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The Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum carries little reassuring news for Cameroon for the period 2014/2015. Cameroon got an average of 3.66 on a scale from 1 to 7 and puts the country as one of the most badly managed in the world. This is an average but according to the World Economic Forum its an excellent backward trend.

The World Economic Forum based in Geneva, Switzerland establishes its ranking by scrutinizing the pillars of competitiveness such as the institutional environment, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, development financial markets, innovation and technology readiness level. 

Cameroon is in Category 1 (the smallest) classified among the countries with a basic level of development. In Africa, Cameroon ranks 14th behind the leading trio of Mauritius, South Africa and Rwanda. These are followed by Botswana, Namibia, Kenya, Seychelles, Zambia, Gabon, Lesotho, Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Cameroon.

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Ngwa Bertrand

22.Jul.2015

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The Cameroon bank for Small and Medium Enterprises (BCPME) SA will open its doors this coming Monday. Agnes Ndoumbé Epse Mandeng, CEO of the BCPME SA, designated on June 6, 2014, revealed that the Bank of Small and Medium Enterprises announced by the head of state President Paul Biya since 2011 has finally come into being. Cameroon Concord was reliably informed that the share capital of the said financial institution wholly owned by the state of Cameroon amounts to 10 billion CFA francs.

The BCPME SA replaces the Credit Guarantee Fund (FOGAPE) that went bankrupt in 1984. Its main task will be to participate in the creation of enterprises and also to ensure capacity building of structures and actors to ensure that projects submitted for financing are 75% bankable noted Laurent Serges Etoundi Ngoa, the Cameroonian Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises. 

On July 20, 2015, the BCPME SA -whose headquarters is in the district of Nlongkak in Yaounde will enter the commercialization phase with the counters opening to its target populations.

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Ngwa Bertrand

17.Jul.2015

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The national air transport company, Cameroon Airline Corporation aka Camair-co announced recently that it is looking for a Sales and Marketing Director. Camair-co is looking for a motivated professional with very high management skills whose contribution to the Commercial Management and Marketing will be decisive in strengthening the commercial performance of the airline, Camair-co said in a call to application released this Thursday, July 16, 2015 on the national bilingual daily Cameroon Tribune. Interestingly, the air transport company that has been a Francophone private preserve ever since they chased away Anglophones airline gurus like John Tabi stated that candidates must, among other things hold a BAC(The Anglophone equivalence of GCE A level) + 5 years in marketing, sales or management, with a minimum of 10 years of experience preferably in an airline. Nothing can best represent the failure of the CPDM regime than the fact that jobs that were in the yesteryears meant only for children from highly placed Francophone Beti-Ewondo background are now being advertised. 

Correspondingly, applicants have until 23rd of July 2015 to submit their application to the Director of Human Resource or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. In addition to marketing and sales director, Camair-co say they are  looking for an experienced B737NG captain and a copilot. The candidate for the captain position must be 60 years including up to July 1, 2015; hold an ICAO ATPL with a Type Rating in force. He must also have a minimum of 5000 hours minimum flight hours including 4,000 public transport in flight, minimum 1000 hours of flight on B737 NG. The co-pilot position, the aspirant must have maximum 40 years and minimum 21 years, have experience of 3000 flight hours maximum including 1,000 hours in public transport. The deadline for applications for both positions have been fixed for 17 July.

A sister publication, Cameroun info.net reported that through this call for applications for the position of Sales and Marketing, camair-co wants to rebuild a direction that had disappeared from the organizational chart of the company for almost a year. The last call for applications to this function dates back to 10th of October 2013, after the sacking of French man Christian Perchat. Our senior economic reporter who contributed to this report observed that he hopes "Camair-co will move away from their traditional practice of flying coffins to flying aeroplanes". 

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Ngwa Bertrand

16.Jul.2015

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The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and the country’s leading ports operator, the Tidewater Middle East Maritime Company, have been removed from the US list of companies designated for sanctions and assets freeze. The removal came after officials from Iran and P5+1 sealed a historic nuclear accord on Tuesday.

