President Cyril Ramaphosa has arrived in Abidjan, Côte d’ Ivoire, this evening, Wednesday, 1 December 2021, on a two-day State Visit from 2 to 3 December.
Cote d’ Ivoire is the second country that President Ramaphosa is visiting as part of his four-nation tour to West African countries.
The visit to Côte d’Ivoire follows a successful State Visit to the Federal Republic of Nigeria on 30 November 2021, which was marked by the 10th Session of the Bi-National Commission (BNC) between Nigeria and South Africa.
Accompanied by a strong ministerial delegation and business leaders, President Ramaphosa is undertaking visits to four West African states - Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Senegal - as part of strengthening bilateral relations, cooperation on the continental and global level and leveraging for mutual benefit the opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area.
President Ramaphosa’s State Visit to Cote d’Ivoire is historic and significant in that it will be the first State Visit between the two countries since the establishment of diplomatic relations in the early 1990s.
The visit comes at a time when the two countries are consolidating a list of strategic areas of cooperation across various economic and social sectors.
The two Heads of State during their bilateral meeting on the margins of the African Economies Finance Summit in May this year, made a commitment and a call for a more amplified level of cooperation between the two countries.
As part of continued efforts to strengthen and solidify bilateral relations, the two countries identified 33 draft bilateral memoranda of understanding or agreement covering a wide spectrum of cooperation, and are at various stages of finalisation.
As the largest economy in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and the third largest in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) after Nigeria and Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire is a significant economy in the West Africa region.
Côte d’Ivoire presents opportunities beyond its borders as an entry point for investment and a springboard to other countries in West Africa.
On Thursday, 2 December 2021, President Ramaphosa and President Alassane Ouattara will preside over official talks before the signing of memoranda of understanding and agreement on political consultation, defence cooperation, agriculture, youth development, information and communication technologies, energy and mines, petroleum and energy and employment.
President Ramaphosa will be presented with honorary citizenship of the Autonomous District of Abidjan.
His Excellency President Alassane Ouattara will bestow on President Ramaphosa Côte d’Ivoire’s distinguished Order of the Dignity of the Grand Cross
President Ramaphosa will on Friday, 3 December, undertake a tour of the Autonomous Port of Abidjan before addressing the Côte d’Ivoire-South Africa Business Forum.
Later on Friday, the two Heads of State and MTN Group Chief Executive Mr Ralph Mupita will symbolically lay the foundation stone for the new headquarters of MTN in Côte d’Ivoire.
This occasion will conclude the State Visit to Côte d’Ivoire.
Media enquiries:
Tyrone Seale
Acting Spokesperson to the President
E-mail: media@presidency.gov.za
