(Business
in Cameroon) - Outgoing Ambassador of the United States of America
(USA) to Cameroon, Robert P. Jackson has said that his country has more
than doubled its assistance to Cameroon to reach 30 billion CFA francs
in 2013.
In
an interview granted Cameroon’s national bilingual daily, Cameroon
Tribune, the US diplomat disclosed, “We have strengthened the civil
society, bilateral trade has reached a new high, American investment has
increased from an already high level, democracy has evolved and the
fight against corruption has picked up speed. We have also supported
entrepreneurship with training and over $2.5 million in loans to
micro-finance institutions.”
He
said his country in 2013 is investing over 20 billion CFA francs in
Cameroon’s health sector. “By this, we have helped to reduce the
prevalence of HIV/AIDS, provide anti-retroviral drugs and prevent
mother-to-child transmission of the virus. We have also strengthened
laboratories and epidemiology, ensured the safety of the blood supply,
fought “neglected tropical diseases,” and combated cholera through
small, targeted grants for surveillance, clean water, and sanitation.”
Cameroon’s
diversity and tolerance, he observed, are some of its greatest assets,
along with the country’s human and mineral wealth. “If Cameroon’s
hydro-electric potential is harnessed, its enormous tourist potential
developed, iron, gold, bauxite, and cobalt deposits start to produce,
potable water becomes the norm, and the road network paved and widened
to facilitate commerce and the movement of people, there will be more
private-sector employment. There will also be less poverty, enabling the
country to emerge long before 2035. I look forward to watching that
happen,” Robert P. Jackson said.
No comments:
Post a Comment