The Minister of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts has launched the Days for Cooperation and partnership. The ceremony that took place at the occasion on the 12th of July 2021 at the Yaoundé Conference hall was marked among others, by an Inaugural session moderated by the Minister of SMEs, Achille BASSILEKIN III, under the theme: “Technical and financial partners and the development of the small and medium-sized enterprises, social economy and handicrafts sector: issues, challenges and opportunities”.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Prof. Mathias Z. NAAB, UN Resident Coordinator in Cameroon declared that the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises sector has been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, this sector needs to be prioritized in terms of economic recovery. It is against this background that a significant support program in term of technical and financial cooperation and partnership will reach out to this sector which serves as an engine of economic growth and employment.
On his part, Minister Achille BASSILEKIN III underlined that these days have been organized to ensure that bilateral and multilateral technical and financial partners work together with all stakeholders of this sector to define a roadmap in which each partner will identify the sector in which it is apt and ready to assist the government in ensuring that favorable conditions for the development of SMEs through financial and technical resources are created.
In this light, additional programs of this sort will help increase the productive capacity, modernize enterprises as well as produce goods of high quality that can be exported. The working sessions will therefore serve as a forum for technical partners to reflect on the mechanisms through which the national production capacity can be modernized while financial partners on their part will seek for more adapted methods in accompanying SMEs in the mobilization of credit so as to better respond to the financial needs and reinforce the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Cooperation and partnership days will end on the 15th of July 2021, with an advocacy of the Ministry in favor of the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts sectors.