The 15th edition of the Government Action Fair best known as SAGO officially commenced on June 8, 2026, at the Yaoundé City Hall esplanade, marked by an elegant opening ceremony.
Presided over by René Emmanuel Sadi, the Minister of Communication and Government spokesperson acting as the personal representative of Prime Minister Chief Dr. Joseph Dion Ngute, the event brought together numerous government officials, private sector executives, and international delegates.
Running until June 13, this year’s fair anticipates welcoming nearly 300,000 visitors and features around 200 diverse exhibitors. The central objective of SAGO 2026 is to showcase the state’s ongoing development achievements while reinforcing accountability, good governance, and open dialogue with citizens and economic operators.
In his keynote address, Minister René Emmanuel Sadi acknowledged that SAGO 2026 comes at a critical time when global conflicts—such as the Russia-Ukraine war, Middle East tensions, and international trade disputes—as well as lingering domestic security issues challenge national growth.
Despite these headwinds, Cameroon has demonstrated remarkable economic resilience. The government continues to forge ahead with its National Development Strategy 2020–2030 (NDS30), prioritizing structural economic transformation, human capital development, job creation for youth, and decentralized strategic governance.
This edition also highlights the momentum generated from the October 12, 2025 presidential election victory of His Excellency Paul Biya, who pledged to place youth and women’s empowerment at the center of his mandate.
This year’s theme, “Public-Private Partnership: A Lever for an Emerging Cameroon,” positions the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model as an essential mechanism for financing the ambitious infrastructure outlined in the NDS30. Confronted with limited domestic resources, the state increasingly prioritizes win-win collaborations with private stakeholders to secure capital for large-scale projects across energy, water management, roads, and telecommunications. Furthermore, these strategic partnerships are crucial for funding specialized industrial zones and logistics platforms. These facilities directly support Cameroon’s import substitution policy by facilitating the local processing of raw materials.
A prime example of this public-private alignment is being showcased by the Ministry of Higher Education – MINESUP, represented at the fair by its Secretary-General, Prof. Wilfred Nyongbet Gabsa on behalf of Minister of State Professor Jacques Fame Ndongo. MINESUP is highlighting key structural shifts mandated by the Higher Education Orientation Law of July 2023.
This paradigm shift connects academic institutions directly to the economic landscape through the “University-Enterprise” concept and the newly instituted national Student-Entrepreneur Status. Additionally, MINESUP is featuring major strides in academic digitization, notably the operation of ten University Digital Development Centers – CDNU aimed at modernizing training and improving access to knowledge.
Beyond executive presentations and high-level workshops, SAGO 2026 has introduced highly praised structural innovations to make governance more accessible to the public. These include the specialized “Village of the 10 Regions,” designed to connect local authorities directly with citizens, and a “Local Consumption Village” aimed at promoting homegrown products in line with import substitution. A dedicated “Careers and Training Hub” also stands as a focal point for the socio-economic inclusion of youth and women.
Organizers noted that the active presence of foreign nations for the first time in the fair’s history confirms SAGO’s expanding international prestige and its success as a premier institutional platform managed alongside the firm “Mon Communicateur”.
