added to the remainder evaluated at FCfa 68.5 billion, corresponding to 15% of the total cost of said project and paid for by the container terminal concessionaire (the Bolloré-CHEC-CMA CGM consortium) in the framework of the partnership contract.

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Rita Akana

09.Apr.2017

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The Cameroonian Minister of Economy, (Minepat) Louis Paul Motaze, and the Secretary General (SG) of the Central African Economic Community (CEEAC), Ahmad Allam-Mi exchanged on 5 April in Yaoundé, on “CEEAC’s Border Programme”.

Regarding this “CEEAC Border Program” which was the subject to the request sent by the Minepat on 10 March 2017, Ahmad Allam-Mi acknowledged receipt and reassured Mr Motaze that his request for funding to replenish the Special Allocation Fund, with 5 million Euros (FCFA 3.275 billion), was received by the General Secretariat of CEEAC.

Mr Allam-Mi subsequently indicated that this request was approved by the General Secretariat who made a request to the European Union delegation on 27 March 2017. The SG pointed out that the amount, 5 million Euros, would be taken from the priority area “Political integration and cooperation in terms of peace and security” of the 11^th European Development Fund for Central Africa.

The SG estimated that for a better integration in the “CEEAC Border Programme”, it is preferable that the action be developed so as to support in priority, management and security operations at the Cameroon-Nigeria border with a larger geographic reach also covering Chad and the Central African Republic.

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Rita Akana

09.Apr.2017

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The Cameroon Telecommunication Corporation, CAMTEL and the United Bank for Africa, UBA have signed a partnership agreement that will facilitate online transactions for customers of the telecom company.

The agreement was signed in Douala recently at the headquarters of UBA Cameroon. By the agreement, the pan African bank offers the state corporation access to an online payment platform, ‘U-Collect’ for financial transactions and payment of bills.

Isong Udom and David Nkoto Emane, managing directors of UBA Cameroon and CAMTEL respectively, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective companies in the presence of top executives. 

U-Collect is an online payment platform where customers use bank cards to effect transactions through an easy-to-use application. For CAMTEL, it will be used to improve customer satisfaction and considerably reduce cues at its different branches across Cameroon.

Speaking at the signing ceremony Isong Udom, Managing Director and CEO of UBA Cameroon congratulated the CAMTEL team for the work done internally to arrive at the agreement. He lauded the efforts made by the telecommunication giant in providing a vast variety of products and services. He also emphasized that the integration of the U-Collect online payment platform into CAMTEL services is a major step in the right direction.

The CAMTEL general manager for his part, expressed gratitude for the warm reception at the UBA Cameroon head office. He equally highlighted negotiations that had been going on for more than a year in buildup to the finalization of the agreement.

The signing of the agreement, according to David Nkoto Emane, falls in line with the company’s drive towards modernization for secure financial transactions for an improved customer care and satisfaction. 

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Mbi James

05.Apr.2017

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Mahamat Abbas Toli has finally been Commissioned as the new Governor of the Bank of Central African states, BEAC in Yaounde. The Chadian Who was former Minister of Economy and later Finance takes over from the Equato Guinean Lucas Abaga Nchama who administered the sub regional institution for seven years.
Abbas Toli is no stranger to BEAC, haven been Secretary General of the bank between 2008 and 2012. He is in charge at a time when the CEMAC zone is facing exogenous shocks from the drop in oil prices and terrorism in some countries. He must see to it that the “franc CFA” remains stable in the face of the financial turbulence.
Important strategic reforms have been taken by leaders of the sub region to put to rest the crisis in the zone and Abbas Toli as a technician will have to ensure the operationalisation of these reforms.
Elected on the 30 July 2016 at the Extra ordinary session of CEMAC in Equatorial Guinea, Toli will be assisted by Cameroonian born, Dieudone Evou Mekou.

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Rita Akana

02.Apr.2017

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The port infrastructure delivered over the past two years has taken a long time, but remains out of service despite the promise of an effective start in the first quarter of 2017, announced in December 2016 by Patrice MELOM, its managing director.

Despite the fact that it has been ready since 2015, it can be seen that the autonomous port of Kribi is still satisfied with the simulation of arrivals and departures from ships, but that in addition to these virtual maneuvers, aircraft such as tugs Corroded by rust will soon be good only for breakage if not transferred abroad for technical review.
Patrice Melom the Port's Managing Director had declared to the head of the European Union delegation in Cameroon on the 1 December 2016, that in the course of the first quarter of 2017, the Kribi autonomous port would welcome its first commercial vessel. Unfortunately, It is not so.


Camcord sought to know why the port is not yet operational. And an official of the Central Administration said, "This is due to delays in the signing of contracts with consortia awarded concessions for the management of multi-purpose and container terminals. " Amongst these consortia of operators are
Dutch company Smit Lamnaco, the winner of the towing and landing contract (which has been contracted since 2 February), the Necotrans-KPMO (polyvalent terminal) and Bolloré-CMA CGM-CHEC (container terminal) consortia Recruited since August 2015. They continue to wait for government approval to invest their respective terminals. Planned for the 2 February 2017 the  signing of these contracts was postponed to a date not yet specified for unspecified reasons.

The Kribi deep-sea port has 650 m of platforms, of which 350 m for the container terminal and 265,5 m for the multipurpose terminal. The two terminals have respective capacity of 300,000 Twenty Equivalent Unit (TEU) per year and 1.2 million tonnes per year. The second phase of construction of this infrastructure, which is being handled by the Chinese company CHEC, with financing from Eximbank China, is to extend the 700 m container terminal to 1050 m, As well as the construction of mineral and hydrocarbon terminals.

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Rita Akana

02.Apr.2017

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Isragro, an Israeli structure specialized in improving farming profitability is organizing, in June 2017, an economic mission for Cameroonian operators in this sector of activity.  

According to the pro-government daily who revealed this information, this mission is meant to expose the Cameroonian operators to the treasures of an extremely developed Israeli agriculture. The goal is also, for the Cameroonian participants, about immersing themselves in the Israeli experience in sectors such as hydraulics and renewable energy, and establishing partnerships.

This project, benefiting from the support of the Israeli embassy in Cameroon, is locally organized by a company called Human and Animal Protection (HAP), local representative of Isagro. As a reminder, in terms of cooperation between Israel and Cameroon in agriculture, producers from the town of Massakal, in the Far North region, are already experimenting with the Israeli drip irrigation technology, which enables farmers in dry areas to improve their yields.

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Rita Akana

01.Apr.2017

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