Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara rolled out the red carpet to receive his neighboring Ghanaian counterpart, Nana Akufo-Addo. On the occasion of the first summit of heads of state of the Ivory Coast-Ghana Strategic Partnership Agreement organized in Abidjan on Friday October 11, the two leaders made several commitments, in particular those to strengthen economic and security ties between their two countries.
In agricultural matters first, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana intend in particular to pool their efforts in the fight against smuggling in the cocoa sector, but also with the aim of deepening their cooperation with regard to culture, marketing and processing of beans. “Our objective of reaching a cocoa processing rate of 50% in a few years has been reaffirmed, but we must move even faster so that this rate approaches 80% by 2030,” explained the Ivorian president.
Alassane Ouattara and Nana Akufo Addo also want to revive the economy
Also on the security level, Accra and Abidjan want to go further, for example by organizing joint exercises of their respective defense and security forces, and by intensifying the exchange of information. “This summit focused on strengthening our military cooperation. We are committed to exchanging our information, conducting joint military operations and further sharing technologies,” commented the Ghanaian president.
At the sub-regional level, the two heads of state also want to relaunch the important eco project, the common West African currency. While it has been slowed down by an unfavorable economic context, particularly linked to the Covid-19 pandemic and then to the rise in interest rates and budget deficits, Alassane Ouattara now wants to be optimistic: “We are working so that the year next time, or in 2026 at the latest, [les critères de] convergence to implement eco [soient remplis] “, he clarified. Optimism driven by the visit this week of an IMF delegation which validated a new tranche of financing for its economic aid to Côte d’Ivoire valued at $825 million and which, above all, approved the tax reforms carried out by Abidjan to reduce its budget deficit.
