The road to development
REGIONAL INTEGRATION IS CURRENTLY AT THE TOP OF THE AFRICAN AGENDA AND CAMEROON IS IDEALLY PLACED TO ACT AS A WEST AFRICAN HUB ONCE ITS INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORK IMPROVES

Bello Bouba Maïgari Minister of State for Industrial and Commercial Development

If Cameroon’s generally successful development strategy has a weak link, it is undoubtedly infrastructure. Since Cameroon is well endowed with both natural and human resources, the country has every motive to facilitate investment in infrastructure and every reason to expect that such investments will show healthy long-term profits.
Continued economic growth at the present robust rate requires roads, bridges, railways, hydroelectric dams, port facilities and oil pipelines. Much has been done in this regard and many projects are underway, but there is still a long way to go before the country has the infrastructure its potential warrants.
Perhaps that is why the Minister of State for Industrial and Commercial Development, Bello Bouba Maïgari, is a man with a mission. And that mission boils down to encouraging investment in all sectors and at all levels.

On the path to prosperity The Douala-Yaoundé highway is Cameroon’s prime transport backbone.

Americans should be especially interested in investment opportunities in Cameroon, believes Mr. Maïgari, who briefly served as prime minister, from November 1982 to August 1983, and was his party’s presidential candidate in the 1992 elections. “Firstly, for an American, it is important to know that he can come here and be understood when he speaks English. Cameroon is a bilingual country,” he points out.
“Beside bilingualism, Cameroon’s first asset is that it has a young and well trained population,” he adds. “We are a people avid for knowledge. Today the Cameroonian diaspora, unlike other African diasporas, is mainly constituted of students and managerial staff and they are almost everywhere, including in America. There are many Cameroonians educated in U.S. universities. Thus, an American investor will find managerial staff well trained in U.S. methods.”

Mr. Maïgari adds that the country’s varied climate, ranging from the damp, tropical south to the semi-arid north, makes it possible to raise a wide variety of crops. Forests, with about 200 different species of trees, cover some 55 million acres of land.
The heavy rainfall in the south, feeding rivers that rush down the mountains to the sea, ensures ample possibilities for harnessing hydroelectric power, he notes.
Such cheap power is important for industries that consume large amounts of electricity, such as aluminum, and Cameroon has ample reserves of bauxite and alumina, among many other mineral resources. Only the lack of adequate infrastructure is holding back further development of this industry. As Mr. Maïgari explains: “subsoil resources which are not well exploited include important deposits of alumina and bauxite which, unfortunately, are situated very far from the seaport. Therefore there is a strong need for a rail line.”

For investors, Cameroon’s potential is enhanced by its strategic location and its economic ties with its neighbors. “Cameroon is the transition point between two Africas,” confirms Mr. Maïgari.
In addition to forming part of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), along with five other countries, Cameroon also participates in the wider Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), which groups together 11 countries. Both of these regional communities are working on regional integration and common trade policies with Europe.