Business

Officially presented on June 17, 2015 in Yaoundé, the last report by the National Monitoring and Implementation Committee for the Mining Industry Transparency Initiative (ITIE), reveals that, in 2013, the mining sector generated 830 billion FCFA in total sales, which is 5.4% of the country’s GDP. This revenue was, however, down by 2% compared to 2012.

As is customary, these earnings were primarily generated by the oil industry, which is currently the country’s most dynamic, structured sector. According to ITIE figures, Société nationale des hydrocarbures (SNH), the State’s oil mining company, generated over 500 billion FCFA in revenue , against 202 billion FCFA for 14 other oil companies which were examined by the ITIE’s national committee.

The report, however, reveals new sources of wealth for Cameroonian exports. These include diamonds, sapphires, marble, granite, limestone, clay and gold which are currently in quantities that are still considered to be insignificant.

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Ngwa Bertrand

24.Jun.2015

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With an investment plan worth $200 billion, Iran’s oil industry is the most attractive market for international investors, a senior energy official said on Tuesday. Hopes of a final agreement in nuclear talks with Iran are raising international companies’ interest in the country for a business bonanza. Mehdi Hosseini, in charge of revising Iran's oil investment contracts, outlined the relative advantage of oil recovery in Iran, saying it is highly profitable even at times of price slumps. “The cost of a barrel of oil production is close to $40-50 in some countries but this rate is very, very low in Iran,” the Mehr news agency quoted him as saying.

Hosseini said extracting oil and gas from specific geologic formations such as shale gas, shale oil, oil sands and heavy oils costs more exorbitantly, making recovery not economically viable unless prices rise above $80. “Investment in Iran’s oil and gas projects even during further price declines has very high economic viability.” The official said Iran had made investments more attractive by modifying its energy contract formulas and increasing profitability.    “Iran is after signing win-win contracts with international companies in case the sanctions are voided,” he said. “According to our estimates, investment opportunities in Iran’s oil and gas industries are worth about $200 billion,” Hosseini added.

He said the London conference on oil investments in Iran will be held soon in which the mechanisms of drilling, development and enhancing recovery of fields as well as renovation of oil facilities will be outlined to foreign companies. “In the new oil contracts, Iran is not merely after financial resources and foreign investments. Transfer of technology and management is the most important objective,” Hosseini said. Iran plans to raise recovery by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) within two months and 1 million bpd after six months once the sanctions are lifted. Iran formerly signed buy-back deals with international firms under which the companies would recoup their spending and fees from the production when a field became operational. Officials say new contracts would allow companies to enter into partnership with local firms which would provide services, build pipelines and drill fields. 

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Ngwa Bertrand

23.Jun.2015

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Russian officials are in Tehran for final talks on a multibillion-dollar agreement which includes sales of Iranian oil to that country in exchange for electricity, a deputy energy minister has said.  Negotiations are underway at the expert level for construction of new power plants and optimization of existing units under a memorandum of understanding signed last year, Deputy Energy Minister Houhang Falahatian said on Monday.  Oil-for-electricity barter constitutes a big part of the $12 billion agreement under which Iran will import 500 megawatt-hours (mWh) of power from Russia, the news agency said.

Falahatian said negotiations are also held with Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia for synchronization of power grids in order to transfer Russian electricity from their territories. Over recent weeks, several delegations of Russian experts have traveled to Tehran for technical talks about a series of joint power generation projects in order to prepare them for finalization, the deputy minister said. The projects also include building new thermal and coal-powered plants in Iran. Iran and Russia have recently stepped up trade connections amid Western sanctions targeting both countries' economies. 

The two countries have agreed on an arrangement under which Russia will sell 500,000 barrels of Iranian oil per day. Iran will use the money to buy goods such as steel, wheat and machinery from Russia and other Eurasian nations, namely Kazakhstan and Belarus.  “We want to have long-term economic relations with the Russians. Our plan is to seriously expand economic and technical ties with Russia,” Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said earlier this month. “There is political will at the highest level in Iran to expand economic relations with Russia. I also think it is good to develop Iran’s economic ties with Russia, China, India and emerging economic states,” he said.

