Trade facilitation has become a major issue for the economic development of States. More than ever before, it is an indispensable aspect of trade policies adopted throughout the world in order to increase the competitiveness of trade.
The challenge for international trade actors lies in facilitating the foreign trade chain by lifting trade barriers, simplifying import, export and transit procedures and formalities, as well as easing physical operations in the transport logistics segment.
The State of Cameroon is part of the global process of trade facilitation, notably through the ratification of relevant international legal instruments, such as the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Convention to Facilitate International Maritime Traffic (FAL Convention), the World Customs Organisation (WCO) Convention on the Harmonisation and Simplification of Customs Procedures (revised Kyoto Convention) and, more recently, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which was adopted on 7 December
2013 and entered into force on 22 February 2017.
Moreover, for some years now, trade facilitation has been a major axis of the State’s economic and budgetary policy. This approach is reflected in the successive circulars relating to the preparation of the State budget, whereby the Head of State constantly prescribes the continuation of efforts to facilitate trade and reduce the time required for the passage of goods, in order to increase the competitiveness of our ports and airports. Similarly, Government has
reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring the effective implementation of relevant trade facilitation measures within the framework of the National Development Strategy 2020-2030 (NDS30).
The National Strategy to make the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) operational, falls within this objective.
It is within this framework that Cameroon has proceeded to consolidate its institutional mechanism for trade facilitation, by creating, through decree No. 2016/0381/PM of 1 March 2016, a National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC), in charge of monitoring and coordinating the implementation of measures aimed at facilitating and accelerating trade and international transport.
In this perspective, a National Roadmap on Trade Facilitation has been elaborated in order to stimulate a synergy of interventions. It is a strategic planning tool that aims to bring coherence to public and private initiatives and it stands as the materialization of the national trade facilitation strategy in a five-year horizon, based on a national reform programme for the period 2021-2025.
Finally, it expresses Government’s willingness to work towards boosting foreign trade operations and its readiness to implement the recommendations made by specialised international institutions such as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in line with the development objectives defined by the President of the Republic, His Excellency Paul Biya.