Longstanding Ties

History, language and common principles bind Cameroon and France together. Diplomatic ties were established between the two countries in 1960 and there exist several domains of cooperation spanning political, economic and trade, consular, security and health. To further strengthen these ties which have over the years been described as positive, the President of the Republic, Paul Biya on September 27, 2022 received in audience the French Ambassador to Cameroon, Christophe Guilhou, who has come to the end of his diplomatic stay in the country. President Paul Biya and the French diplomat during the Unity Palace audience reviewed Cameroon-France relations, ongoing projects/programmes and projections for the future. At the political front, there have been 17 high level meetings between the Heads of State of the two countries from the era of Jacques Chirac, with the most recent being the July 26, 2022 Yaounde meeting between President Paul Biya and Emmanuel Macron. France supports Cameroon in various policies such as accelerating decentralisation, the Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction of the North West and South West Regions, and the development of the Far North Region of Cameroon. Regarding security and defence cooperation, Cameroon and France have a Defence Agreement which was signed on May 21, 2009, with the latter traditionally intervening in three areas; personnel assistance, capacity building and material support. France also provides humanitarian assistance to internally displaced persons in the country, contributes in the fight against food and nutritional insecurity and also supports resilience projects within th...