The University of Dschang recently organized a seminar that brought together academics and experts to discuss on the valorization of the transport sector, a key factor in promoting economic growth.

Cameroon has a coastline of about 590 km, 9133.69 km of paved roads linking different parts of the country and trade corridors to CEMAC states, four autonomous ports (Douala, Kribi, Limbe, and Garoua), and the potential to have even more dry ports, added to its diversified transport sector (road, rail, air, and sea). These are some of the country’s geographical riches highlighted by Alex Nkondje, CNSC’s Director of Trade Facilitation and Transport Observatory during a seminar organized at the University of Dschang on 15 December 2021 under the theme "Transport and Transit of Goods (TTG) in Cameroon". "Quite a pertinent theme at a time when the world, amidst strained international relations, is facing health, security, and economic crises", remarked Professor Georges Wandji, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences (Fseg).

With a total of 23,414,407 tonnes of goods and 9,480,814 cars having passed through its borders between 2000 and 2018, Cameroon has the potential to further increase the volume of this flourishing business segment for an upturn in foreign currency earnings. Professor Ebenezer Kenguep, an expert in the transport and transit of goods, notes that legal instruments such as agreements regulating transit operations along Central Africa’s trade corridors signed on 13 April 1999 in Douala, clearly outline the sector’s functioning in the light of the 2020-2030 National Development Strategy (NDS30). The main difficulty to overcome in view of increasing profitability is the facilitation of trade and administrative procedures. This will help reduce the 21-day clearance time for goods at the Douala seaport, and freight bound for cities such as N'Djamena and Bangui.

Source: Cameroon Business Today, 05-01-2022