Ivorian Presidents Alassane Ouattara and Italian President Sergio Mattarella have considered stimulating the presence in Ivory Coast of other Italian companies, in collaboration with local companies, particularly in the cocoa and cashew sectors, two essential products for Ivory Coast. Alassane Ouattara and Italian President Sergio Mattarella, on an official visit to Ivory Coast, announced this at the end of their meeting on Wednesday April 3, 2024 at the Presidential Palace in Abidjan-Plateau.
“We encourage Italian companies to process cocoa and cashew nuts. I placed a lot of emphasis on cocoa processing because I know that Italians are big consumers of chocolate,” urged the Ivorian Head of State.
Alassane Ouattara expressed his satisfaction for the approximately 80 Italian companies established in Ivory Coast. “We welcomed the fruitful collaboration with the ENI group which recently made the discovery with PETROCI of significant oil and gas deposits for investments of 9 for Baleine and 6 billion dollars for Calao.”
According to President Alassane Ouattara, the Ivorian destination is favorable for investments because the political situation in Côte d'Ivoire is peaceful, the security situation is calm throughout the territory and the country continues to record significant economic performance with prospects encouraging for 2024 and 2025: “We therefore want our youth to benefit from all this improvement and this is what led us to set up a youth program for the period 2023-2025 (PJGouv)”.
In terms of overall bilateral trade, the Head of State Alassane Ouattara revealed that the volume is constantly increasing and increased from 483 million euros in 2021 to more than 595 million euros in 2022, an increase by more than 23%.
In addition to numerous Italian companies present in Ivory Coast, noted Sergio Mattarella, Italy's ambition is for Ivory Coast to become a hub in the energy field with the important discovery of the two Baleine and Hornbill deposits. .
According to the Italian President, Italy considers Côte d'Ivoire to be an important partner. “Côte d'Ivoire has experienced not only democracy and stability, but also great economic growth. We thank President Ouattara for Ivory Coast's contribution to the Italian economy,” he said.