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Cameroon Customs has entered into a strategic partnership agreement with Singaporean Fintech company KiwiPay and French logistic firm Bollore Transport & Logistics to secure and facilitate in-bound e-commerce transactions.

The tripartite three-year agreement was signed in the capital Yaounde on 3 November 2021 by the Director General of Customs, Edwin Fongod, the Regional Director of Bollore Transport & Logistics for the Gulf of Guinea, Serge Agnero, and the Representative of KiwiPay Central Africa, Christophe Nicolas.

Thanks to the partnership, through KiwiPay’s super app KiwiGo, users in Cameroon will gain access to global e-commerce platforms including Amazon. KiwiPay will ensure that purchases made online through its app are delivered to users in Cameroon in good condition.

The firm will give users access to parallel payment options viz WeChat Pay, Google Pay, AliPay and Apple Pay, which they can use for reservations, international money transfer, payment of services, amongst others. The platform has now been put under trial and will be launched in the country in early December.

Under the agreement, Bollore Transport & Logistics will fast-track delivery of goods bought through KiwiPay’s platform and handle customs clearance formalities and the payment of customs duties and taxes.

The customs department will ensure that KiwiPay parcels arriving the country to benefit from an express mode of processing. Cameroon Customs will also accord preferential tariffs to goods bought on KiwiPay’s platform in a bid to encourage e-commerce in Cameroon.

According to Fongod, the partnership is the fruit of the Customs-Business Forum, promoted by the World Customs Organisation and an agreement signed in 2015 between Bollore Transport & Logistics and the Cameroon Customs. “This offers us an opportunity to take part in the development of e-commerce in Cameroon,” said Fongod.