Bilateral Trade:

Cameroon/Nigeria seek better economic ties

The economic relationship between Cameroon and Nigeria which dates way back to the colonial period has in the recent past years registered fluctuating trends of trade imbalances. Despite the geographical closeness and the presence of rich economic potentials highly demanded in both markets, both countries have only been able to sustain 3 percent of trade relations.

                The need to revalorize this relationship and make it more profitable to both parties was the reason for the recent brainstorming meeting that took place in Yaoundé. It brought together stakeholders and experts in the private sector of Cameroon to prepare the framework of the forth coming Cameroon/Nigerian forum scheduled to hold in the third quarter of this year.

According to the experts, several issues need to be taken care of well ahead of time to put Cameroon at a vantage bargain position when they will meet with their Nigerian counterparts in the course of the year to re-examine and redefine the terms of their economic ties.

                The experts noted that Cameroon has in the past years suffered deficits in trade with Nigeria principally because of the continuous expansion of illegal cross border transactions.

                “Since much of the trade is done in an informal manner, it makes it difficult to evaluate with exactitude the volume of trade and the financial benefits and losses registered by both countries,” the experts regretted.

To make Cameroon/Nigeria bilateral trade more profitable to both parties the experts say it is necessary to encourage more formal trade, discourage black market transactions and most importantly establish a vibrant private sector in domains such as agriculture and ICT which Nigerian businessmen are highly interested in.