First Couple Back Home After Russia-Africa Summit

The Head of State, Paul Biya, and the First Lady, Chantal Biya, yesterday July 30 arrived in the country after attending the 2nd Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg, from July 27-28.

The chattered flight carrying the President couple landed at the Yaounde Nsimalen International Airport in the evening hours of the day.

Upon deplaning, the Head of State and his spouse were welcomed at the foot of the plane by some of his close collaborators, namely, the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, and the Minister of State, Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh.

As is traditionally the case, the Head of State had a brief stop at the presidential lounge of the airport for some civilities, before later heading to the State House.

The Head of State thus comes home after what was a hectic week for him. It’s worth recalling that the President left Yaounde on Wednesday July 26 for the summit which lasted two days.

President Biya spoke at the summit, adding his voice to those of 16 other African leaders in expressing gratitude to the Russian federation for its help to African countries. He also beseeched the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, to see to it that the fruitful ties between Russia and African nations, and Cameroon in particular, remain rock-solid.

Apart from his intervention during one of the plenaries on Friday July 28, the Head of State and the members of his delegation also had a bilateral meeting between President Putin and some of his collaborators. The meeting, which was mostly in camera, was a moment for the two leaders to appreciate their bilateral collaboration thus far, and to make new commitments aimed at further cementing the bonds of their alliance.

The President of the Republic travelled to Russian for the summit two days after he had landed in the country from the Paris summit for a new global financing pact held on June 22-23 in the French capital.