The government of Germany will between 2014 - 2016 disburse funds amounting to 86.5 million Euros (about FCFA 56.744 billion) for the execution of diverse projects related to decentralization, rural development and the sustainable management of natural resources.

The Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT), Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi, and the German Ambassador to Cameroon, Dr. Klaus-Ludwig Keferstein, yesterday May 13 signed two accords related to the projects.

The accords comprised one, on technical cooperation, to the tune of 38.5 million Euros (about FCFA 25.256 billion) to be disbursed in form of a gift and another, on financial cooperation, to the tune of 48 million Euros (about FCFA 31.488 billion) in form of a loan.

Speaking during the ceremony, Minister Nganou Djoumessi said the loan will be tailored towards modernizing the management of public finances, development of the rural world, decentralization, sustainable management of natural resources and facilitating access to reproductive health. Meanwhile, the gift will be used for the fight against maternal mortality and support to forest and environment programmes, among others. Respective agreements related to each of the projects, he said, will be signed subsequently. The Minister disclosed that yesterday's ceremony was a culmination of inter-governmental negotiations of December 3-4, 2013. "This accord is testimony to Germany's determination to continue to support our development efforts and which translates into concrete reality the solidity of our mutually-beneficial cooperation," Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi said.

According to the German Ambassador to Cameroon, Dr. Klaus-Ludwig Keferstein, the funding is in line with the priorities of Germano-Cameroon cooperation redefined during the inter-governmental concertations prior to signing the financing accords. "Germany in its long tradition and cooperation with Cameroon and her willingness to contribute to the development and modernization of Cameroon, inscribes these engagements within the Growth and Employment Strategy Paper, which seeks to make Cameroon an emerging country, democratic and united in its diversity by 2035," the German diplomat said.

The ceremony was attended among others by the Minister of Public Health, André Mama Fouda, the Minister Delegate in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Clementine Ananga Messina, and representatives of other ministries concerned with the outlined areas of the new-found German-Cameroon cooperation.