Cameroon Business Forum: Cameroon Urged to Tackle Competitiveness Gaps to Benefit from AfCFTA

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Cameroon Business Forum: Cameroon Urged to Tackle Competitiveness Gaps to Benefit from AfCFTA

The 12th edition of CBF, chaired by the Prime Minister, Head of Government, has ended with renewed calls for reforms to transform Cameroon into a major industrial and commercial hub in Africa.

28 Oct 2026 13:54

C ameroon must urgent ly address infrastruc ture bottlenecks, high production costs, and regulatory constraints if it is to fully exploit the opportu nities offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It was the central message of the 12th edition of the Cameroon Business Fo rum, which brought together nearly 300 participants from government, the private sec tor, consular organisations, and development partners after a six-year interruption. Held under the theme, “AfCFTA and Pro ductive Transformation: What Reforms Are Needed to Make Cameroon a Major Industrial and Commercial Hub in Africa?”, the forum examined why the country has yet to sufficiently translate its economic poten tial into competitive exports across the continent. Despite its strategic geographical position, port infrastructure, and diversified production po tential, Cameroon continues to face obstacles that undermine business competitiveness. Inade quate energy supply, poor road infrastructure, limited access to long-term financing, taxa tion challenges, land-related difficulties, and weaknesses in commercial justice increase production costs and discou rage investment. During the forum, the President of the Cameroon Employers’ Asso ciation (GECAM) called for the settlement of domestic arrears owed by the State to businesses and outstanding value-added tax (VAT) credit claims, which constrain com panies’ cash flow and their ca pacity to invest and expand. While the President of CCIMA, Christophe Eken outlined six private sector priorities focusing on promoting Made in Came roon products, and improving access to long-term financing for productive investment. Although AfCFTA offers access to a market of approximately 1.3 billion consumers, partici pants stressed that market size alone cannot guarantee success. Cameroon must strengthen its productive capacity, improve product quality, and reduce costs to compete effectively with other African economies. Greater local processing of raw materials, promotion of Made in Cameroon products, and the development of regional value chains were identified as essen tial to industrial transformation and import substitution. Im proving access to affordable financing, modernising public services, accelerating digital transformation, and streamli ning regulations would also make it easier for businesses to operate and expand across African markets. It came out during the grand meeting that a stronger collaboration between the government and the pri vate sec...