Time To Foster Development Synergies

The First ever Forum for the Diaspora in Yaounde further translates government’s inclusiveness policies in development actions.

The first ever Forum for the Diaspora that started with pre-forum activities on June 26, 2017 ahead of the official kick off of the event, on June 28, 2017,  is  the concrete manifestation of the consideration given the country’s Diaspora by President Paul Biya. External Relations Minister, Lejeune Mbella Mbella says,  «a significant portion of our compatriots, about 5 million or more, for one reason or the other are abroad.»
During President Biya’s visit to Paris, France on July 24, 2009, he addressed the Diaspora and expressed the wish to see the latter put its knowledge and know-how to the benefit of the development of Cameroon. He said he had noted the grievances of the Diaspora that focused on difficulties related to the process of integration in connection with the preservation of Cameroonian citizenship. The forum takes place within  the context of significant regulatory and institutional changes in the Ministry of External Relations, reflecting  the desire and goodwill of the Head of State. External Relations Minister, Lejeune Mbella Mbella speaking in a press conference in prelude to the forum said that between 1999 and 2013, the status of the office in charge of the supervision of Cameroonians abroad changed from Division to Department. The presidential decree of April 22, 2013 organising the ministry extends the mission of the Department making it the Department in charge of Cameroonians Abroad and Foreigners in Cameroon, Migration issues and Refugees.
The Forum of the Diaspora comes to concretise the instructions of the Prime Minister on November 24, 2014 to the Minister of External Relations to undertake actions to create a platform  that is broad and representative as possible dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of the Cameroonian Diaspora. The forum comes at the time the government has resolutely embarked on infrastructure projects and garnered all energies towards attaining vision 2035 whereby  Cameroon has targeted to become an emerging  country. The contribution of the Diaspora is indispensible considering their diverse professional expertise. The context that calls on all Cameroonians to put their hands  on deck  for the cherished development  is translated by the theme of the forum which is, «Cameroon and its Diaspora : working together  for the development of the nation. »  It is for this reason that future projects in priority sectors  have been defined for the intervention of the Diaspora. The sectors include health, education and training, economy and finance, ICT and the Green Economy, social security, arts, culture and tourism, as well as communication and public relations.

La parole aux acteurs

Mbayu Felix: “The Forum Is Intended To Be Project-oriented”

Secretary General, MINREX

“ Essentially, it is an opportunity for members of the diaspora who have come with various projects to brainstorm. The nature of this particular forum was intended to be project-oriented and so members of the diaspora were invited to come in with projects in some specific sectors like health, education, training, green economy, public relations, and where we think the diaspora can add value to what we do. So, t...