Boosting Water & Energy Supply – Cameroon Woos Foreign Investors
The two-day will take place at the Yaounde Hilton
Cameroon International Energy and Water Investment Conference opens next Wednesday.
Preparations are gearing up in Yaounde ahead of the first-ever Cameroon International Energy and Water Investment Conference (CIEW) which will serve as an opportunity for the country to sell its water and energy potentials to foreign investors with the hope of attracting them into the sector.
Organised by the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources in partnership with a British firm; AME Trade Ltd, the two-day event commencing Wednesday January 20, 2010 at the Yaounde Hilton will feature presentations on investment and business opportunities and exchange of experiences. This will serve as an opportunity to establish commercial and cooperation partnerships with the view of arriving at decisions and recommendations for a development of numerous energy and water potentials the country is endowed with.
The presentations will among others focus on topics like Investments and prospects for production, transportation and distribution activities in Cameroon’s energy sectors, opportunities in Cameroon’s upstream and downstream petroleum and gas sectors as well as appropriate policy environment to support sound economic growth.
According to a press statement from the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, Cameroon’s long-standing history of political stability in Africa, abundant natural and water and energy resources as well as an encouraging and ever-improving investment framework bolted by the public private partnership contract legal framework, procurement and regulatory systems are assets for investments. Other strong points include the country’s geostrategic position in Africa to better serve the steadily growing demand for energy and water related services in national and sub-regional markets, its progressive improvement in basic infrastructure and the availability of trained manpower.
The event to run from January 20 – 21 is expected to bring together international investors, energy and water experts, executives’ decision-makers of financial institutions as well as Cameroon’s main development partners and donors.
Cameroon Tribune
A laudable initiative! However who are these main development partners and donors? I am not expecting a response to that but for transparency and credibility it would be nice for Cameroonians to know the names of the main development partners and donors. Cameroon’s resources belong to the people of Cameroon, any initiative to attract dubious foreign investors into exploiting the country’s resources for profit at the expense of the masses should have the backing of Cameroonians.
I am amazed and wonder why all of a sudden there is a flurry of Investment activities aimed at “wooing foreign Investors” into investment opportunities.
Dicing and selling the country’s resources without bothering to explain to the people why they are being sold and what they are buying into is nothing but sanctioned colonialism and corporate imperialism. With the way things are going I guess it won’t be long before the country’s name is changed into United Republic of Cameroon Incorporated (URCI)