Cameroon Office Hosts Dialogue On Africa-Europe Trade

Participants posed for a group photo.

Related Content

Features

• Youth Employment – Key to Conflict Prevention, Poverty Reduction
• Cameroonian Youths March in Honor of World AIDS Day

At-A-Glance

• The World Bank and Youth

Websites

• Youthink!, the World Bank’s youth portal
• The World Bank in Cameroon
• The World Bank in Africa
• Blog: Africa Can End Poverty

YAOUNDE, February 23, 2009—Over 100 aspiring economists from five high schools in Yaoundé and 13 instructors were invited to World Bank offices in Cameroon on February 19 to commemorate Youth Day, a national holiday observed on February 11 each year.

It was the opportunity for the students to participate in a three-hour discussion on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), a trade accord that the EU has proposed to Africa, Carribean, Pacific (ACP) countries. Cameroon signed an interim EPA on January 15, 2009. It is so far the only country in Central Africa to have taken the first step toward a permanent agreement.

The exchange was led by Chantal Elombat, who heads Cameroon’s National Steering Committee on EPAs, and Delphine Tommy, an EU business representative. Other participants included members of the national chapter of the Youth Development and Peace Network.

Students echoed concerns expressed by civil society organizations and labor unions across the continent over the general structure and certain provisions of EPAs. In particular, some wanted to know if goods imported from Europe to Cameroon would be duty free, thereby potentially weakening local producers; or what quality standards would the EU implement to ensure that imported goods do not pose any threat to public health. Others expressed outright skepticism of the accord altogether, which in their view appeared to be a one-way deal benefitting the EU at the expense of Cameroon; still others wondered if the world economic crisis would have any impact on EPAs negotiations.

Addressing the students’ concerns, Mrs. Tommy presented the general structure of the EPA, its objectives, what steps will be next, and the overall status of negotiations toward a final accord.

Giving the Cameroonian Government’s perspective, Mrs. Elombat acknowledged certain shortcomings, such as the lack of funding for regional infrastructure projects aimed at boosting integration. She further stressed how important regional integration is and highlighted the opportunities that exist within the region’s economic and monetary community (CEMAC) which remain poorly exploited. She outlined how CEMAC is falling behind as opposed to other regions in Sub-Saharan Africa, such as ECOWAS. “These pitfalls are holding back economic growth in the region, especially in Cameroon, a country that was supposed to set a good example,” she deplored.