Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697720646510.pdf (Cameroon)
REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON Paix – Travail – Patrie Peace – Work – Fatherland -------- -------- ASSEMBLEE NATIONALE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ------------ ---------- CABINET DU PRESIDENT SPEAKER’S OFFICE --------------------- 9ème LEGISLATURE 9TH LEGISLATIVE PERIOD -------------- ----------- Année legislative 2015 2015 LEGISLATIVE YEAR ---------------- ------------- 3ème session ordinaire 3rd Ordinary Session (Novembre 2015) (November 2015) --------------- CLOSING SPEECH BY THE RT HON.
CAVAYE YEGUIE DJIBRIL SPEAKER OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF CAMEROON Yaounde, 11 December 2015 1 - Mr President of the Senate; - Mr Prime Minister, Head of Government; - Members of Government; - The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; - The Attorney General of the Supreme Court; - Your Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps; - Honourable Parliamentarians and Dear Colleagues; - Distinguished Members of the Civil Society; - Ladies and Gentlemen; The proceedings of the third ordinary session of the National Assembly for the 2015 legislative year are ending today, after thirty days of frank and sincere debates.
From every indication, there is total satisfaction with the harvest realized at the end of our deliberations.

Our House scrutinized and adopted six bills including a very important text: Finance Bill of the Republic of 2 Cameroon for the 2016 financial year.
Upon its adoption and pending enactment by the President of the Republic, the estimated State budget for the 2016 financial year balances off in revenue and expenditure at the sum of 4, 234.7 billion CFA francs, as against 3, 746.6 billion CFA francs for the current year, representing a 488.1 billion increase.

The Nation’s Elected Representatives note with satisfaction the more than 6% increase in the public investment budget.
Mr Prime Minister, Head of Government, The 2016 Finance Bill already sets its ambitions.

It marks the beginning of the 2016-2018 three-year term.

This period, which is the second of its kind in the programme budgeting system, appears to be the three- year period of optimizing the new method of managing State resources.
You had placed this period under the banner of striving for the performance and efficiency of State interventions as well as under the banner of increased diversification of our sources of growth.

3 Hence, we remain convinced that the optimal execution of the 2016 budget would led to a successful entry into this three-year period so that your goals can be attained in the final analysis.
In any case, the Nation’s Representatives expect you to do everything to ensure an effective consolidation of our country’s economic revival.

The growth we are dreaming of should not be wishful thinking; it should be a reality that will usher in the welfare which Cameroonians deserve.

Another text adopted during our proceedings is the bill governing commercial activity in Cameroon.
This Law will henceforth revamp the legal framework for carrying out commercial activities in our country, update and adapt the rules and principles hitherto applicable, address the shortfalls in the domestic market, or better still, enable Cameroon to align with international mechanisms, while making it possible for our country to be part of the very organized commercial space in an increasingly globalized world.
4 However, the Nation’s Representatives, who are satisfied with the passing of this Law, wish that Government should fully play its role in this new dispensation by encouraging all the stakeholders concerned to appropriate this important legislation in order to ensure a sound regulation of the Cameroonian market with regard to quality products and to pursue the implementation of measures being taken to curb shortages and speculative manoeuvres which, sometime ago, undermined households especially on the verge of end-of-year festivities.
5 Mr Senate President, Your Excellencies, Honourable Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, Our proceedings were taking place concurrently with the United Nations Conference on Climate dubbed COP21 in Paris (France).

Cameroon was represented at the highest level of the State at the Paris Conference by the Presidential couple who were personally present and active participated in the discussions.
Hence, our compatriots followed up with the utmost attention all the speeches and inputs of His Excellency Paul BIYA, President of the Republic, Head of State.

On behalf of all and sundry, I hereby wish to commend the relevance and profoundness of the said speeches and 6 inputs – high level contributions which show the total interest that Cameroon and its leaders have always attached to environmental issues.
In that vein, the Members of the National Assembly fully subscribe to the President of the Republic’s appeal to safeguard Lake Chad and the Congo Basin, the world’s second most important ecological zone.

Indeed, it is time to act.

While the COP 21 is yet to unveil all its conclusions, I would like to quote what the Head of State said in his appeal in Paris: “This is time for urgent issues, the Climate Emergency”, unquote.
I therefore urge every elected representative to henceforth be an ambassador and stakeholder of Climate Emergency at his or her level.

7 In the same vein, I wish to mention, to a lesser extent, the significant presence of Parliamentarians of our House at the Bourget negotiations.
Whether they acted on behalf of the National Assembly or on behalf of their respective networks, it is permissible to note that their presence was in line with the logic of an increasingly constant involvement of parliamentarians in decision- making at the international level.

Their presence equally confirms our joint commitment which has been variously shown in the fight against climate change at the national level as well as in the global quest for environmental protection.
To our colleagues who travelled to Paris as genuine plenipotentiaries, I would like to express my personal satisfaction to them and extend to them the sincere and 8 heartfelt congratulations of all Members of the National Assembly.

Ladies and Gentlemen, As we prepare to part company, it would not be superfluous to remind you of our country’s security situation.

The Islamic State in West Africa, the ex-Boko Haram, is insidiously pursuing its horrendous activities.
We should be constantly vigilant in the face of these terrorists - more vigilant than ever.

Let us always support our Defence and Security Forces, especially with military intelligence.

It is a battle worth fighting for the preservation of our peace and for the pursuit of the work of building Cameroon for its emergence by 2035.
9 To round off my speech, I would like to express the gratitude of the National Assembly to all and sundry, especially you who were with us throughout this session devoted mainly to the budget.
My gratitude and congratulations are directed especially to the Government of the Republic, headed by the Prime Minister, Mr YANG Philemon, the two members of Government who deputized for the Vice Prime Minister in charge of Relations with Parliament, to all the Members of Government for their availability and clarifications during the defence of the budgetary allocations and during sittings that were devoted to Question Time.
I am delighted to observe that the newcomers in the government quickly caught up during their maiden 10 contact with the Members of the National Assembly.

I congratulate them for that and urge them to keep up!

As for you, Dear colleagues, I say thank you and congratulations for your spirit of sacrifice, astuteness, and especially your strong commitment to the nation.
Members of the Committee on Finance and the Budget and other committees, you left no stone unturned to scrutinize the various bills entrusted to you, sometimes at ungodly hours.

I must say that such a commitment to the Republic and to the people whom we represent honours you.

My congratulations equally go the Secretary General of the National Assembly, the Director of my Cabinet and all their collaborators who played a major and indispensable role in the success of our deliberations.
11 Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not thank the press that disseminated most of our debates.

To all and sundry, the only thing left is for me to say good bye and wish you a safe trip back to your respective constituencies to continue your routine activities.

I seize this opportunity to wish you all happy end-of-year festivities in advance.

Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year 2016!

I declare closed the proceedings of the third Ordinary Session of our House for the 2015 Legislative year.
- Long Live the National Assembly!

12 - Long Live Cameroon and its illustrious leader, His Excellency Paul Biya, President of the Republic, Head of State, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces!

Thank you!

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