To promote trade in Cote d’Ivoire and in West Africa, Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Souleymane Diarrassouba, signed a memorandum of understanding with TradeMark Africa (TMA), with sights set on improving trade infrastructure along the strategic corridors of Abidjan-Lagos, Abidjan-Dakar and Abidjan-Ouagadougou. This strategic partnership is geared towards improving trade facilitation in the region and promoting a competitive environment for doing business in Côte d’Ivoire. TMA was represented by Director of Strategy and Partnerships, Anthe Vrijlandt.

Minister Diarrassouba noted that the country’s common ambition can be summed up in the economic promotion of the private sector, fostering regional economic integration and enhancing facilitation of intra-African trade, as espoused by the government and our partners such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU).

He added that the promotion of the digitalisation of trade services and e-commerce, as well as the strengthening of the competitiveness of companies, constitute an important matrix for the memorandum.

Convinced that the partnership with TradeMark Africa will open new perspectives for trade in Côte d’Ivoire, the Minister reassured of the Government’s commitment to promote effective and dynamic cooperation for the promotion of the national economy with traders.

For her part, Ms Vrijlandt noted that the signing of this partnership with is part of the important steps in implementing the AfCFTA, an initiative for the economic integration of Africa. She further noted that an improved trade environment and transport facilitation initiatives have great potential to make it smoother and less costly to trade and to increase prosperity for a large number of traders, especially vulnerable communities. She added that Trade Mark Africa’s initiatives aim to strengthen trade infrastructure, consolidate the business environment and boost the competitiveness of businesses across the continent.

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