By Doh James Sonkey
On behalf of the President of the Republic, H.E Paul Biya, the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Chief Dr. Joseph Dion Ngute has officially inaugurated a temporal Central African Regional Office of the African Development Bank Group.
He officially inaugurated the 6-floored building covering a total surface area of 3,600 m² last April 12, 2024 at the Carrefour Golf neighbourhood in Yaounde in the presence of the Vice President of the African Development Bank Group in charge of Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery, Marie Laure Akin-Olugbade as well as representatives from six other countries covered by the regional office.
The Central Africa office is one of the Bank Group’s five regional hubs and comprises seven countries: Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
Speaking at the occasion of behalf of President Paul Biya, the PM Dion Ngute welcomed all those who converged on Yaounde for this occasion.
The Prime Minister, Head of Government, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute said “this agreement, which establishes the former country office as a sub-regional office covering the countries of Central Africa, will enable the bank to get closer to the realities of our sub-region and provide more than in the past, a particularized support, in line with the expectations of our populations.”
PM Dion Ngute urged the Minister of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure, Henri Eyebe Ayissi to hand over the land certificate of 4000m² to the Vice President of the African Development Bank Group, Marie Laure Akin-Olugbade.
The Vice President of the African Development Bank Group in charge of Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery was full of gratitude to the Cameroonian government for accepting that the regional office be opened in Yaounde. She explained that “the opening is coinciding with the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the African Development Bank. The African Development Bank is envisaging to establish a regional carbon market in Central Africa.”
A brand-new building, witness to the willingness of the Cameroonian authorities to concretize their agreement in favor of the headquarters establishment agreement signed on July 2, 2019 between the Cameroonian government and the AfDB. The presence of this office will enable the financial institution to better operationalize its activities and achieve its objectives, in particular the acceleration of regional integration and the development of the private sector.
The AfDB is an important development partner in the CEMAC region, which, although being rich in mining, forestry and fishery resources, is still in quest of progress. To date, the Bank has made its presence felt in the region through 596 operations carried out for the benefit of countries in the region, for a cumulative total estimated at around FCFA 10,950 billion, including 120 operations worth FCFA 2,978 billion in Cameroon. These investments have helped to improve the political, economic and social framework, creating more than 2.5 million direct jobs and providing access to electricity.
Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade declared that, “we strongly believe that the presence of a regional office in Yaoundé will contribute without any doubt to giving more support to the countries of the region on development policies and strategies. The opening of this Regional Office makes it possible to strengthen the dialogue with the Regional economic communities and the various development partners. It also allows accelerating the implementation of our regional integration operations in Central Africa, promoting in the same vein, business development with the private sector, which I must say has so far been a challenge.”