Effective trade facilitation requires collaboration and coordination among all actors in the supply chain. The Government is committed to ensuring this synergy of actions within the framework of strategic planning based on the National Roadmap on Trade Facilitation (NRTF). This roadmap is an implementation of the UNECE, UNCTAD and ECCAS recommendations on trade facilitation. The roadmap is a strategic planning tool that provides a consensual vision and also promotes continuity of Government actions in the implementation of reforms. It serves as a reference tool for international donors for the provision of financial and/or technical assistance to various trade facilitation projects.
In the context of the development of the NRTF, Cameroon benefited from UNCTAD’s support through the National Committees on Trade Facilitation Capacity Building Programme (PRCNFE), launched in 2016. Over the 2017-2018 period, NTFC members followed this vocational training programme, which covered the following topics:
– “International standards and recommendations for trade facilitation”, from 9 to 12 May 2017;
– “how to measure and implement trade facilitation”, from 12 to 15 December 2017;
– “how to write a roadmap for trade facilitation”, from 26 February to 1 March 2018.
In addition, four NTFC members were selected for the training of trainers workshop held on 26 November 2018 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the margins of the first African Forum of National Trade Facilitation Committees, held from 27 to 29 November 2019 in that city. The roadmap was prepared on the basis of the results of the activities carried out during the above-mentioned workshop, organized by UNCTAD in February/March 2018 in Douala, supplemented by a series of national workshops, organized by NTFC, with the logistical support of ECCAS. In addition, the final drafting of the Roadmap took into account, in addition to UNCTAD’s relevant methodology, the requirements of the Methodological Guide for Strategic Planning in Cameroon for the preparation of development strategies.
In short, this roadmap is a dynamic document that includes a vision based on identified objectives and actions over a five-year period (2020 – 2024).
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