ITC and Côte d'Ivoire to strengthen cooperation (en)
ITC’s Executive Director Patricia Francis and members of ITC’s management and Office for Africa on 2 July met a delegation from Côte d'Ivoire to discuss continued cooperation between the two sides in the West African country. The Ivorian delegation was led by Mr Dagobert Banzio, the Minister for Trade, and accompanied by HE Mr Kouadio Adjoumani, the Permanent Representative of the Côte d'Ivoire to the UN and WTO in Geneva.
Ms Francis emphasized the importance of Côte d'Ivoire as a key regional player as well as to ITCs mandate of promoting trade and regional integration. She also stressed that ITC will continue to work closely with the Ministry of Trade which is ITCs natural counterpart to ensure the relevance of ITC’s interventions and that tangible outcomes are achieved and sustained long after the project.
This view was reiterated by Mr Banzio who emphasised the heightened role of his ministry to closely monitor the ITC-implemented Trade Support and Regional Integration Programme for the Côte d'Ivoire (PACIR).The objective is to facilitate the smooth implementation of the programme and ensure its sustainability. PACIR, which seeks to strengthen the Ivorian economy and its regional integration process, is funded by the European Union and was relaunched in September 2011 after a six-month suspension because of the post-election crisis.
The two sides also discussed several activities including an ongoing survey on non-tariff measures and ways to improve Côte d'Ivoire’s cross-border trade by building on ITC’s experience in eastern Africa.
ITC proposed to promote Côte d'Ivoire’s agriculture sector at the upcoming World Export Development Forum (WEDF), which will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 15-17 October.
WEDF will also provide an opportunity for Côte d'Ivoire to exploit the untapped potential of South-South cooperation and build new partnerships with Asian countries, which in turn could open up new export markets.
Learn more about PACIR.
Learn more about the World Export Development Forum (WEDF).