At close of economic forum with Latin American countries: Stakeholders make key recommendations, commit to greater impact, success.

The pioneer economic forum for import-substitution with Latin American countries took place under the theme: "Optimising Local Production through International Partnerships for the Structural Transformation of Cameroon’s Economy”.

At the end of the event, the organisers of the forum, the Ministry of External Relations, MINREX, and the Investment Promotion Agency, IPA, took the commitment to include it in the official calendar of Cameroon's economic meetings to be held every two years.

They also agreed to establish an Interministerial Monitoring Committee to ensure the effective implementation of partnerships arising from the Forum before the end of the 2026 financial year.

MINREX and IPA were also tasked to engage Cameroon Telecommunications, CAMTEL, with a view to digitising business meetings within the framework of the economic forum, including through the creation of a dedicated mobile application to facilitate Business to Business, B2B, and Business to Government, B2G appointment scheduling.

There are also plans by the organisers to work towards better promotion of future editions of the Forum in order to achieve stronger mobilisation of business circles.

Cameroonian enterprises, on their part, resolved to better prepare for participation in future editions of the forum by presenting “bankable” project files and clear term sheets to accelerate negotiations with foreign investors.

They were also urged to facilitate the support provided by the Forum's Monitoring Committee for agreements concluded with Latin American partners, notably by sharing their experience during meetings organised for this purpose.

The need to invest in language training for their human resources in order to increase their capacity to diversify and expand their business partnerships, including with Latin American countries also came to the fore.

It should be recalled that the economic forum for import-substitution with Latin American countries brought together companies from Latin American countries; Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia and Chile.

It featured among others specialist panels, exhibitions and panel discussions on development of value chains between Cameroon and Latin America, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, SMEs, as actors of import substitutions and how to achieve sustainable dairy autonomy.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3779 of Monday May 04, 2026