(Business in Cameroon) - On June 18, 2014, Cameroonian Head of State, Paul Biya, enacted the law adopted in June 2014 by the Cameroonian parliament authorising the president of the Republic to ratify the agreement signed between Morocco and Cameroon on January 24, 2007 on “the encouragement and reciprocal protection of investors.”

This new legal framework of economic cooperation should enable the boosting of already dynamic trade levels between two countries which officially reached 25.5 billion FCFA in 2013. Indeed, Morocco is already present in Cameroon in the banking sector with Attijariwafa Bank (which bought SCB Crédit Agricole’s network) and Banque marocaine pour le Commerce extérieur (BMCE) ; in the distribution of drinking water with Camerounaise des eaux, a subsidiary of Morocco’s national drinking water agency, Office national de l’eau potable (Onep).

Apart from Royal Air Maroc, which is one of the most prosperous in the Cameroonian skies, the Kingdom of Morocco’s colours are also represented on the Cameroonian economic landscape by the Addoha group which put an end, since March 2014, to Lafarge’s 48-year monopoly in the production of cement in the country; or Compagnie chérifienne de chocolaterie, the chocolate manufacturer which has announced the construction of a factory in Douala.

Since the start of the year, there has been a slew of Moroccan insurance companies in Cameroon, particularly with RMA Watanya which announced the buying of two Cameroonian subsidiaries (Beneficial Life et Beneficial General Insurance) Ivorian company, Belife Insurance; as well as Wafa Assurance, which is planning a greenfield opening in Cameroon.