Cameroun positions For Industrial Pinnacle, Deepens Manufacturing, Import Substitution And Industrial Capacity

<h4>Cameroun positions For Industrial Pinnacle&comma; Deepens Manufacturing&comma; Import Substitution And Industrial Capacity<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> has gathered that as Cameroon is partnering with the Africa Finance Corporation&comma; to create infrastructure that will help transform the economy into a manufacturing hub from mostly raw mineral exports now&comma; driving job creation&comma; skills transfer and higher export revenue&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>AFC was established in 2007 to be the catalyst for private sector-led infrastructure investment across Africa&period; AFC’s approach combines specialist industry expertise with a focus on financial and technical advisory&comma; project structuring&comma; project development and risk capital to address Africa’s infrastructure development needs and drive sustainable economic growth&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Joining as AFC’s 36th member state&comma; Cameroon will be working with the Corporation on key infrastructure to deepen integration&comma; enable import substitution&comma; and develop manufacturing and industrial capacity to account for 40&percnt; of GDP&comma; as part of the government’s Vision 2035 program&period; AFC&comma; Africa’s leading infrastructure solutions provider&comma; has to date allocated over US&dollar;300 million to Cameroon to capture value from the nation’s natural resources&comma; which include maize&comma; cassava&comma; cotton&comma; cocoa&comma; oil and gas&comma; as well as energy transition metals such as cobalt and nickel&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Cameroon Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are committed to working with the AFC to quickly and sustainably build critical supporting infrastructure that will help with Cameroon’s development&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With a mission of solving the continent’s most pressing challenges&comma; AFC has invested over US&dollar;10 billion in the past 15 years&comma; utilising its unique access to global capital markets to drive development&comma; integrate regional economies and transform lives&period; Through its ecosystem investment approach&comma; AFC has developed and financed projects such as the first carbon neutral industrial zone in Africa&comma; the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">Nkok Special Economic Zone<&sol;a>&comma; which has made Gabon the largest exporter of veneer wood globally&comma; generating US&dollar;1 billion in annual export revenue and creating over 30&comma;000 jobs&period; Through a US&dollar;150 million investment&comma; the approach is being replicated by the Arise platform in Benin and Togo to generate a projected US&dollar;750 million and US&dollar;2 billion in additional GDP&comma; respectively&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>AFC has partnered with 17 additional countries in the past four years&comma; with Angola and Tunisia joining this year&period; Benefits for member nations include increased investment allocation&comma; preferred access to AFC’s structuring and lending solutions&comma; reduced project debt costs&comma; and the Corporation’s advisory and project development services&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The largest economy in the Central African Economic and Monetary Union &lpar;CEMAC&rpar;&comma; Cameroon’s membership extends AFC’s footprint to cover more than half of central Africa&comma; grouping Chad&comma; Congo-Brazzaville&comma; the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>President and CEO of AFC&comma; Samalia Zubairu&comma; said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are delighted to welcome Cameroon as a member of AFC&period; Our rapidly expanded membership is a sign of confidence in our past collaborations and demonstrates interest in partnerships and initiatives that will further drive economic development and play a critical role in enabling key infrastructure&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Projects currently being explored by AFC and Cameroon include road modernisation and maintenance to boost trade in the region&comma; and financing agricultural processing facilities to support the export of cotton seeds and soybeans&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In 2018&comma; AFC made an investment in the Nachtigal Hydro Power Company&comma; a 420MW power station that will boost Cameroon’s installed capacity by 30 percent and slash the cost of power generation&period; Four years earlier&comma; the Corporation supported the modernisation and expansion of Cameroon’s national refinery&comma; Société Nationale de Raffinage &lpar;Sonara&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Cameroon’s government is looking to public-private partnerships to help build infrastructure that can create more opportunities for beneficiation and deliver real impact to its diverse population&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Having already invested &dollar;300 million in our country&comma; AFC has a proven track record of delivering core infrastructure&comma;” Prime Minister Ngute said&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We look forward to building upon our existing relationship&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;