The Minister of the Economy, Planning, and Regional Development, Mr. Alamine Ousmane Mey, represented Cameroon at the 4th Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Arab-Africa Trade Bridges (AATB) Programme. The meeting took place in Tunis, in the Republic of Tunisia, on 2 – 3 July 2024. This event highlighted the economic and commercial opportunities offered by the programme for member countries, including Cameroon.
During the proceedings of this 4th Meeting of the Board of Governors, Alamine Ousmane Mey underlined the importance of the Arab-African Trade Bridges Programme for Cameroon. He stressed the benefits that the country reaps from this platform, particularly in terms of economic development, investment, and trade. The Minister of the Economy also hailed the alignment of the Cameroon government’s import-substitution policy with the prospects offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). In 2023, while world trade decreased by 5.2%, intra-African trade increased by 3.2%, reaching 192.2 billion dollars.
During the two-day meeting, member countries representatives of the Arab-Africa Trade Bridges Programme (AATB) and the Governors of the Islamic Development Bank assessed the actions implemented and examined the prospects for the Programme in the current geopolitical context. Discussions also focused on the special Food Security Programme, with a maximum budget of USD 1.5 billion. The programme is based on four main pillars: trade, investment, insurance, and infrastructure, with cross-cutting activities in capacity development and technical assistance.
The Tunis meeting also provided an opportunity to shed light on the AATB Programme, an initiative of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) of the Islamic Bank Group (IsDB), one of Cameroon’s strategic financial partners. This programme seeks to strengthen economic, trade, and investment exchanges between Arab and African countries. The multi-donor, multi-country, and multi-organisation programme brings together Arab and African countries, including Egypt, Senegal, Tunisia, Cameroon, Togo, Benin, Mauritania, Djibouti, and Guinea. Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso have recently joined the initiative.
The programme’s financial partners include the IsDB, ITFC, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), AFREXIMBANK, the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OPEC FUND).
The Board of Governors, determined to strengthen trade and investment, has supported trade funding initiatives, the promotion of export credit insurance, and trade capacity building. Given the current challenges, priority sectors identified for future action include agriculture, textiles, health, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, transport, energy, and construction equipment and technologies. These efforts are intended to equip member countries with the infrastructure they need to improve their competitiveness and catalyse trade. Since joining to the programme in 2022, Cameroon has been participating for the second time in this Council, thus establishing a promising partnership with rich and varied prospects.
