Despite the long and winding road, Cameroon went through the challenges therein.

The peak point of the journey to the completion point was reached in June, 2000 when the Executive Boards of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank's International Development Agency (IDA) discussed the preliminary Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative document for Cameroon. That was exactly on June 07 and 15 respectively. At the end of the discussion, the two institutions agreed that Cameroon was eligible for assistance under the Initiative in view of its unsustainable debt burden and its satisfactory track record for macroeconomic management and structural reform under IDA-and Fund supported programs.

But Cameroon had to go through some exigencies, fulfilling a number of triggers. Government had to continued to implement its medium-term economic and financial program, which was supported by a three-year arrangement under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) approved by the Executive Board of the IMF on December 21, 2000.

The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper served as a major guiding line for the implementation of the economic programme. But its implementation raised a lot of questions as the Breton Woods organisations expressed their disappointment.

The seriousness of this disappointment was to be felt in 2004 when Cameroon's dream of reaching the completion point of the HIPC initiative was shattered. Things had to start anew.

The meeting between Mr. Bio-Tchané, Director of the African Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Prime Minister and other senior officials to exchange views on economic developments, and to discuss the ongoing cooperation between the IMF and Cameroon however opened new horizon for a new economic program. The programme was expected to enhance economic growth and contribute to poverty reduction, as well as gain renewed financial support from the Fund.

It was going to be a medium term program, one which would cover the year 2005. It really took long for the two parties to reach a consensus after Cameroon, through another letter of intent stated clearly how it was going to realise the program. In effect, the program was to run for three years from 2005 to 2008 with retroactive effect.

It was after the review of the first few months of implementation that the Boards of Directors of the IMF and World Bank finally admitted Cameroon into the Completion point of the HIPC initiative, last April 28, 2006. Arriving at this point was already imminent considering the significant measures taken by government to ensure the transparent management of public funds. Many other reforms were undertaken including further steps in privatisation.