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Paul Biya promises that he and Cameroon will support the new Secretary General of Francophonie

Paul Biya promises that he and Cameroon will support the new Secretary General of Francophonie
  • Comments   -   Saturday, 23 May 2015 08:29

(Business in Cameroon) - From April 13 to 16, 2015, Canadian native, Michaëlle Jean, Secretary General of Francophonie, devoted her second official visit to Africa to Cameroon since her appointment to her new post which impacts French-speaking countries.

 

Secretary General of Francophonie, Michaëlle Jean, who completed her four-day official visit to Cameroon on April 16, 2015, received a warm welcome from Cameroonian President Paul Biya. On April 14, 2015, President Biya met at Yaoundé’s Palais de l’Unité for an hour with the first female to be appointed to this post.  

In a toast offered by the President and the First Lady to Cameroon’s guest, Paul Biya stated his determination to support Michaëlle Jean in her role as head of the Organisation international de la Francophonie (OIF).  “Your distinguished university career and your past as an admired States woman assure us that you will execute your mission well. Know that you can count on my support and that of Cameroon,” stated President Biya.

According to President Biya, the decision made by the member countries of the Francophonie to make the former journalist and Governor General of Canada the first woman to hold “the high office” of Secretary General of the OIF “is a tribute” to her “personal journey”. He went on to say that this decision “also recognises the eminent role Canada plays within the French-speaking community.”

Reacting to what she referred to as the “exceptional welcome” extended to her by the Cameroonian authorities, the Secretary General of the Francophonie spoke about the support her organisation would be providing to Cameroon as a victim of attacks made by the Nigerian terrorist sect, Boko Haram. “I would like to say to Cameroon that it is not alone” in the crusade against Boko Haram, stated Michaëlle Jean as she likened terrorism to a “cancer” which “is seeking to take root via all society’s points of access.”  

 

Economic cooperation on the menu

Before her meeting with the president at Palais de l’Unité, the Secretary General of the Francophonie, who arrived in Cameroon on April 13, 2015 in the evening, had previously met with the Prime Minister, Philémon Yang, and had had a working meeting at the Ministry of External Relations where talks focused on economic cooperation between the Francophonie and Cameroon. In the spirit of economic cooperation, Michaëlle Jean, who received an honorary doctorate from Université de Yaoundé I, met with local business people on April 16, 2015.

“The OIF isn’t a lending institution, but it can provide professional training to young entrepreneurs and targeted training for sectors deemed to be important to the economy,” indicated Secretary General Jean when speaking with economic operators before going on to specify that her organisation now has “a very ambitious strategy” for economic cooperation between member countries. “These are concrete efforts that begin with partnerships between States and businesses followed by the implementation of start-up incubators and start-up innovation,” she noted.  

In an official release issued by the OIF before Michaëlle Jean’s arrival in Cameroon, the Secretary General indicated that “cooperation and linkages between the Republic of Cameroon and the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie are rich and fruitful. This is particularly why it was important for me to visit Cameroon on my second official visit to Africa since assuming my appointment.”

Secretary General Jean, whose Chief of Staff is Cameroonian academic, Jean Louis Atangana Amougou, had also indicated that “with the most diversified economy in Central Africa, Cameroon can play a major role in the implementation of the economic strategy for the Francophonie. To this end, I would like the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie and Cameroon to intensify their collaboration.”  

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