On the sidelines of the 4th Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Arab-Africa Trade Bridges (AATB) Programme, Cameroon, as a special guest, took part in the 3rd edition of the Tunisia Africa Business Meetings in Tunis on 2 to 3 July 2024. Cameroon was represented by the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Mr. Alamine Ousmane Mey.
The opening ceremony, chaired by Kalthoum Ben Rejeb, Tunisia’s Minister of Trade and Export Development, in the presence of Feryel Ouerghi Sebai, Minister of the Economy and Planning of the Republic of Tunisia, featured a noteworthy speech by Cameroon Minister Alamine Ousmane Mey. On behalf of the President of the Republic of Cameroon, H.E. Paul Biya, he expressed gratitude for the honour for the honour bestowed upon his country. Mr Alamine Ousmane Mey described economic and trade cooperation between Tunisia and Cameroon as “fruitful”, and stressed the importance of stepping up African integration towards a single market and deepening industrialisation for job creation and mobilisation of the private sector.
The Minister also addressed the challenges of food sovereignty, advocating making agriculture a priority. He argued that greater cooperation in the agro-industry is essential to ensure resilience in the face of external shocks on a continent dependent on food imports to the tune of 50 billion US dollars. In his view, food resilience is crucial for our continent. Agribusiness cooperation holds great potential for reducing our dependence on food imports.
The presence of 22 Cameroonian companies at the Business Meetings was welcomed as an opportunity to forge and develop strategic partnerships aimed at strengthening economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. At the High-Level Round Table on “Bridging the food security gap: collaborative strategies for Arab and African nations”, Mr Alamine Ousmane Mey shared Cameroon’s experience in the area of food security. He presented Cameroon’s National Response Plan to Combat Food Insecurity and Malnutrition (NRP), aimed at increasing local agricultural production to meet the growing demand for food products.
The Cameroon delegation, led by Minister Alamine Ousmane Mey and accompanied by Cameroon’s Ambassador to Tunisia, was granted an audience with Mrs Feryel Ouerghi Sebai. Discussions focused on the state of cooperation and ways of strengthening economic and trade relationships between Cameroon and Tunisia. The priorities of the Government of Cameroon, as spelt out in Cameroon’s National Development Strategy (NDS30), were also outlined. Both parties agreed on exploring all avenues to intensify an already wealthy and fruitful cooperation. The agricultural, agro-industrial, cocoa, coffee, banana, cotton, timber, tourism, new information and communication technologies, artificial intelligence, public works and training sectors were identified as areas for developing a consultation and action programme.
The two personalities welcomed the forthcoming opening of a direct air route between Tunisia and Cameroon, which should ease the movement of people and goods. They also committed to drawing on the AATB programme and organising economic meetings in both countries to bring the private sectors of the two nations closer together.
