At 4th Cameroon Investment Forum: Investment Promotion Agency marketing country’s potentials to investors.

The forum, portraying Cameroon as a profitable destination for investment on the continent, is attracting more productive and direct investments in agriculture, fisheries and livestock value chains.  

The forum to run till Friday April 19, is held under the theme: “Attracting productive investments in the agriculture and fisheries value chains to intensify the import-substitution drive in Cameroon: focus on rice, maize, fish, milk and oil palm sectors”.

After three years of disruption in the yearly business rendezvous due to the global health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Douala forum has brought together national and international delegations of players in the economic sector from Russia, India, Arab World, parts of Africa and Europe.

Present at the opening ceremony were also different government ministers, including the Minister of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts, Bassiliken III Achille; Minister Delegate at the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development in charge of Planning, Paul Tasong.

For three days, the forum will feature two ministerial panel discussions, five thematic discussions, exhibitions, B2B meetings networking, amongst others.

While welcoming the investors present at the opening ceremony, the Douala City Mayor, Dr Roger Mbassa Ndine, said this edition’s theme ties squarely with the law granting competence to decentralised collectivities. 

As such, he noted that the city of Douala has already engaged projects patterning to the sectors IPA has laid interest on to curb importation of basic agricultural produce. 

In his speech to the youth on February 10, 2024, the Head of State, President Paul Biya, invited them to invest in local production and seize the opportunities in the import substitution drive for agriculture, livestock and fisheries. 

As indicated by the Interim General Manager of IPA, Boma Donatus, the import substitution drive prioritises the production of staple foodstuffs such as rice, maize, soya, millet, sorghum and fish as well as the production of movable goods based on raw materials and services that meet development needs, to limit imports. 

Boma noted that according to the National Institute of Statistics, Cameroon spent 1,325 billion FCFA importing goods and services in the second quarter of 2023, corresponds to an increase of 2,744 billion FCFA. 

Boma said as suggested by President Paul Biya in his end-of-year address to the nation on December 31, 2023, the Investment Promotion Agency is leading the way in promoting import-substitution. 

He noted that the Cameroon Investment Forum is therefore the appropriate framework for accelerating investment in the growth sectors targeted by the Head of State to reduce the country’s trade deficit. 

Prospects of import-substitution

Talking on the prospects of import-substitution, the President of the Cameroon Union of Enterprises, known by its French acronym, GeCAM, Celestin Tawamba, evoked some of the hindrances that government needs to address in order the succeed in import-substitution.

Quoting statistics, Tawamba said Cameroon imported 841,464 tonnes of rice with monetary value worth 264 billion FCFA as of 2022. He said close to the same amount is spent importing milk and fish. 

Tawamba added that import-substitution of rice, for example, cannot be successful when land is needed to farm rice and there is an existing issue with land titles from the ministry in charge. 

Though he said the three ministries in charge with the import-substitution drive have been doing a lot, Tawamba advised government to invest more on agriculture and desist from relegating the sector to retired workers.

“Cameroon is a good risk”

As panelists took turns to address the issues plaguing the business climate in Cameroon, Dr Diana Acha Morfaw, President Board of Directors of IPA, laid emphasises on the riches Cameroon has to offer to investors. 

She said "Cameroon is so rich that we can't even argue on who we are".

Dr Diana Acha Morfaw added that Cameroon's reputation as Africa in miniature, with all the climatic conditions can grow anything, anywhere.  

"We have the human resources; we have our realities that we are not hiding. We like you to come to classroom knowing the challenges, but Cameroon is resilient, the government is working on it," she told investors.

Since the creation of IPA, she continued, the law has been reformed three times and it will be reformed a fourth time. That, she said, is because government listens to investors and the private sector. 

"There is issue of energy shortage, but the government is working on it. Cameroon has all the minerals one can think of…if we don't have the right partners, the resources will not be tapped. The companies that are in Cameroon, some have been present since post-independence…if the country was that bad, why did the companies not leave?" she questioned. 

She enjoined the investors to think of "development", while investing to make money. She noted that IPA gives incentives to investors and government has granted so much in tax reduction.

MAGZI, Kribi Port engage to accompany investors 

On the sidelines of activities that characterised the opening ceremony of the forum was the signing of convention between IPA and the Kribi Port Authority.

The convention signed with the Kribi Port Authority was basically for three reasons namely; to increase investments in the country, better the business environment in the country, build partnerships that produce jobs, enhance credibility proving that IPA is realising its mission ascribed to it - to make sure that Cameroon remains a good business risk, where people invest to produce wealth. 

Meanwhile, in another convention signed between IPA and Mission for the Development of the Industrial Zone, known by its French acronym, MAGZI, both parties agreed to make all their efforts to promote the effective implementation of the framework agreement. 

In terms of promotional support, the parties will grant each other equal visibility to the collaboration, through co-branding or the insertion of their respective logos, provided that the communication concerned is consistent with the ethics of the other part. 

In addition to the scope mentioned above, the parties undertook to work jointly to promote a strong, sustainable and inclusive economy, to support investors through the implementation of joint projects and all other exchanges of services and benefits, allowing the parties to optimise foreign direct investments in Cameroon.

MAGZI committed to pay particular attention to investors coming from IPA and wishing to set up their businesses in its industrial zones. 

It shall communicate to the IPA the potential investment projects available within its various industrial zones or for the creation of these in public-private partnership. 

The entity shall participate as far as possible in events organised by IPA on the national territory and outside if necessary. 

IPA, meanwhile, undertook to facilitate the procedure for eligible investors wishing to establish themselves in the MAGZI industrial zones.