From our special correspondent in Durban, Issouf Kamgaté.
Wednesday November 17 was Ivory Coast’s day at the second edition of the Intra-African Trade Fair (Iatf) currently being held in Durban, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. The Ivory Coast approached this forum in force, attracting a lot of sympathy from the distinguished visitors.
This is particularly the case of the former president of the Commission of the African Union, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, architect of the AfCFTA with his famous “I have a dream”. Marking a rather long stopping time in front of the Ivorian pavilion, Ms. Zuma appreciated all her admiration for the Ivory Coast. For the influential ANC member, his country, South Africa, and the Ivory Coast must intensify relations and facilitate the movement of goods and people. Since 1995, when she was appointed Minister, she already had a soft spot for the potentialities abounding in the Ivory Coast (agriculture, the seafront, infrastructure, etc.).
In Durban, the National Development Plan (NPD) was discussed, built on six pillars including structural transformation, human capital development, private sector development and governance. In addition, the Ivory Coast has 3,000 ha of developed industrial zones scattered throughout the country.
Present at the IATF, the Ivorian Minister of Trade and Industry, Souleymane Diarrassouba, reviewed the highlights of this latest five-year plan valued at 90 billion euros. “It is with this plan that we will create wealth and jobs for our people. The Ivory Coast has an attractive business environment as evidenced by the presence of South African companies on Ivorian soil like Mtn, Rangold. “We have a court for the settlement of disputes (the commercial court)”, explains the minister.
In terms of intra-African trade, Côte d’Ivoire is at 23%, which already shows the country’s efforts to reach this African market of 1.3 billion people with a cumulative GDP of 4500 billion CFA francs.
Following the minister, many private operators took the floor. According to Ali Kéita, president of the Karité interprofession, his sector of activity must already be prepared to meet the challenge of the third edition of the IATF scheduled for Côte d’Ivoire “.
For his part, Didier Gobli of the Promotion and Public Relations Department of the Ivory Coast Coffee and Cocoa Council explains that it is an important moment for the Council to take part in the second edition of the fair. “We are always concerned with improving the living conditions of our producers, so it was important for us to seize this opportunity to promote our cocoa and coffee products from the Ivory Coast. Our stand is always full, it is a good moment of conviviality and sharing “.
Same story with the Cashew Cotton Council represented by its Deputy Director General, Berté Mamadou, present in Durban to explain the opportunities offered by his organization to facilitate the establishment of foreign investors wishing to explore the field of cashew nuts. and cotton.
Several Ivorian structures are also present in the Ivory Coast pavilion, such as the Single Window for Foreign Trade (Guce), fashion designers, Guy Bengue from Apex / CI, Silué Alain, a dried mango processor, etc. Ivory Coast in force.
