Cameroon-Commonwealth : Strong Ties, Greater Prospects

Cameroon today March 11, 2024 joins 56 other Commonwealth countries to celebrate the 2024 edition of the Commonwealth Day, under the theme, “One Resilient Common Future.” The commemoration is opportunity to highlight contributions made by Cameroon to attaining shared principles and values of the Organisation. Week-long activities organised have centred on exploring economic opportunities that could be beneficial to regional and local authorities, youth empowerment, training programmes on governance, policy development and implementation, and ICTs. Different topics are in line with national development goals of Cameroon and various international commitments. 
A peace fitness walk and promoting education as well as knowledge enhancement through a national essay competition and the award of prices were organised. Some Cameroonians were crowned “High Commissioners For A Day” following a competitive examination organised by diplomatic missions of the Organisation. In all, Cameroon has been working towards the realisation of the aspirations on the theme of this year’s edition and strengthening her presence within the Commonwealth. Read below the interview of the Minister Delegate to the Minister of External Relations in charge of Cooperation with the Commonwealth, Felix Mbayu on Cameroon’s cooperation with the Organisation. 

How does this theme resonate with Cameroon’s development priorities and international commitments?
The Commonwealth Day theme “One Resilient Common Future” would be relevant anywhere in the world, including Cameroon and beyond the Commonwealth. It highlights issues relating to impact, legacy, and the capacity that humans, as individuals, societies, communities, nations, and the world, are endowed with, are building, will build, or afford, to withstand, and recover from adversity. Resilience, it may be worth underlining, is a word that we employ regularly, and in the simplest sense, could be defined as the capacity to withstand and recover from adversity. However, this word also takes on deeper and more interesting connotations, when used in specific domains ranging from the pure sciences to the humanities. In the international political system, resilience is a core concept linked to the evolution of States, as it highlights, although it is not limited to, the policies and strategies that States put in place to overcome adversity, internal and external shocks, and recover positively. It reflects the spirit of ‘building back better’ that the Commonwealth and the world adopted after the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the reconstruction plans for the crisis-affected regions of our country. Economic resilience is moreover, underlined as a core tenet in Cameroon’s National Development Strategy 2020-30, with emphasis on the importance of a resilient economy, on the path towards emergence, and you would agree that the President of the Republic, H.E. Paul Biya, has consistently laid emphasis on Cameroon’s economic resilience in his end of year and New Year messages. Beyond national development priorities and the NDS2020-30, resilience is equally topical in light of Cameroon’s international commitments, notably the Sustainable Development Goals, the African Union Agenda 2063, and would be more prominent looking towards the 27th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, (CHOGM), slated to hold in Apia, Samoa, in October 2024.

Cameroon joined the Commonwealth in 1995, and has been observing Commonwealth Day as a long-standing practice. Looking towards 2025, which would mark an important milestone, three decades of membership in the Commonwealth, how has the celebration of Commonwealth Day evolved over the years, and what has been its contribution to cooperation with the Commonwealth, and impact on the population?
The annual commemoration of Commonwealth Day could be described as a reaffirmation of member States’ commitments to the values and principles of the Commonwealth Charter. As a point of recall, these values and principles are embedded in the Organisation’s cooperation scheme, and serve as intersection points for commitments and action, fostering a shared understanding around collective endeavours to tackle major contemporary challenges, hence the notion that the Commonwealth is a family of nations. It is within this framework that the Republic of Cameroon has been observing C...