APA-Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire) Abidjan has been selected to host an official high-level roadshow to launch the 3rd edition of the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF), as Ivory Coast is ranked among the continent’s top exporters in Africa rising 24 percent.
The show takes place on November 21-27 in the Ivorian economic hub.
The Ivorian Minister of Trade, Industry and SME Promotion, Souleymane Diarrassouba, launched the roadshow on Thursday, February 23, 2023, in the presence of the IATF Advisory Board, chaired by the former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo.
Statistical data on Cote d’Ivoire’s trade and foreign investment flows indicate that the country has substantial room to improve intra-African trade and mobilise more foreign investment.
The country’s trade with the ECOWAS region represents 14.9 percent of the country’s total trade.
Its main partners are Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Guinea, with which the country trades oil products and manufactured goods.
Agricultural products dominate trade with the rest of the continent.
On markets outside Africa, Cote d’Ivoire is a supplier of unprocessed agricultural commodities (cocoa, coffee, bananas, pineapples, rubber, cotton, oil palm, cola, and cashew nuts).
As for investment, Cote d’Ivoire has undertaken various reforms to improve its business environment.
These reforms have helped attract significant foreign direct investment and capture 25 percent of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Africa over the period 2016-2020.
In 2020, FDI in Cote d’Ivoire reached US$1.6 billion, compared to US$1.4 billion in 2019.
For 2021, FDI inflows were estimated at US$2 billion, which represents a 25-percent increase over 2020.
AP/fss/as/APA