Cameroon-India : Reinvigorating Bilateral Ties

The third session of intergovernmental consultations between Cameroon and India that held yesterday August 7, 2023 at the Ministry of External Relations had both parties reiterating their respective countries’ intensions to instil fresh impetus to lift cooperation ties to a more strategic level. Deliberations were co-chaired by the Minister of External Relations, Mbella Mbella and the Additional Secretary in charge of Central Africa Division at the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sevala Naik Mude, both leaders of their delegations. In effect, since the inception of consultations between Cameroon and India some twenty years back, two sessions have been held in Yaounde and New Delhi, respectively in 2003 and 2008. It is a mechanism intended to assess cooperation ties with the objective of enhancing these relations in the political, economic and commercial domains. 
In his opening remarks, Minister Mbella Mbella noted that discussions revolved around two sessions, notably bilateral and multilateral cooperation. “The first session, devoted to bilateral cooperation focused on political and trade issues, mining cooperation, defence and security, health, migration flows, consular issues and various partnerships. The second session then addressed regional challenges and cooperation within international organisations,” the Minister stated. He added that the consultation offers a genuine opportunity to revisit cooperation ties, consolidate achieves and open up new perspectives or bilateral exchanges such as diversifying areas of cooperation which would help bring the peoples of Cameroon and India closer. While reiterating the determination of Cameroon to further enhance ties, Minister Mbella Mbella said government has embarked on several reforms to surmount contemporary shocks, amongst which is the diversific...