President of the Republic of Cameroon H.E.M. PAUL BIYA SPEECHES, DECLARATIONS, AND MESSAGES Volume 10/2020 H.E.M. PAUL BIYA SPEECHES, DECLARATIONS AND MESSAGES Volume 10/2020 Speeches, Declaration an Messages of the President in 2020 Volume 10 | 2020 | Sommary New Year’s Greetings 2020 Speech by the Head of State in response to the presentaton of New 9 Year Wishes by the Diplomatc Corps Yaounde, 9 January 2020 Graduation ceremony of the 37th batch of the Combined Services Military Academy (EMIA) christened “Major General Kodji Jacob” Speech by His Excellency Paul BIYA, President of the Republic, 17 Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces Yaounde, 24 January 2020 Statement by the Head of State afer his vote in legislatve and 25 municipal electons Yaounde, 09 february 2020 Head of State’s Message to the Youth on the 54th Editon of the 29 Natonal Youth Day Yaounde, 10 February 2020 11th Edition of Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) day Speech by H.E. Paul BIYA, President of the Republic of Cameroon 37 current President of the Conference of CEMAC Heads of State Yaounde, 15 march 2020 Head of State’s Message to the Naton on the eve of the Natonal 43 Day, 20 May 2020 9 Yaounde, 19 May 2020 5 | Volume 10 | 2020 Speeches, Declaration an Messages of the President in 2020 SOMMARY Higher Judicial Council Opening Statement by the HEAD OF STATE 53 Yaounde, 10 august 2020 Head of State’s Message to the Nation 57 For the End of Year 2019 and the New Year 2020 Yaoundé, le 31 décembre 2019 BIOGRAPHY OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC 69 INDEX 77 6 Speeches, Declaration an Messages of the President in 2020 Volume 10 | 2020 | 7 Speeches, Declaration an Messages of the President in 2020 Volume 10 | 2020 | New Year’s Greetings 2020 Speech by the Head of State in response to the presentation of New Year Wishes by the Diplomatic Corps Yaounde, 9 January 2020 9 | Volume 10 | 2020 Speeches, Declaration an Messages of the President in 2020 10 Speeches, Declaration an Messages of the President in 2020 Volume 10 | 2020 | The Dean of the Diplomatc Corps, I would, frst of all, like to thank you for the kind and encouraging words you have just spoken about my country. Distnguished Members of the Diplomatc Corps, The decade that has just ended, like the past year, was marked by serious threats to internatonal peace and security. Faced with the huge challenges posed to humanity as a whole, namely terrorism, climate change, migratory movements, the rise of populism, etc., the internatonal community made multple eforts to fnd solutons. However, much remains to be done. Even though the fght against terrorism is recording some success in Syria and Iraq, there is concern that without genuine and sincere solidarity among States, this scourge could spread to other parts of the world and intensify. I am thinking partcularly of Africa, especially the Sahel region where Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad are already afected. Cameroon has not been spared. This afords me the opportunity to commend the G5 Sahel Member States which are making considerable eforts to neutralize terrorists. I also pay tribute to France whose troops are partcipatng courageously in the fght against jihadists, under Operaton Barkhane. Cameroon, for its part, is working together with all the neighbouring countries of the Lake Chad basin and internatonal partners of goodwill to neutralize the Boko Haram sect’s capacity to wreak havoc. 11 | Volume 10 | 2020 Speeches, Declaration an Messages of the President in 2020 Such solidarity is all the more necessary as our developing States need increased fnancial resources to build road, rail, port, energy and industrial infrastructure for their development. Such facilites foster the creaton of many jobs that can dissuade our youths from venturing into other contnents, thus sparing us the unfortunate incidents that have turned the Mediterranean Sea into a vast, hideous cemetery at the dawn of the 21st century. The Dean of the Diplomatc Corps, Distnguished Members of the Diplomatc Corps, The internatonal community is also duty-bound to seek solutons to the trade tensions existng between major powers, which do not only limit global trade, but also undermine the development opportunites of our States. Similarly, special atenton must be paid to the increasingly obvious risk of challenging multlateralism which has so far spared the human community another global confict. This challenge is unfortunately accompanied by the advent, in some countries, of “populist governments” that favour natonal solutons to global and common problems. It is hoped that there will be a collectve awareness that environmental, climate, development and migraton issues sufciently demonstrate the interdependence of States and the need to act in a spirit of solidarity to fnd appropriate solutons to them. 12 Speeches, Declaration an Messages of the President in 2020 Volume 10 | 2020 | Distnguished Members of the Diplomatc Corps, During