Today, 10 August 2022, Mr. Auguste Mbappe Penda, General Manager of the Cameroon National Shippers' Council (CNSC) and Statutory Treasurer of the Union of African Shippers' Councils (UASC), officially opened the UASC sub-regional experts’ workshop on the role of Shippers' Councils in the implementation of the AfCFTA.

Having as co-chair Mr. Djougoune Abdoulaye Mourra, General Manager of the Chadian Shippers' Council, Mr. Auguste Mbappe Penda welcomed the participants and wished them a successful session at this workshop organised by the General Secretariat of the UASC headquartered in Douala.

During the two-day workshop moderated by UASC’s Secretary General, Mr. Ogoula Giscard Lilian, and facilitated by seasoned experts, participants are expected to come up with a number of recommended actions to be implemented at the level of the UASC and assess the commitment of shippers' councils in the implementation of the AfCFTA. The AfCFTA partly integrates the transport, trade facilitation, logistics and international trade sectors. “As shippers' councils and actors in trade facilitation, we will play our part in the implementation of the AfCFTA," Mr. Ogoula Giscard Lilian remarked, visibly satisfied with the turnout of African shippers' councils at the Douala meeting.

Participants from UASC member states such as Burkina Faso, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea Conakry, Niger, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad and of course Cameroon, will from 10 to 12 August 2022, be treated to a series of presentations and discussions on pertinent themes.