The General Manager of the Cameroon National Shippers’ Council (CNSC), Mr. Auguste Mbappe Penda, was delighted to host a delegation of UK trade policy experts at the CNSC head office building on 22 August 2024.

The working visit, at the request of the British High Commissioner H.E. Barry Lowen, held on the sidelines of the 2nd session of the Cameroon-UK Economic Partnership Agreement Joint Committee meeting with the aim to better understand Cameroon’s foreign trade procedures and operational measures for the successful implementation trade agreements, especially the UK – Cameroon EPA and the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The delegation comprised of Anna Begley, Victoria Allard, and Mr. Khalil Bechir from the Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), accompanied by Mr. Michael Kimbi and Mrs. Bertine Bumakor from the Business and Trade Department at the British High Commission in Cameroon. Mr. CHAM Etienne BAMA, Technical Adviser No.1 at the CNSC, briefed the delegation on the various initiatives taken by the CNSC to promote foreign trade and grow Cameroon's exports in order to maximize the benefits of these Free Trade Agreements. In his presentation, Mr. CHAM placed emphasis on the conception of trade facilitation tools such as the Cameroon trade information portal, and the organisation of capacity-building programs for shippers, trade support infrastructure development along road corridors in the region and trade data tools put in place by the Cameroon National Shippers' Council for formal and informal cross border trade.

The working visit included a field trip to the Douala Port’s harbor, the Littoral Customs Sector I, the Douala Port Container Terminal and the Single Window for Foreign Trade Operations (GUCE). These are all administrations directly concerned with import and export procedures from which the delegates were able to receive first-hand information on some important steps in the clearance of merchandise. Discussions during the visit also provided an opportunity to identify major challenges in trade relations and the movement of goods between the two countries under the EPA and across Africa under the AfCFTA.

An overview of trade relations between Cameroon and the United Kingdom highlights the signing of an EPA on 9 March 2021 and ratification by the President of the Republic via Decree No. 2021/387 of 28 June 2021. This move is in continuity with the EU-Cameroon EPA ratified by Cameroon in July 2014.