Cameroonian science week in France: the CNRS is soon in Cameroon
Ranked fourth research organization worldwide, the CNRS is realizing its desire to install its very first representation in a power plant
After her visit to the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, MINRESI Dr Madeleine TCHUINTE went to the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) where she had discussions with its President Director General Antoine PETIT in the aftermath -noon of Monday April 3, 2023.
Responding to the CEO’s welcome address, Madam MINRESI praised the contribution of the CNRS to the development of Research. She presented this juggernaut of French research as an important player for Cameroon in its transition towards an equitable scientific partnership with France. Indeed, created in 1939, the CNRS is one of the major research structures on a global scale. It occupies a leading position in French scientific research. His areas of research cover both the human and social sciences and the exact sciences. The CNRS and MINRESI are committed to pooling their efforts and skills to strengthen the scientific partnership between Cameroon and France. This desire finds its justification in the locomotive role played by the Cameroonian National Research and Innovation System in Central Africa. This is what gives Cameroon the assets to constitute a hub of research and innovation in the sub-region. In 2022, a CNRS delegation was previously received in Yaoundé by the Minister of Scientific Research and Innovation with a view to laying the foundations for a fruitful and beneficial partnership for both countries. It is in this sense that a MINRESI-CNRS framework agreement was signed in Paris on Monday March 3 on the occasion of Cameroon Week in France.
This agreement relates to the creation of a CNRS representation in Cameroon. This will be the very first representation of the CNRS in Central Africa; this reflects the great interest that the CNRS places in the Cameroonian National Research and Innovation System.
The exchange between Madam MINRESI and the CEO of the CNRS was preceded by a meeting between researchers from this institution and those from the Research Institutes of Cameroon. MINRESI Technical Advisor No. 2, Professor Eddy NGONKEU, gave a presentation on France’s contribution to the training of Cameroonian researchers.
He thus presented the Cameroonian alumni who have benefited from training and scholarships in France. His presentation revealed the qualitative and quantitative importance of these alumni, several of whom continue to collaborate with research institutions in France. At the end of this series of exchanges with the CNRS, the Minister of Scientific Research and Innovation invited Cameroon’s scientific partners, as well as Cameroonian researchers living in France, to a Cocktail dinner at the Cameroon Embassy in Paris.
In her toast for the occasion, she emphasized the importance and historic nature of scientific collaboration between France and Cameroon, indicating the need for both parties to strengthen it following the prescriptions of the French and Cameroonian leaders during the the visit to Cameroon of President Emmanuel MACRON in July 2022. In response, the Ambassador of France, H.E. Thierry MARCHAND expressed his commitment to establishing a partnership relationship with Cameroon in the field of scientific research.
Dr. Francis A. Fogue Kuate