The names of 16 shipping executives, including IRISL Managing Director Mohammad Hossein Dajmar, and their companies have been delisted along with the related firms, the IRNA news agency reported.    

Iran’s shipping had the biggest number of nationals on a Western blacklist of sanctioned entities for years. IRNA said 132 shipping companies and 16 executives were on the US list in total.   

Tidewater had been added to the list of Specially Designated Nationals by the US Department of the Treasury in 2011. A statement by the company said all sanctions against Tidewater had been formally abolished, adding it would soon begin “serious” talks with foreign sides for new trade. “From now on, Tidewater is ready to participate with all power and capacity in financing various ports projects along with other Iranian maritime companies,” the statement said.

The company performed more than 90% of container operations at the main ports in Iran besides handling about one percent of the country’s oil exports before the sanctions were imposed. The US legislation prohibited all payments to Tidewater, which impaired commercial maritime traffic -- even as Iranian ports were not under the sanctions -- and curbed otherwise legal trade.   

Iran relies on container and bulk carriers to transport goods. The Tuesday agreement will also lift US and EU sanctions on dozens of Iranian shipping companies. International shipping lines are already stepping up port calls to Iran as the country’s massive maritime trade sector is emerging from the sanctions.  As Iran’s biggest container port, strategically located at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, Shahid Rajaee accounts for 90% of Iran’s container traffic.

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Ngwa Bertrand

15.Jul.2015

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President Vladimir Putin says Russia is interested in using national currencies with other BRICS members after agreeing on such an arrangement with China.  He made the announcement after meeting leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in Ufa in the Urals for a summit of BRICS nations. "I think that such development with India, Brazil and South Africa would be interesting and could no doubt lift the level of trade turnover," Putin said.

The BRICS accounts for almost half the world's population and about one-fifth of global economic output. Member states have established the New Development Bank with an initial capital of $100 billion and an additional pool of $100 billion currency reserves. "A pool of nominal currency reserves, with capital of $100 billion, will give us an opportunity to react to financial market fluctuations in a timely and appropriate manner," Putin said. 

The Russian leader said the new development bank will begin financing energy projects next year. "The New Development Bank will be financing large-scale transport and energy projects and industrial development," he said. Economists see the new bank as a challenge to the domination of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund which are under the US influence.

Putin said BRICS nations will work out a roadmap for investment cooperation by the end of the year when the first projects will be launched. "We've conducted consultations with our business circles and have already put some 50 projects and business initiatives onto the roadmap," he said. Putin said initial plans include establishing an energy association and an energy research center.

BRICS talks are being held in parallel with another summit by the leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is attending the summit as a special guest of BRICS. Iran is also an observer member of SCO which consists of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

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Ngwa Bertrand

10.Jul.2015

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has ratified a $1 billion credit line from Iran for funding imports of goods and commodities and implementing projects, the state news agency SANA has said. The credit has been extended by Export Development Bank of Iran under a deal signed with the Syrian Commercial Bank on May 19. According to SANA, President Assad’s signing came after the Syrian parliament’s approval of the deal on Tuesday. It is reportedly the third line of credit since Iran agreed to provide Syria with $3.6 billion in May 2013.

Last month, an Energy Ministry official said Iranian firms were involved in a series of electricity generation projects worth $660 million in Syria. The announcement came during a visit by Syrian Minister of Electricity Imad Khamis to Tehran “to sign a document for the expansion of joint investments in Syria’s power generation projects”. Iran’s joint ventures with Syria include power generation, construction of silos and car manufacturing.

There are also plans for exports of Iranian electricity to Syria which would hook up Iran’s national grid with those of Iraq and Lebanon, creating the biggest power network in the Islamic world. Syria’s economy has been battered under a ferocious conflict being waged by foreign-backed militants. Syrian Central Bank Governor Adib Mayaleh has also accused Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia of waging an economic war on Syria. “These speculators are just like the armed gunmen,” he said in May. Damascus was a major ally of Tehran during eight years of war with the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the 1980s.

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Ngwa Bertrand

09.Jul.2015

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