Press Releases/Others

 

1. An Exchange of Notes (E/N) concerning a general grant amounting to 374 million JPY in aid for the “Project for Improvement of Water Supply and Hygiene in the Diamare and Mayo Kani Subdivision of the Far North Region” was signed on 31 March 2014 in Yaoundé, the Republic of Cameroon, between Mr. Tsutomu Arai, Ambassador of Japan to the Republic of Cameroon and Ms. Felicite Tchibindat, UNICEF Representative in the Republic of Cameroon.
2. This project aims to build 132 water supply stations, consisting of deep wells with human-powered pumps, throughout the Far North Province of Cameroon and to provide technical assistance for the maintenance of the stations, including the establishment of maintenance committees comprised of local citizens.
3. In Cameroon only 49% of the population, nationally, has access to safe and consistent water supplies. The Government of Cameroon has been making concerted efforts to increase this percentage to 75%. However, in North Province and Far North Province, this percentage is as low as 20%. This grant-aid project is expected to enable some 39,600 more citizens in Far North Province to access safe water.
4. Japan announced at the Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development meeting (TICAD V), which was held in May, 2013, that it would commit to improve access to safe water and sanitation for 10 million people in Africa as a part of a larger effort to improve the state of water and sanitation in African countries. This grant-aid project is one part of Japan’s greater programmes of assistance to Cameroon and Africa in general.
5. Furthermore, this project is also part of a programme of assistance in the field of climate change adaptation for developing countries, which is taking place over three years from 2013 to 2015, and amounts to 1.6 trillion JPY. This programme was announced in the publication of the foreign policy position, ‘Action for Cool Earth: ACE’: Proactive Diplomatic Strategy for Countering Global Warming,which the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs released in November, 2013. Japan would like to continue to cooperate with Cameroon in the field of climate change in order to formulate an equitable and effective international framework for all countries.

（Reference） The land area of the Republic of Cameroon is 475,000 km2, its population is about 20.50 million (2012) and its gross national income (GNI) per capita is 1,210 USD (2011).