At the last three-day China-Africa summit in Beijing, the President of the Republic Paul Biya attended a bilateral meeting, dinner, banquet, the opening and closing ceremony, and in between granted audiences to the Chinese corporate world.
The ninth summit, officially called Forum on Africa-China Cooperation (FOCAC), which ran from September 4 to 6, saw President Biya and his peers of African countries met and discuss policies and cooperation agreements with officials from the continent’s biggest lender and investor.
While in China, top on President Biya’s agenda was the bilateral meeting with the President of the Peoples Republic of China in the evening, on September 4, 2024 – during which the Head of State extended an invitation to his Chinese counterpart to visit Cameroon. «On this occasion of my eighth visit to China, I would like to reiterate my invitation to you to pay a State visit to Cameroon. This would be an excellent opportunity to celebrate 53 years of diplomatic relations between our two countries and to strengthen the mutually beneficial partnership between China and Cameroon,» Biya said.
President Biya woo the Chinese government and investors saying «Cameroon remains an attractive country due to its geo-strategic position (in the Gulf of Guinea)». A welcome banquet offered to the Cameroon delegation by President Xi, and wife closed the meeting.
Let’s Talk Business
When the curtains pulled over the summit on Friday September 6, 2024, the Head of State stayed back, and granted audiences at his St Regis Hotel in Beijing to five Chinese companies, with some already operating in Cameroon. Top officials of Huawei, Star Times and China Tianying Incorporated filed in and met Biya. The Minister of Public Works Emmanuel Ngannou Djoumessi assisted in the audience. His colleague Acting Minister of Mines, Industries and Technological Development Prof Fuh Calistus Gentry took over when Biya received officials of China Liyu Gas Power Company and China Harbour Engineering Company.
Biya before the audiences on Saturday, attended a dinner offered in his honour on Thursday which according to the President was another demonstration of Chinese hospitality. Leji Zaho Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China sat in for President Xi Jinping.“Our two countries attach great importance to principles and values such as peaceful resolution of conflicts through dialogue, non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries and respect for their sovereignty…,” the President said in his toast at the dinner.
Like in every of such a summit, there is always an opening ceremony. Biya participated in the one-hour-thirty-minutes opening ceremony of FOCAC, held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, under the theme: Joining Hands to Advance Modernisation and Build a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future. President Biya was among the 50 African leaders in China.
Jude VIBAN