Meanwhile, Russia is buying dairy products, meat and fish from Iran after imposing its own sanctions on food imports from Europe, the US, Australia and Canada in retaliation.Deputy Agriculture Minister Hassan Salehi said exports of 20,000 metric tons of marine products, including canned and frozen fish and shrimps, will begin from the Iranian month of Mordad which starts on July 23. He said there is no limitation for exports and every Iranian producer can begin sales after receiving a license from the Russians.  

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Ngwa Bertrand

22.Jun.2015

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The National Civic Service Agency for Participation in Development, NCSAPD, is stepping up efforts to create youth jobs and also boost civic awareness among young people. Speaking at a press briefing in Yaounde on Friday, June 19, 2015, the NCSAPD General Manager, Taossi, announced the training of 15,000 youth this year by his organisation. While 9,000 of the number will be volunteers to receive training in livestock and fish farming, the remaining 6,000 will be students and other young people to receive training in civic awareness. The number of people to be trained will increase by 2,000 compared to 2014 for both volunteer farmers and youth civic awareness, Taossi stressed. Volunteer farmers are expected to be people in good health, must belong to a group already carrying out some form of farming in their area of residence and should not be under any paid employment.

Meanwhile, registration forms can be collected from Divisional and Mayors’ offices as well as from Subdivisional Delegations of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries. On the other hand, those eligible for civic awareness  training are secondary and high school students, young people in tertiary institutions, members of recognised associations and teacher training college students. All of them must be between 17 and 21 years. The General Manager of the National Civic Service Agency for Participation in Development explained that the training of more youth in civic matters was informed by a number of factors.

These include the low level of awareness on State and republican institutions, weak patriotic fervour, loss of positive traditional values and little attention being paid to human rights and liberty issues. Others are falling morals, juvenile delinquency, rising incidence of youth robbery and the tendency by young people to join terrorist groups. Created under Law Number 2007/003 of July 13, 2007, the National Civic Service Agency for Participation in Development has as charge to contribute in rallying efforts for socio-economic development. It also promotes a sense of nationhood, citizenship, spirit of civic service and a culture of peace

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Ngwa Bertrand

22.Jun.2015

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Some Chinese businessmen have signed with the Cameroonian government an agreement for the construction in the country of two plants for assembling vehicles. Emmanuel Bonde, Cameroon's Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development (MINIMIDT), signed the agreement with the Chinese and Indian investors for the plants to be stationed in Kribi and Douala. Cameroon Concord understands the investment has been estimated at 92 billion CFA francs.

The group known as Cais,is a partnership between the Chinese Yutong and India's Azad. Under the terms of the agreement with Cameroon, these investors will extend their influence in other Africa countries in the automobile sector for the assembling and installation of tropical vehicles to be sold at affordable prices.

Cameroonian officials have estimated that the project will generate more than 4,500 jobs. However, this is not the first time Yaoundé is making this kind of pronouncement. In 2013, CPDM authorities and foreign investors announced the launch of a car plant which has not yet been established till this day.

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Ngwa Bertrand

16.Jun.2015

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Yannick Noah and a group of French investors have announced a 40 billion CFA francs investment in several sectors including real estate in Cameroon.  The former French tennis player and singer from Cameroon was received secretly by Prime Minister Yang Philemon Cameroon Concord has learnt from reliable sources in the Star Building. 

The Yannick investment for a start will be centered around real estate in Yaoundé. Yannick Noah, born in Sedan-France in 1960 to a Cameroonian father Zacharie Noah, a former footballer, Yannich  acquired world fame after winning the French Open tournament in 1983. He remains also the highest ranked French player by the ATP (N0 3 in July 1986) and the most successful with 23 titles.

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Ngwa Bertrand

16.Jun.2015

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