the year just ended, Cameroon redoubled its eforts to maintain peace and security across its territory. Thus, in the Far-North Region, we beefed up the presence of our Defence and Security Forces in order to curb or even prevent incursions by terrorists of the Boko Haram sect who, unfortunately, contnue to cause human and material losses. I would like to avail myself of this opportunity to make a fraternal appeal to all the afected countries of the Lake Chad basin to remobilize and redouble their eforts in order to permanently neutralize these terrorists. Regarding the problems in our North-West and South- West Regions, various measures have been taken to objectvely antcipate a return to lastng peace in the short term. The Major Natonal Dialogue aforded an opportunity to make recommendatons, some of which are being implemented, with laws recently passed by Parliament. Thus, our two regions of the North-West and South-West have been granted, within the framework of our Republic, a special status which largely meets the aspiratons of our fellow citzens living there. I take this opportunity to express our grattude to friendly countries and internatonal organizatons such as the United Natons, the Commonwealth, La Francophonie and the African Union for their understanding, assistance and support in the management of this sensitve problem. 13 | Volume 10 | 2020 Speeches, Declaration an Messages of the President in 2020 Regarding the economy, Cameroon intends to resolutely contnue its march towards emergence, despite difcultes and pitalls. Its Natonal Development Strategy for the period 2020- 2030 aims to achieve that goal. Our country also welcomes the coming into force of the African Contnental Free Trade Area which, it hopes, will ofer new prospects for intra-African trade. On the diplomatc front, Cameroon played host to many high-ranking foreign dignitaries and heads of internatonal organizatons in 2019. With all these guests, I shared the viewpoint of our country which needs peace and security, conditons conducive to sustainable development to which all our compatriots legitmately aspire. This is the reason why I partcipated in the Peace Forum held last November in Paris. Because of my country’s frm resolve to eradicate the pandemics of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, I atended the Sixth Replenishment Conference of the Global Fund devoted to the fght against these diseases. At that conference, Cameroon made a substantal contributon commensurate with its level of resources and development. Once more, I would like to commend the eforts made by France which mobilized the internatonal community to ensure that the Global Fund to fght these pandemics receives the requisite resources for its work. 14 Speeches, Declaration an Messages of the President in 2020 Volume 10 | 2020 | Distnguished Members of the Diplomatc Corps, In my opinion, the internatonal community stll has to answer the following queston: can the world contnue to evolve in a context of “trade war”, mistrust between States and misunderstanding between the citzens and those who govern them? If, as one would imagine, the answer is negatve, I believe that only an internatonal conference at the highest level could lay the groundwork for “Act II of globalizaton”, to borrow from an eminent politcal scientst[1], that is, globalizaton that places man and his environment at the centre of any economic actvity. The Dean of the Diplomatc Corps, Distnguished Members of the Diplomatc Corps, I would now like to request you to kindly convey my best wishes for the New Year to the high authorites you represent. I also extend to you and your families my most sincere wishes for happiness, health and success in 2020 Long live internatonal cooperaton! Long live internatonal solidarity! Thank you for your atenton. 15 Speeches, Declaration an Messages of the President in 2020 Volume 10 | 2020 | Graduation ceremony of the 37th batch of the Combined Services Military Academy (EMIA) christened “ Major General Kodji Jacob” Speech by His Excellency Paul BIYA, President of the Republic, Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces Yaounde, 24 January 2020 17 | Volume 10 | 2020 Speeches, Declaration an Messages of the President in 2020 18 Speeches, Declaration an Messages of the President in 2020 Volume 10 | 2020 | The Prime Minister, Head of Government, The President of the Economic and Social Council, The First President and the Procureur General of the Supreme Court, The First Vice-President of the Senate The First Vice-President of the Natonal Assembly, Distnguished Ministers, Heads of Diplomatc Missions and Representatves of Internatonal Organizatons, The Lieutenant-General, Chief of the Armed Forces General Staf, General Ofcers, Ofcers, Non-Commissioned Ofcers and Soldiers, Distnguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, In recent years, the security of our country has been put to severe test. Three of our regions in partcular have been or are afected by insecurity.