A delegation of the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry in South Africa was in Douala to prepare a platform for collaboration in the domain of construction and engineering, infrastructure, tourism, pharmaceutical, health care and mining sectors as well as programme exchange.

The Representative of the Mayor of Durban, Stanley Xulu, said they are in Cameroon to open the doors in different sectors of the economy. Promoting partnership between public and private sector means a lot to them, reason why through the cooperation, Cameroon businessmen will have the opportunity to invest in South Africa and Durban in particular and vice-versa.

He revealed that Durban is rich in mineral resources like gold and coal and that the exchange in export will be one of the businesses that will be happening through the kind of business tie they are here to create.

The Director of East and Central Africa Department of Trade and Industry in SA, Lebogang Makoloi intimated that Cameroon is strategic for South Africa mainly because of the role the Douala port plays in the Central African Sub Region.

To him, the Central African Republic, Chad and Congo Brazzaville have terminals at the Douala port and doing business with Cameroon will give them a foothold in the aforementioned countries.

The Vice President of CCIMA, Ekoko Mukete said there have been a lot of economic missions from the government level between the two countries with Cameroon taking delegations to South Africa and South Africa bring delegations to Cameroon, but not much effective things have happened. He was optimistic when he said Cameroon businessmen should take opportunity of the Durban cooperation because it is for real.

The initiative, he said, will consolidate the existing strong trade links between the two countries though the balance of trade is in favour of South Africa with FCFA 58 billion representing the volume of Cameroon’s imports from SA and FCFA one billion representing Cameroon’s exports to SA.