Discussions between Yu Jianhua and Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh also touched on future cooperation projects. Photo by Cameroon Tribune

China’s Vice Minister of Commerce, Yu Jianhua, on Friday, December 1, 2017 held discussions for over an hour with Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Secretary General at Cameroon’s Presidency in the capital, Yaounde. The main subject was the construction of a new National Assembly building for Cameroon. Vice Minister Ju was accompanied to the meeting by the Chinese Ambassador in Cameroon, Wei Wenhua.

“We had frank discussions about future cooperation, major projects already launched and the construction of the National Assembly building. We hope to begin work soon,” the Chinese Vice Minister told State House correspondents after. The two sides also talked about the supply by China of 500,000 laptop computers to Cameroonian university students, an order that was placed by President Paul Biya.

Earlier the same day, Yu Jianhua met with Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, the Speaker of Cameroon’s National Assembly during which Yu assured Cavaye of China’s readiness to construct the new Assembly building. Still on Friday, Yu Jianhua signed a technical and financial accord with Louis Paul Motaze, Cameroon’s Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development for the gift of 198.58 million RMB to Cameroon.

Some 191 million RMB of the amount is for the carrying out of feasibility studies on the construction of the new National Assembly building, while 7 million RMB is for maintenance of the Warda, Yaounde Multipurpose Sport Complex that was constructed by China. Ambassador Wei Wenhua on November 17, 2017, visited Cameroon’s National Assembly after a severe fire incident left five of the seven floors completely destroyed the night before. The building houses the Lower House of Parliament, the National Assembly.

The incident occurred barely two days after the house reopened for the third and last session of the year, which discusses and votes the following year’s National Appropriation Bill. Wei, who joined Cameroonian cabinet ministers and other senior government officials in commiserating with the National Assembly, pledged his government’s readiness to entertain any request for assistance from Cameroon following the fire incident. He met Deputy Speaker, Hilarion Etong, whose office was also destroyed in the inferno.

*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 a 2017 China-Africa Press Centre, CAPC fellow.