Cameroon: US and Cameroon Announce 7 Billion Dollars in Investment and Trade Opportunities

On August 27, Cameroon and the US announced approximately 7 billion dollars (nearly 4000 billion francs CFA) in US investment projects and commercial opportunities during the inaugural US-Cameroon Bilateral Economic and Trade Dialogue. According to the US Embassy in Cameroon, these projects cover critical minerals, infrastructure, energy, and technology. Tronox (Connecticut) and Australia's Lion Rock are advancing a 500 million dollar rutile project, while ARM (Washington) is negotiating a cobalt-nickel-manganese project in Nkamouna, with an initial investment of 85 million dollars. A. Epstein and Sons International (Illinois) is discussing a 2 billion dollar airport in Douala, and Hydromine (New York) is leading the Grand Eweng dam, 1040 megawatts, valued at 3.5 billion dollars on the Sanaga. Cybastion (Virginia) plans 75 million dollars for an AI data center in Douala. The two sides created joint working groups to institutionalize this Dialogue, ahead of a second edition hosted by the US in 2027. Discussions also focused on taxation, logistics, and mining reform to improve the business climate. These announcements come as Washington seeks to secure access to critical minerals amid Chinese competition in Central Africa, while Cameroon diversifies partnerships long dominated by France and China. Several projects remain at the discussion stage rather than firm commitments, and their realization will depend on promised tax and mining reforms, in a context of budget pressure linked to falling oil revenues.