Let’s go for the 7th edition of PROMOTE!

Under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic of Cameroon, H.E Paul Biya, the seventh edition of the International Exhibition of Enterprises, SMEs and Partnership of Yaounde was held at the Yaounde Congress Hall from February 16th to 24th 2019.

The seventh edition of PROMOTE registered itself in the dynamism of its predecessors who affirmed the usefulness and importance of this event in Cameroon and for the Central African sub-region. Indeed, “PROMOTE” 2019 kept the foundations of a reference place for the promotion of the image and notoriety of companies, an important meeting point  for the conclusion of new economic agreements, and  a place of opportunities of business.

Indeed, the fact of bringing together a large number of participants in a given place during a given period constitutes a unique opportunity to promote awareness of the challenges of sustainable development. A conducive moment for exchange and awareness, a laboratory to test new ways of doing things, new models and new technologies, it is also an opportunity to communicate on strong and meaningful values.

For this edition, 31 countries were represented, 1000 exhibitors and more than 1200 visitors were deployed on the site of the event.

The official opening took place on Monday, February 18th, 2019, the ceremony was presided by the Prime Minister, Head of Government H.E Joseph DION NGUTE, in the presence of Members of Government; “In six editions, Cameroon hosted around 5,000 participating companies from all over the world. I have no doubt that the participants in this edition will benefit from these achievements. It is on this note of hope that I solemnly declare the 7th edition of the PROMOTE international trade fair open”. These were the words of Prime Minister Joseph DION NGUTE, Head of Government, in his opening address.

The main objective of the Agricultural Values ​​Chain Development Project (AVC_DP) was to participate in this event to establish contacts with SMEs and companies involved in the value chains of its 3 sectors, to establish B to B partnerships, to grab national and international business opportunities.

More specifically, it was about:

• To put the AVC_DP, as a secular arm of the MINADER and state tool for wealth creation, job creation / social inclusion, and poverty reduction in a youth environment through agriculture;
• To attract potential foreign investors to the opportunity represented by value chains of plantain, pineapple and palm oil and “Made in Cameroon” products.

The AVC_DP grab the opportunity to participate in this international event; in order to show to the agricultural actors engaged in its 3 speculations (Pineapple, Plantain and Palm oil), the opportunities as well as incentives and accompanying measures that the Project could provide or arouse; the counters and financing mechanisms made available to the beneficiaries.

This edition has indeed experienced a strong upsurge of SMEs, GIC, doing in the production and marketing of semi-processed and processed products from agriculture. This demonstrated sufficiently the importance of the valorization of products of the soil in the economy of Cameroon.

Indeed, it is time to move to 2nd generation agriculture, to promote the processing of agricultural products, to reduce imports that plague our economy, as desired by the President of the Republic, H.E Paul Biya.

LUC ELO