The European Union’s new ambassador to Cameroon, Veronika Boskovic Pohar, takes office at a politically sensitive time for the country, but also with a major economic asset behind the relationship: the EU remains Cameroon’s largest trading partner even as Yaoundé broadens its ties with other international partners.
Boskovic Pohar presented a copy of her credentials in Yaoundé on Sept. 2, 2026, to Félix Mbayu, minister delegate to the minister of external relations in charge of cooperation with the Commonwealth. The Slovenian diplomat succeeds Jean-Marc Châtaignier, whose assignment ended in late August. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas had announced her appointment to Yaoundé on June 3.
During their first meeting, the two sides reviewed Cameroon’s sociopolitical situation and its cooperation with the European Union. Boskovic Pohar said she wanted to strengthen the relationship around three principles: “dialogue, community of interests and interaction.” Mbayu, for his part, reaffirmed the Cameroonian government’s willingness to work with the EU delegation’s new team.
Her arrival comes less than a year after Cameroon’s Oct. 12, 2025, presidential election and the violence that followed the vote. Human Rights Watch documented protests that were suppressed in several cities, hundreds of arrests and dozens of deaths. Amnesty International reported that at least 48 people were killed. In November 2025, the Cameroonian government itself acknowledged “several dozen” deaths and several hundred arrests.
Cameroon’s electoral calendar also remains unsettled. The terms of municipal councilors elected in February 2020 have been extended until Feb. 28, 2027, while lawmakers’ terms now run until Dec. 20, 2027. The extensions postponed legislative and municipal elections, and no precise dates for the next votes have yet been officially announced.
Persistent security crises add another challenge. In its 2025 assessment of Cameroon, Amnesty International reported continued Boko Haram attacks in the Far North, as well as clashes and abuses linked to the separatist conflict in the Northwest and Southwest regions.
EU remains Cameroon’s largest trading partner
Boskovic Pohar also takes office at a time when Yaoundé has broadened its economic partnerships with China, India, Turkey and Gulf countries. Despite that diversification, the European Union retains a dominant position in Cameroon’s foreign trade.
According to a statistical profile published by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Trade in May 2026, the EU-27 accounted for 61.7% of Cameroon’s exports, 24.9% of its imports and 38.3% of its total merchandise trade in 2025, based on IMF data. That made the bloc Cameroon’s largest trading partner.
European statistics also show that bilateral trade measured by Eurostat reached €5.07 billion in 2025. EU imports from Cameroon totaled €3.31 billion, while EU exports to the country stood at €1.76 billion.
The IMF-based and Eurostat figures are not directly interchangeable, however, because they rely on different methodologies and reporting sources.
From Kabul to Yaoundé
Before her appointment to Cameroon, Boskovic Pohar served as the European Union’s chargé d’affaires in Afghanistan, a position she held from September 2024. She had previously represented Slovenia on the EU’s Political and Security Committee from January 2021.
Between 2017 and 2020, she served in several positions, including minister plenipotentiary, deputy permanent representative to UNESCO and deputy head of mission in France, Monaco and Morocco.
From 2015 to 2017, she was deputy director-general for multilateral affairs, international law and development cooperation at Slovenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her career in European affairs dates back to 2001, when she worked as a legal adviser on European affairs in the Slovenian prime minister’s office.
Thierry Christophe Yamb