The relevant documents were signed on 27 April 2024 in Riyadh (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) by Mr Alamine Ousmane Mey, Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, and Mr Hani Salem Sonbol, Managing Director of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC).

On the sidelines of the 49th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Islamic Development Bank Group held from 27 to 30 April in Riyadh, the Islamic Development Bank Group institution specialising in international trade finance and Cameroon renewed their framework cooperation agreement, following the performance deemed satisfactory by both parties of the previous framework agreement signed in April 2021.

As part of this framework agreement, out of an overall US$ 750 million, US$ 602.4 million was raised for Cameroon, i.e. 80% of the total amount. This was allocated to the following operations: funding SODECOTON’s cotton campaigns, SONARA’s imports of petroleum products, and ALUCAM’s imports of raw materials.

Under the new framework agreement, the ITFC plans to provide Cameroon with US$800 million over the next three years. These resources, which are higher than in the previous three-year period (USD 750 million), will be used to fund operations that both parties agree on, notably in the following areas: marketing of agricultural commodities such as cotton, provision of agricultural inputs, and basic energy products (oil, alumina, electricity), provision of financing lines and confirmation of letters of credit to local banks to support SMEs, facilitation of the provision of medicines and medical equipment, as well as capacity building under special programmes such as the Arab-Africa Trade Bridges Initiative (AATB).