Dangote Group’s investment in a new cement plant in Cameroon was held up as an example for why Nigerian businessmen should look to invest in the country.
Cameroonian Minister of Trade Maglorie Antangna urged Nigerians to look more closely at his country as a prime place for investment.
He told delegates at the third Cameroon Economic and Trade Summit in Lagos that the country’s trade and investment environment was waiting to be harnessed.
He said: “Dangote Group is currently implementing a major cement plant establishment project in Cameroon. We therefore call on other Nigerian investors to emulate Dangote Group by investing in the numerous opportunities which abound in Cameroon today.”
According to a BP Statistical Energy Survey, Cameroon produced on average 82 thousand barrels of crude oil per day in 2007, 0.1 percent of the world total.
The Republic of Cameroon lies on the eastern border of oil-rich Nigeria and is the sixth largest oil producer in the Sub-Saharan Africa.
Agriculture is the mainstay of the Cameroonian economy and accounts for 50 percent of total exports and also about 70 percent of active population is involved in agriculture. Food and export crops, livestock, fishing and forestry make the back bone of the economy.
Cameroon is engaged in a series of initiatives targeted at strengthening economic and trade relations with Nigeria.
Antagana said Nigeria was currently supplied about 23 percent of Cameroon’s products and that the plan was for both countries’ products regulatory agencies to ensure exchange of standard products.
Mr Goodie Ibru, President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the summit was an avenue of improving trade relations between the two countries.
Ibru, who was represented by Alhaji Aderemi Bello, said the summit would promote trade and investment relations between them in the years ahead. He urged governments in African countries to promote intra African trade.
Source :africanbusinessreview.co.za
