AUDIENCE GRANTED BY THE MINISTER OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND INNOVATION TO THE INDONESIAN AMBASSADOR TO CAMEROON.
On Wednesday August 20, 2025, the Minister of Scientific Research and Innovation Dr Madeleine TCHUINTE granted an audience to the Indonesian Ambassador to Cameroon, His Excellency AGUNG CAHAYA SUMIRAT. The Diplomat was accompanied by his close aids at the Indonesian Embassy. Also attending the audience, were close collaborators of the Minister of Scientific Research and Innovation.
The audience was an opportunity for both parties to take stock of existing areas of scientific and technical cooperation between Cameroon and Indonesia. Scientific cooperation between Cameroon and Indonesia can be traced back from 2008 when IRAD worked with Indonesian scientists on oil palm varieties and the identification of new oil palm species. This led to the signing of an agreement between IRAD and PT-ASTRA for seed production by IRAD and the payment of royalties by the Indonesian counterpart. Since then, two IRAD scientists have done PhD studies in Indonesia. The Minister of Scientific Research and Innovation expressed her willingness to encourage mobility and exchange visits between researchers of both countries. New areas of cooperation were identified such as Agriculture, infrastructures, livestock and technology transfer from Indonesia to facilitate Cameroon’s emergence in diverse domains.
The Indonesian diplomat, on his part, expressed the readiness of his government to collaborate with the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation. He identified Indonesian institutions such as BRIM, for cooperation in the domains of agriculture, infrastructures and livestock. He also announced that Indonesia offers annual scholarships suitable for Cameroonian students for both Masters and PhD programs. The Minister of Scientific Research and Innovation promised to relay information on these scholarships to the entire research community and Universities once it is made available by the Indonesian Embassy. The audience ended in a friendly atmosphere with an exchange of pleasantries and family photographs.
