UK-Cameroon: Pioneer Joint Commission In September

By Victorine BIY-NFOR, Cameroon Tribune, 25-08-2013

The information was rendered public by the outgoing British High Commissioner to Cameroon in a press conference on Friday.

The outgoing British High Commissioner to Cameroon, Joshi Bharat has announced the holding of the first-ever United Kingdom-Cameroon Joint Commission as slated for September 2 to 4, 2013 in London. Speaking in the latest of his traditional monthly press conferences in Yaounde on August 23, Bharat Joshi pointed out that preparations are underway and the forum will launch a new phase of bilateral relations between UK and Cameroon.

“The forum is a means of formalising ties between both countries and it envisages a formal process to which we will base our cooperation,” the UK diplomat said. It is going to centre on consular, economic and political issues. The peculiarity is that every two years, meetings will rotate between London and Yaounde. The Cameroonian delegation, he announced, will be led by the Minister of External Relations, Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo and during his stay, will hold meetings with the British Foreign Minister and companies. “It will be an intensive three-day meeting to fortify relations between both countries” Bharat noted.

Joshi Bharat also announced his eventual departure in September, saying that he is trying to make sure that the things he has put in place in Cameroon were going to lay the groundwork for his successor. “Cameroon is a peaceful country. Very rich and the richness isn’t only in the soil (diamond, ore, Ivory) but also in culture, history where you have peace and stability which looks effortless even though it should be very complicated in a country with many tribes, languages and sometimes difficult neighbours,” the UK diplomat stated. He said he will miss the Cameroonian people with whom he has shared precious time during his four-year stay in the country.

“There is no perfect democracy, Bharat added, precising that Cameroon is on the path to democracy. He underlined that each democracy differs according to specificities of each country and for the years spent in the country, each election was better than the previous. Joshi Bharat recognised the putting in place of the biometric system of elections while saying the country enjoys freedom of speech and press, values that are lacking even in some advanced democracies. He praised government’s commitment to win the war against corruption while promising his country’s determination to continue to empower women through scholarships.