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Both countries, who want to consolidate their places as locomotive in central Africa, aimed to join the fold of emerging countries by 2035 by rehabilitating their economic policy.

Both countries, who want to consolidate their places as locomotive in central Africa, aimed to join the fold of emerging countries by 2035 by rehabilitating their economic policy.

The goal declined by the leaders of Cameroon to an emerging country by 2035 will inevitably pass through developmental projects. Twenty-five years from the deadline announced, the road ahead is certainly long, because of specific economic and industrial system. Indeed, the latest report on the Cameroonian economy presented on October 22nd, 2010 in Douala by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), after a year of investigation on the General Census of Business (RGE), shows a strong dependence of the national economy to the tertiary sector.

The employers of both countries expressed the wish to make "Cameroon and Gabon, the locomotive of the sub-region a bit like the model offered by the Franco-German tandem in Europe."

Of the 93,969 active enterprises and institutions listed in Cameroon, 86% are SMEs, while 85% belong to the tertiary sector. This heavy reliance on service sector may not actually trigger the development of the country and concerned the Group of employers of Cameroon (GICAM), to more so as, at the same time, the secondary sector ranks second with 13.1% against 0.4% of firms listed only for the primary sector. Based on these data, economic experts and analysts agree that "the tertiary of Cameroon's economy is not a locomotive for the country's development, given that the sector has no added value and doesn't generate many jobs."

Locomotive of CEMAC
Gabon, with an estimated population of 1.5 million inhabitants, has enormous natural and mineral wealth. The stated purpose of the authorities, which also emerges as a developing country over the next twenty-five years, appears to be an achievable challenge. And for good reason, the Gabonese economy, according to the Confederation of Gabonese Employers (CPG), is largely dominated by the primary sector, which concentrates 55% of the country's total production. Its current structure can be a lever for indisputable development in the sense that the primary sector that creates wealth, and therefore stimulates growth. The primary sector, which largely occupies the leading place, followed by the tertiary sector with 29% of domestic production, and then come the secondary sector with 8% of production, while the non-market services sector closed the loop at nearly 8% of the country's total production.
With a strong dependence of the Cameroonian economy on the service sector, boosting growth becomes difficult, especially since it is an area "difficult to control, where the informal plays a prominent role." The situation is particularly complicated, since 86% of Cameroonian enterprises are SMEs.
If this economic model has its successes, it is difficult to stimulate a genuine industrial development, a prelude to a strong and sustainable growth.
Locomotive of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), with nearly half of the resources of the sub-region, Cameroon, which has nearly a population of 20 million people, can no long rely on these assets to strengthen its leadership.

The example of the Franco-German tandem
It goes without saying that the authorities' decision to engage in structural projects, like the construction of deepwater ports in Limbé and Kribi, projects of exploitation of minerals, including iron, diamonds, bauxite and cobalt, hydropower, oil and gas, is part of a policy of industrialization of the country because "the government is aware that is what creates wealth and develops the country. It is the sense of political ambition that the Head of State Paul Biya offers to its fellow citizens," says the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Land Management.

In the wake of the fiftieth anniversary of Gabon's independence in August 2010, the Gabonese authorities during a meeting between Cameroonian and Gabonese employers' associations in Douala, respectively GICAM and CPG, reiterated their ambition to make "Gabon an emerging and industrial country, where companies create jobs and wealth, synonymous with economic growth." This is an economic development model that focuses on production and processing of local products, and on the rule of industry. The announcement of structuring projects by President Bongo Odimba fits into this logic of industrialization and the emergence of Gabon in the next quarter century. Employers' associations in both countries have expressed the wish to make "Cameroon and Gabon, the locomotive of the subregion, a bit like the Franco-German tandem in Europe." This is an ambitious political and economic program, whose materialization requires going beyond mere intentions, moving to concrete actions.

Achille Mbog Pibasso, Douala