A politician who now heads a trading company, he counters the points of view expressed by the financial engineering statisticians with the perspective of an economic actor with experience in trade.
Managed by Mr. Ayissi, Tradimco is the very first anti-fraud document security company in Cameroon and has been in existence there for close to 25 years. It currently employs forty people and is involved in local processing, foreign trade, information and communication technologies and agro-foods. From this diverse background, its promoter, Mr. Etoundi Ayissi, is fighting for resolute action in favour of free trade.
“Despite the legitimate concerns that have been raised about our trade, due primarily to our industry’s weakness, we are convinced that well negotiated EPAs will be a stimulus for the materialisation and shaping of our economies and will enable significant improvement of its mechanisms,” affirmed Florent Etoundi Ayissi.
Ayissi went on to argue that Cameroon’s strategy for these agreements cannot be to try to conquer all markets and segments. Instead, it should respect rules shaped by experience, market stratification and production. “Around the world, market stratification is irreversible and obeys not only the tangible rule of supply and qualitative or quantitative demand, but also and especially the necessary taking into consideration of consumers’ buying power,” he stated.
He concludes his thoughts by adding that “leaving our economy’s future hanging with this indecision, which delays the ratification of the economic partnership agreements does not help to improve its clarity in the short, medium and long term even if we can understand current negotiations with our CEMAC partners.”