From 9 to 11 January 2024, the Port Authority of Kribi hosted the 4^th  CAR  - Chad - Cameroon Tripartite Forum to facilitate cargo transit from the ports of Kribi and Douala to Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR).

Presided over by Ernest MASSENA NGALLE BIBEHE, Minister of Transport of Cameroon, the forum was attended by influential individuals such as Gotran DJONO-AHABA, CAR Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, and Laurent DIHOULNET, representative of the Minister of Transport of Chad. Patrice MELOM, General Manager of the Port Authority of Kribi and incumbent Chairman of the Cameroon Port Community Port-Synthèse, and Cyrus NGO’O, General Manager of the Port Authority of Douala, equally attended the event alongside key representatives of the national shipper’s councils of Chad and CAR, the managers of the major organisations of shippers, transport and transit brokers and various technical administrations such as CNSC, the Single Window, CONAFA, The Customs Administration, BGFT, BARC, BNT, GTTC among others.

During the 3-day forum, the progress and challenges in cargo transit was assessed, with a special emphasis on the recommendations made during the 3rd Tripartite Forum to improve on the smooth movement of cargo on the corridors. Among significant achievements since the last forum in

2021, there is the shard drop of illegal checkpoints from 136 to 29 on the corridors, the opening of a branch of the Single Window in Kribi, the opening of Chad and CAR customs bases in the ports and the waiver on scanning fees for cargo bound Chad and CAR.

Finally, the Minister NGALLE BIBEHE highlighted the major contribution of the Chairman of Port-Synthèse, Patrice MELOM, to the success of the forum. He underscored Cameroon’s commitment in optimising cargo transit, alluding to the potential establishment of regional Single window and exchange of data under AfCFTA. The date of the next edition was set to February 2025 in N’Djamena