(Business in Cameroon) - Cameroon's Directorate-General of Customs recently hosted a meeting aimed at ensuring the consistency of the draft regulation on the creation, organization, and operation of a mixed inter-state customs brigade within the CEMAC region. 

During the meeting, “relevant” proposals were made for the purpose. For instance, it was suggested that the legal status of the staff employed by the brigade should be clarified, the nature of their works and the instrument they will need should be estimated as well as the means to evaluate their works elaborated. The participants also suggested that integration be promoted via facilitation of the transport and transit of goods and the promotion of free movement of people. Also, they estimated that the brigade should be equipped with modern non-intrusive tools (scanners, metal detectors, etc.) while the inter-state corridors should be modernized.

Despite all these proposals, Cameroonian customs indicate that they are still pondering over the matter. Meanwhile, the CEMAC commission estimates that intra-community trade is below 3% in the CEMAC region due to numerous physical and regulatory obstacles to the free movement of goods, services, capital, and persons.

According to the Commission, given the small size of national markets, CEMAC countries have no choice but to unite to provide promising prospects for the diversification of economic activities. This is the only way the community could become an emerging economic space where security and good governance would prevail by the deadline it set for itself (2025).  

S.A.