(Business in Cameroon) - On November 16, 2021, in Yaoundé, Minister of Decentralization and Local Development (Minddevel), Georges Elanga Obam (photo) presided over the official presentation of the Council's International Economic Forum, an event to be organized from December 3 to 5, 2021.  

Thee event, which is organized by the United Councils and Cities of Cameroon (UCCC), the association of Cameroon’s 360 communes and 14 urban communities, will be held in Yaoundé.

“ The Councils’ International Economic Forum aims to promote and attract financing for value-added communal projects. Its specific aims are notably to present and promote the deposits still active on the Cameroonian soil to national and international investors, elaborate basic economic projects to fight youth and women unemployment, development public-private partnership between communes and investors for selected projects. The forum will also help promote decentralized cooperation by twining Cameroon’s communes with french ones…,” explained Augustin Tamba, National president of the UCCC. 

According to the Mindevel, the dynamic spurred by the forum will reduce rural exodus and favor urban emigration thanks to the installation of wealth and business creation centers and the creation of business opportunities through the “communes as production centers” concept.  

According to the UCCC, France is one of the partners of that forum. For the united councils, the partner country shows its will to support decentralized territorial authorities in their bid to gain more autonomy, promote local governance, and create wealth. In preparation for the forum, the French Institute of Yaoundé will host the Cameroon-France decentralized cooperation day, on December 2. Participants of the upcoming event will include Cameroonian and French municipalities as well as investors, to demonstrate that Cameroon still has several opportunities “to support the Economic Francophonie.”  

S.A.