The President of the Republic His Excellency Paul BIYA and Madam Chantal BIYA arrived Rome on 16 October 2013 on their way to an official visit to the Vatican on Friday. The Presidential Couple were treated to a grand and hectic welcome both at the airport and at the Rome Cavaloeri Hotel where the Head of State will reside during his stay. Cameroonians resident in Rome and the rest of Italy came out in their numbers to give the President a befitting welcome.

On their arrival at the Ciampino Airbase in the late afternoon, President Paul BIYA was greeted by the Apostolic Nuncio of the Vatican, His Lordship Francisco CANALINI, representing the Pope; Mr. Marco DELA SETA, Minister Plenipotentiary and Chief of Protocol at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Chief of Protocol at the Vatican, His Lordship José Avelino BETTENCOURT; the Ambassadors of Cameroon to the Vatican and Italy, Antoine ZANGA and Dominique AWONO ESSAMA. After receiving honours, the Head of State had short discussions with the representatives of the Pope and the Italian Government.

The second official visit of the Head of State to the Vatican is in continuation of the close ties that bind Cameroon to the Vatican, which has also seen three papal visits to Cameroon in 1985, 1995 and 2009.