The government of Cameroon has officially given its blessings for the over 800 crafts men and women from within and without Africa showcasing their know-how at the fourth edition of the biennial International Handicrafts Fair of Cameroon (SIARC) which began on February 20 to end on March 1, 2014.

The Minister of the Small and Medium-size Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts, Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa, sat in for the Prime Minister during the opening ceremony of the ten-day show at the Tsinga exhibition village on February 24. Speaking during the ceremony attended by other government ministers and senior officials from participating countries, Prof. Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa said the consistency with which government holds the event and what it is doing on daily basis to boost the sector speak of the sector's place in the growth objectives sought for by the State and which target emergence by 2035.

He said the fact that government has constructed eight crafts villages in eight regions in five years and is finalizing works on others to make one crafts village per region testify of efforts to move the sector from its hitherto informal to the formal sector so as to propel it to significantly contributing to socio-economic development. "Year after year, the quality of craft works is increasing. We can see an improvement of the activity and their valorization is the main aspect government wants to tackle," he said.

In a random sampling of opinions of exhibitors, most of them hailed the government for keeping the flames and more so for taking exhibitions to a more spacious Tsinga fair grounds better than the courtyards of the national museum and Yaounde City Council that hosted previous editions. "There is a lot of improvement because the village is big and we have more participants.

Artisans themselves have greatly improved on their products. We pray that even if the ministry is not going to give us financial assistance, it should back us when we come up with proposals to improve on what we are doing for this is our own way of making a decent living and also contributing to our country's development," Mbome Constance, a Limbe-based fashion designer said.

Like her, Nchinda Nkeng Dairou, Ngum Dieudonné and Ngalla Willibroad Nsuh expressed optimism that with the official launch, the timidity the enveloped the show last week, due to other significant State events, could give way for serious visits of stands and buying so that when exhibitions round off next Saturday, they would not only be rejoicing for having created contacts but of making more returns as well for a better living.