The Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, also Vice-Chair of the EITI Committee, Mr. Gabriel DODO NDOKE chaired on 14 December 2022 at the Mont Fébé Hotel in Yaoundé from 10 am, a national workshop on beneficial ownership, organized with the support of Cabinet Enerteam.
It was attended by: members of the Government, the President of the Chamber of Commerce, members of the DiplomaticC, parliamentarians, the President of the District Court where the Trade and Property Credit Register (RCCM) is housed, members of the EITI Committee, focal points of the Permanent Secretariat, former members of the EITI Committee or its Permanent Secretariat, journalists.
The objective of the workshop was to raise awareness among all stakeholders involved in the context of requirement 2.5 of the EITI Standard, for the disclosure of beneficial ownership of companies operating in Cameroon in the extractive sector (oil, gas, mining, and quarrying) with a view to eventually establishing a register of beneficial owners specific to the extractive sector.
These meetings are being held at a time when the country is making progress on the site of the beneficial owner. Indeed, the Cameroonian authorities have taken Decision No. 00000723 MINFI/DGI of 21 October 2022 on the modalities of implementation of the Beneficial Ownership Standard in Cameroon; This decision is the result of the work of the Interministerial Committee in charge of preparing the evaluation of Cameroon on behalf of the second peer review cycle of the Global Forum on Transparency and the exchange of information for tax purposes involving Cameroon EITI.
The workshop took place in three phases: a protocol phase, a phase of works and discussions, and finally a phase of restitution.
In his opening remarks, the Vice-President of the EITI Committee, speaking on behalf of his counterpart, the Minister of Finance, Chair of the EITI Committee, recalled that : “It is expected from this workshop that the presentations that will be made, as well as the discussions that will follow, will result in specific recommendations that will enable the Committee to fully comply with requirement 2.5 (…) . Particular attention will have to be paid to the legal and regulatory aspects.”
Subsequently,the presentations focused on the following topics :
Presentation of the guide for the implementation of the beneficial ownership standard in Cameroon presented by Mr. Ibrahim NDOUOP NJIKAM, focal point in the Permanent Secretariat;
Preparation of the monitoring of the beneficial ownership under the EITI Standard by Ahmed ZOUARI, Country Manager at the International Secretariat;
Beneficial owner and fight against money laundering presented by Mr.Jean Bertin MEBA of the National Financial Investigation Agency;
Challenges of beneficial ownership disclosure in Cameroon by Mr. Karim LOURIMI of Cabinet ENERTEAM.
Each presentation was followed by a series of question and answers session; which allowed participants to express themselves in the context of the public debate. At the end of the workshop, the participants adopted the recommendations after reading. The workshop ended on a general note of satisfaction.