Sharing resources (human, material and financial) to carry out the missions assigned to each party; joining the efforts of stakeholders for the implementation of procedures to facilitate export trade in agricultural products. These are the two main axes of the partnership established this Friday 7 August 2020 between the Port Authority of Kribi (PAK) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.  (MINADER).

The signing ceremony, held in the PAK Head Office in Kribi, took place under the supervision of administrative and local authorities, namely Félix NGUELE NGUELE, Governor of the South Region and Antoine BISAGA, Divisional Officer of the Ocean Division, speaking during the three-day working visit of MINADER to the Ocean Division.

Minister Gabriel MBAIROBE and PAK General Manager Patrice MELOM thus undertook to establish synergies that can provide practical solutions to the ever-increasing food needs of the people, in view of the weakness of our agricultural production in general and the lack of technical expertise of the producers.

In concrete terms, PAK will integrate the axes of the framework agreement with MINADER into its Kribi Socio-Economic Support Programme (PASEK) and promote the development of agricultural produce through its communication channels. MINADER, on the other hand, will have to ensure that its technical services assigned to the Port of Kribi effectively carry out the necessary steps provided for by the laws and regulations relating to foreign trade procedures.

In the presence of a very attentive audience, including representatives of public administrations and private operators operating in the Port of Kribi, Patrice Melom emphasised the additional dimension that this convention represents for PAK, "that is to strengthen its operational capacity, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, to contribute to the implementation of procedures in order to facilitate the import of agricultural tools and inputs and the export of products from our agriculture".

Minister MBAIROBE commended these remarks in his speech, before pointing out that this framework agreement contributes to ensuring food security and promoting the creation of decent jobs. It is an example "par excellence of Public-Private Partnership in the agricultural sector, which is in line with the High Guidelines of the President of the Republic for the development of Cameroonian agriculture".

The ceremony ended with a visit to the Kribi Deep Sea Port, in the locality of Mboro, 35 km from the town of Kribi.