The Ivorian head of state Alassane Ouattara and his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi Thursday agreed to boost their “weak” bilateral trade despite excellent relations between the two countries.
The two leaders were speaking at the end of their tete-a-tete as part of a working visit by Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi, who is also current chair of the African Union (AU).
“Despite the excellent relations between our two countries and the cooperation agreements that exist, the volume of global exchanges remains low,” Alassane Ouattara lamented, while hailing the “historic visit”, the first by an Egyptian head of state.
Alassane Ouattara noted that the development of this cooperation goes through “the organization of economic fora, the establishment of partnerships between our chambers of commerce and the return of Egypt Air as soon as possible”.
In the same vein, the Ivorian leader “encouraged Egyptian entrepreneurs to seize the opportunities offered by the investment code and invest in the processing of agricultural products such as cocoa and cashew nuts”.
In addition, Ouattara commended his Egyptian guest “for the modernization program initiated” in his country and hailed “successes in his counterterrorism strategies”.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi said his visit “aims to promote joint work with the view to strengthening the security and development of countries”.
The Egyptian president hailed Côte d’Ivoire’s leadership in the West African region and on the international scene also insisted on “the need to strengthen cooperation” between the West African countries and his nation.
Cooperation agreements were sealed in the fields of health, tourism and culture.
In addition, a memorandum of understanding on regular political consultations between the foreign ministries of the two countries was signed in Cairo on 6 December 2017.
The diplomatic relations between the two countries date back to December, 1973.
This visit of the Egyptian president in Ivory Coast is part of a West African tour that started on Sunday in Guinea.
After the Ivorian stage, Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi has landed in Senegal for a two-day visit.
SY/hs/ls/pn/as/APA