By Doh James Sonkey
The President of the United Councils and Cities of Cameroon, UCCC, Mayor Augustin Tamba of Yaounde 7 has invited the population to converge on the Yaounde Conference Centre on June 2 to 4, 2025 to participate at the 3rd edition of the Councils International Economic Forum, JEICOM 2025. He dished out the invitation recently for people to participate in what will constitute a real active triangulation which brings into synergy: – the State of Cameroon which provides the entire framework of incentives, facilitation and support for projects in Councils, – Financial institutions (investors, investment funds, technical and financial partners) and other groups which propose solutions, present current or future commitments with the RLAs, reveal the different types of support available for financing municipal projects. – The RLAs as either bearers or beneficiary of development programmes, who take advantage of these opportunities to enlist their initiatives at the available counters, or to testify and create emulation in a «Bench-marking» perspective.
He said ‘‘the year 2025 being a pivotal year in our country, the development of municipalities through the realisation of value-added projects is our way of making our contribution to the revival of the national economy and the resolution of the thorny problem of youth unemployment in response to the call of the Head of State, His Excellency Mr. Paul Biya.’’
Placed under the banner of pragmatism, efficiency and above all the operationalisation of achievements, Jeicom25 will witness the wake of the implementation of import-substitution and transformation policies, advocated by the Government, to promote partnerships for the realisation of projects in municipalities. Yaounde will therefore bring national and international actors to interact on decentralisation and local development.
UCCC President explained that, ‘‘the general objective of Jeicom 25 is to capitalise on the achievements of previous editions through the realisation of projects in municipalities. Specific objectives are to encourage the signing of financing agreements for mature projects presented by Councils, promote humanitarian cooperation for the benefit of vulnerable communities in municipalities, mobilise the diaspora for better involvement in the marketing of territories and the implementation of development projects at the local level, identify and promote the best initiatives carried out by the diaspora for the benefit of municipalities, encourage the establishment of a system intended to support municipalities in the maturation of projects and the creation of municipal and intermunicipal companies, promote the establishment of a mechanism for mobilising funds intended to support climate resilience actions in municipalities.’’
Mayor Augustin Tamba said they expect the following results; around fifty financing agreements signed between mayors and investors, a fund raising for the benefit of the UCCC foundation is launched, around thirty members of the diaspora commit to investing in value-added projects in the municipalities, a multi-stakeholder system is put in place to support the maturation of projects and the creation of municipal and intermunicipal companies, a framework for mobilising resources dedicated to climate resilience in municipalities is formalised etc.