Cote d’Ivoire, with an area of 322,500 sq km, is situated in West Africa on the Gulf of Guinea. It is bordered by Ghana to the east, Burkina Faso and Mali to the north, and Guinea and Liberia to the west.

Cote d'Ivoire became an autonomous republic within the French community in December 1958 as a result of a referendum that brought community status to all members of the old Federation of French West Africa except Guinea, which had voted against association. Cote d'Ivoire became independent on August 7, 1960, and permitted its community membership to lapse.

The Ivoirian economy is largely market-based and depends heavily on the agricultural sector. Between 60% and 70% of the Ivoirian people are engaged in some form of agricultural activity. A majority of the population remains dependent on smallholder cash crop production.

Investment Climate

Direct foreign investment plays a key role in the Ivoirian economy, accounting for between 40% and 45% of total capital in Ivoirian firms. France is overwhelmingly the most important foreign investor. In recent years, French investment has accounted for about one-quarter of the total capital in Ivoirian enterprises, and between 55% and 60% of the total stock of foreign investment capital.

There is a comprehensive (copyrighted) story about the prospects of Foreign Direct Investment in Cote d’Ivoire titled ‘Rebirth of a Nation’ on the website of The Financial Times Limited. Click here to read the report.

Côte d’Ivoire – India Relations 

Relations between India and Cote d’Ivoire are traditionally cordial. The Indian mission in Abidjan opened in 1979. Cote d’ Ivoire opened its resident mission in New Delhi in September 2004. Mr. Gilbert Bleu-Laine (former Minister of Environment, former Deputy Speaker, eminent PDCI political leader) was appointed as the first Ambassador.

Political: Though the relations between India and Cote d’Ivoire are friendly, lack of high level visits and absence of institutional mechanisms and agreements between the two countries for regular consultations had kept this relations basically at a level for seeking support for candidatures to UN and multilateral bodies for India and for seeking aid, credits and humanitarian assistance for Cote d’Ivoire. No Ministerial level visits have taken place from India to Cote d’Ivoire since 1997. Following visits from India have taken place:

With President Gbagbo’s ‘look-south’ policy shift, relations with India, China and Brazil have assumed importance especially at Cote d’Ivoire’s foreign economic policy stance. President Gbagbo and most of the ministers of the current regime are pro-India and profess adoption of Indian development model and small and medium technology to be appropriate for the country. Following visits from Cote d’ Ivoire have taken place:

Following the visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Bakayoko in August 2006, an MoU for Foreign Office Consultations was signed between the two countries. During the visit, a joint press statement was issued highlighting the Second Meeting of the Joint Trade Commission, support of Cote d’ Ivoire for the Indian candidature to the permanent membership of UNSC. Cote d’ Ivoire has extended its support to India’s candidature to various UN, multilateral and international bodies on a continuing basis and to all Indian candidates since July, 2005. Being an OIC member country, Cote d’ Ivoire supports

India’s position within the body and assists in countering Pakistani propaganda as well as J&K resolutions raised by them within OIC.

During the August visit of the Minister Foreign Affairs, a number of agreements including Maritime Cooperation Agreement, Road Transport Cooperation Agreement, Rail Transport Cooperation Agreement, Air Transport Agreement, Cooperation in the area of Information and Communication, Cooperation Agreement in the area of Agriculture, Cultural Cooperation Agreement, Protocol Agreement in the areas of Forests & Wildlife and Protocol Agreement in the areas of Environment have been submitted.

As part of our Indian efforts to generate goodwill and help Ivory Coast during its crisis period, the following material assistance in the form of aid have been provided to Cote d’ Ivoire:

Trade and Economic Cooperation: Indo-Ivorian bilateral trade is growing almost by 30% p.a. despite the crisis.

Bilateral trade figures for recent years. (Indian Exports/Imports from and to Cote d’Ivoire in US$ million):

The main items of Indian exports are pharmaceuticals, transport equipment, engineering goods, steel products, chemicals and readymade garments. The Ivorian export basket mainly comprises of raw-cashew nuts, timber and wood products, raw cotton, metal scrap etc. Cote d’ Ivoire is India’s largest raw cashew supplier.

During 2005-06, almost US$20 million worth of commodities were added in the trade basket. These included Tata buses, Sonalika tractors, Bajaj three-wheelers, roll stock Products and jute bags.

Cote d’ Ivoire is a member of TEAM-9. Under this Initiative, EXIM Bank Line of Credit of US$26.8 million was extended to Cote d’ Ivoire in 2005 to import 400 Tata Buses and machineries for oil extraction, for making fruits and vegetable chips and for cashew processing. The imports against line of credit have been completely utilized by Cote d’ Ivoire.

ONGC Videsh Ltd. and Oil India have drilled for oil in an off-shore well oil block with investment of US$12.5 million. India has identified hydro-carbon and mining as the most target investment area for Indian trade and industry in Ivory Coast. Tata Steel, Taurian Iron Ore and Steel and Global Steel have already acquired three mines in manganese and iron ore and are negotiating for other mines in iron ore, bauxite, manganese and gold and for setting up of a ferrochrome plant. It is estimated that over next five years in these sectors an Indian investment up to US$1 billion will enter into this market.

The first meeting of Indo-Ivorian Joint Trade Commission meeting took place in Abidjan in February 1997. After a gap of 9 years, the second meeting took place in New Delhi on 3-4 August 2006. The Ivorian Government has proposed an upgradation of the Joint Trade Committee to a full fledged Joint Commission structure which is under consideration with India and needs to be finalized.

There are offices of Ranbaxy, Angelic International and a large number of other Indian trade companies basically operating from offshore base in Singapore, Hong Kong, USA,

Canada and Europe numbering 40. There are major PIO companies like Olam Ivoire dealing in commodities, Metal Ivoire producing iron sheets and Dincom-CI and SOSACO dealing in agricultural products. Talks are in advance stage for creation of major market presence and opening up of offices by Kirloskar Group, Tata Steel and Micro Lab.

During 2005-2006, a large number of trade and industry delegations from Ivory Coast visited India including an information technology delegation from GIMI (October, 2006), 3 SEPICI delegations to participate in CII Conclave in 2005-06, and a trade delegation from the field of Pharmaceuticals to participate in the Pharmaxil Exhibition in 2005.

Indian Community: There are approximately 150 Indian families (numbering 600) comprising mainly of businessmen/professionals working with trading and manufacturing companies and UN offices. There is a Hindu temple. A bronze bust of Mahatma Gandhi which was presented by Government of India to Cote d’Ivoire has been positioned in a park inside the Office of the President since January 30, 2004. An Indian Business Association and an Indian Women’s Association have been functional since mid-2005.

November, 2006

Côte d’Ivoire Country Data