At cooperation evaluation meeting: MINREX scribe says China leading partner boosting dev’t.

He made the revelation in Yaounde yesterday while opening a two-day meeting to evaluate Sino-Cameroonian cooperation.

This was on behalf of the Minister Mbella Mbella, who doubles as Chairman of the Interministerial Committee for Monitoring and Adoption of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

The meeting which ended January 21, is also aimed to adopt the 2025-2027 action plan of the fourth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, known as FOCAC summit. 

Attended by members of the various government administration and their Chinese counterparts, the meeting was placed under the theme: “Rethinking Sino-Cameroonian relations in light of the China-Cameroon strategic partnership”.

While evaluating Sino-Cameroonian relations in his opening remarks, Chinmoun Oumarou said China is Cameroon's leading economic and trading partner, with a significant and remarkable contribution to country's socio-economic development process.

He pointed out that Sino-Cameroonian relations were elevated to the status of a comprehensive strategic partnership at the fourth FOCAC summit in 2024. 

As such, he said the two-day session requires careful consideration to rethink the cooperation strategy with a partner whose impact on the country's socio-economic development process is well established. 

“It will therefore not only be a question of assessing achievements and gains, but also of questioning, with a view to clarifying them, Cameroon's contributions or rewards in the context of its interactions with China, particularly with regard to the multiple exemptions and facilities granted to Chinese companies in the context of market contracts relating to technical and economic cooperation, which tend to become special privileges or exceed the debt service that our country provides,” Chinmoun stressed. 

Heassured that the session will improve understanding of China's international projection and its cooperation mechanisms, in order to remove burdens that weaken and jeopardise the country's ability to optimise the multiple opportunities offered by this strategic partnership. 

Appeal to participants

Given the stakes of the interministerial committee meeting, the MINREX scribe urged members to actively participate in the discussions so that appropriate solutions may emerge for better capitalization on cooperation with China.

He said this is in view of achieving the objectives set out in the 2020-2030 National Development Strategy and ensuring the country's emergence by 2035. 

“I also hope that your discussions will be fruitful and that the recommendations made will enable the development of a cooperation strategy that is contextualized and adapted to the new direction set by the Cameroonian and Chinese leaders, as well as a strategy for optimally capturing the various opportunities offered by various mechanisms,” he added. 

It should be recalled that one of the major outcomes of the last FOCAC summit, held in September 2024, was the established the FOCAC Beijing Action Plan (2025-2027), which focused on digital economy, health, agriculture, green development, industrial cooperation and security.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3680 of Wednesday January 21, 2026