A major Chinese heavy-duty truck manufacturing company, XCMG, recently donated a block of two classrooms and a Head Teacher’s office to the Abetiye-Kombo community in Cameroon’s South region. The gift was facilitated by Mrs. Emilie Meka, elite of Abetiye-Kombo who presented the people’s need to XCMG.

The handover of the new classrooms to Government Nursery and Primary School, Abetiye-Kombo, held in the presence of community people and the local administrative official, the Divisional Officer, who lauded Cameroon-China cooperation. Apart from constructing classrooms and Head Teacher’s office, the Chinese firm also offered 30 footballs, school bags, exercise books and stationery to pupils to enable them get on well with the new academic year that began earlier this month.

According to Solange Ndo, Head Teacher of Government Nursery and Primary School, Abetiye-Kombo, the two new classrooms and office will greatly ease the school’s accommodation problems. Community people, who depend largely on subsistence agriculture, said the donation of classrooms and learning material to pupils came at a most needed time.

“Never be afraid of seeking assistance to improve the people’s lives. This is why I continued with efforts until I got assistance from the Chinese company for the village,” Emilie Meka told journalists. Tu Hui, XCMG representative at the event, said the donation was intended to meet the felt needs of Abetiye-Kombo Government Nursery and Primary School.

Cooperation between Cameroon and China has been growing in leaps and bounds over the years. Talking to journalists last April 27 in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, during the annual “Friendship with Cameroon media” reception, Chinese Ambassador Wei Wenhua said in spite of the gloomy international economic situation, China-Cameroon cooperation achieved much last year. The volume of trade between the two countries hit 1.96 billion US dollars in 2016; while Chinese investments in Cameroon stood at 35.06 million US dollars.

He said the strong and growing relations were also evident in various major infrastructure cooperation projects being undertaken by China like the Yaounde-Douala expressway, Kribi-Lolabe expressway and the Bini hydro dam near Warak, Adamawa region. Similarly, China and Cameroon also signed a deal for a gift to construct the country’s new National Assembly building.

Other major projects underway in the country with Chinese support include water supply from River Sanaga to Yaounde, low-cost housing, national broad band and the national emergency telecommunications plan. Wei Wenhua noted that cooperation between the two countries in training and education was growing.

“More than 3,000 Cameroonians travelled to China in 2016 for various training sessions, including 77 winners of scholarships awarded by the Chinese government and Confucius Institute,” the Ambassador disclosed. To crown it all, President Paul Biya has been invited to visit China, a trip that is expected to take place in 2018.

*Kimeng Hilton Ndukong, a contributor to People’s Daily Online, is Sub-Editor for World News with Cameroon Tribune bilingual daily newspaper in Cameroon. He is currently a 2017 China-Africa Press Centre, CAPC fellow.