YAOUNDE: The third round of Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) between India and Cameroon was held in Yaounde, the Ministry of External Affairs said. The talks held on Monday was co-chaired by AS (C&WA), from Indian side , Sevala Naik Mude, and Secretary General of Ministry of External Relations from Cameroon, Oumarou Chinmoun, the MEA said in an official release.

Both parties discussed ways to further deepen the ties between India and Cameroon during the meeting, which covered political, economic and commercial, investment, defence and security, development partnership, capacity building, cultural exchanges, and people-to-people links.

According to the official release, both sides also exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest and agreed to enhance their cooperation in the multilateral fora. Since before Cameroon's independence, India and Cameroon have had warm and friendly relations.

"With opening of our resident Mission in Yaounde in 2019, our bilateral relations have received further impetus. Our bilateral trade has been growing steadily and it reached to USD 1.1 billion during FY 2022-23 from USD 523 million in 2018-19. India had extended two Lines of Credit (LoCs) worth USD 79.65 million to Republic of Cameroon for Rice, Maize and Cassava plantation projects. India has also been supporting Cameroon in capacity building by providing training to Cameroon officials in various areas under ITEC as well as scholarships/ fellowships under ICCR," the MEA release read.

Furthermore, on the sidelines of FOC, Sevala Naik Mude, AS(C&WA) paid a courtesy call on Mbella Mbella Lejeune, Minister of External Relations of Cameroon, and discussed bilateral issues of mutual interest. Both India and Cameroon agreed to hold the next round of talks in New Delhi at a mutually convenient date.