Natural resources as a key to performance
Favored by important natural resources, agricultural species (for various crops, the country holds the record of the African producers), and characterized by a remarkable political stability that allowed the government to devote itself to the consolidation of productive activities, the Côte d’Ivoire has been able to achieve a significant process of economic expansion, making it one of the emerging states of Western Africa.
With an essentially liberal economy, the Ivory Coast guaranteed absolute peace of mind for foreign investments, especially in France but also in the United States, Germany, etc., which find abundance of raw materials and cheap labor.
We can help to accompany the country towards a balanced, sustainable and inclusive economic development.
This can be done in the European context, as well as promoting Italian investment in the country.
Already 90 italian companies operate in Côte d’Ivoire. The country is rich in large quantities of minerals: diamonds, manganese, nickel, bauxite and gold, in addition to having started the first prospecting to verify the presence of oil deposits in its territorial waters.
The Ivory Coast is a country that, after the political crisis, has developed at a sustained pace, with anaverage GDP growth of 8-9%. The good economic performance was also confirmed for 2018.
The Ivory Coast can be considered the locomotive of West Africa, a country that, if we consider these numbers, envies many European countries. Half of the money supply of the entire Economic Community of West Africa (UEMOA), travels to the Ivory Coast and more than 40% of the goods
are exported from the port of Abidjan.
The reform process must continue through inclusive policies:
redistribution of wealth, education, health, university, technical training. In addition to this the challenge is to develop an economy of transformation.
This is possible because the country has good economic fundamentals. Evaluation of communications is important for the correct development of activities. In fact, the Ivory Coast has a 660 km railway line that runs from Abidjan across the country from south o north, then continues to Burkina Faso; but it is on the road network, one of the best in West Africa, which takes place most of the traffic. On the other hand, the inland waterways have little importance; the lower stretches of the rivers and the coastal lagoons are however used for local transport.
Finally, the country can count, in support of the increasingly lively exchanges with foreign countries, on the very busy port of Abidjan and the international airport of the capital.
Exports always rest on agricultural and forestry products (coffee, cocoa, timber, bananas, cotton, fresh fruit, etc.), although a certain role begins to play certain industrial
products (fabrics, canned pineapples, oil products, cocoa butter, coffee soluble etc.) and minerals.
In addition to France, exchanges take place mainly with the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, but increasingly also with certain African countries such as Senegal and Nigeria.
Since 1983 the official capital is amoussoukro; however, Abidjan remains the
administrative center. Most countries aintain their embassy in Abidjan. The population suffered from the state of civil war experienced after the death of President Félix Houphouët-Boigny.
Now the civil war is over and President-elect Alassane Ouattara took office in May 2011.
Currently there is a phase of political stability and the attempt to consolidate the democratic foundations, also supported by significant economic growth starting in 2011. In October 2015, the first political elections took place after the civil war of 2010, presided over by the Independent Electoral Commission characterized the peaceful environment with a participation of 54.63% and the reaffirmation of the outgoing President Alassane Ouattara.
Abidjan and the surrounding area represent the area of greatest industrial concentration of the state; this growth, which took place without setting up organic regulatory plans, has provoked a very strong rural exodus towards the former capital city and therefore a strong territorial imbalance.
For this reason the government has increased its efforts to bring about a more homogeneous development of the country through the decentralization of new industrial activities.
Côte d’Ivoire has untapped mineral resources:
some diamond deposits, small iron reserves, bauxite, gold and natural gas. In 1995 the offshore oil fields, whose production is constantly growing, went into production.
The production of electricity is mainly of water origin: several hydroelectric plants are operating on the rivers Bia, Bandama, Comoè and Cavalla.
The mining code is a local legislation that allows the use of mineral resources in a controlled manner by the Ivorian government. It is based on an international draft that has been recently updated with the 2014/138 law by the legal system of the Ivory Coast. Le nouveau Code minier ivoirien impose de nouvelles contraintes aux opérateurs miniers pour ‘obtention de différents titres miners, en excluant d’office les entreprises n’ayant aucune expérience.
As a further exigeance, the technical enchrge of all mining exploitation needs to have more than 6 months experiencein the same activity and needs to be appointed by local governement representative of Mining Department. In order to achieve this bjective, it is necessary to make a decision to use a taxable capacity to finance the work of the owner of the ministry of exploitation for the constitution of a bankruptcy in an economy in the premieres of the future in Côte d ‘ Ivoire. The constitution of this reserve, the modalities of which remain to be defined, is difficult for the operators of the sector. The new Mining Code requires operators in the sector to respect the principles and governance criteria set by the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
Among the new binding provisions is also article 131, which requires investors to use Ivorian companies and expertise for the execution of mining services, as part of the subcontracting contracts, which contracts ust henceforth must be communicated to the lines Administration. In this context, it is expected that mining licensees and their subcontractors will have to employ primarily Ivorian nationals and contribute to the financing of their training program.
Similarly, they must also contribute to the financing of the capacity building of the agents of the mining administration and the training of the Ivorian mining engineers and geologists.
But, beyond these constraints and penalizing provisions, the new Ivorian Mining Code appears as a modern device and intervenes in the framework of actions undertaken at the level of the countries of the sub-region, highlighting the need for transparent regulatory frameworks that guarantee both the interests of the State, investors and populations
Due to the great potential of Ivorian soil, local government improve the internal regulation in order to have specific exploitation of industrial , semi-industrial or artisanal mining business.
The mining code is a local legislation that allows the use of mineral resources in a controlled manner by the Ivorian government. It is based on an international draft that has been recently updated with the 2014/138 law by the legal system of the Ivory Coast. Le nouveau Code minier ivoirien impose de nouvelles contraintes aux opérateurs miniers pour l’obtention de différents titres miners, en excluant d’office les entreprises n’ayant aucune expérience.
As a further exigence, the technical incharge of all mining exploitation needs to have more than 6 months experience in the same activity and needs to be appointed by local government representative of Mining Department. In order to achieve this objective, it is necessary to make a decision to use a taxable capacity to finance the work of the owner of the ministry of exploitation for the constitution of a bankruptcy in an economy in the premieres of the future in Côte d ‘Ivoire. The constitution of this reserve, the modalities of which remain to be defined, is difficult for the operators of the sector.
The new Mining Code requires operators in the sector to respect the principles and governance criteria set by the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
Among the new binding provisions is also article 131, which requires investors to use Ivorian companies and expertise for the execution of mining services, as part of the subcontracting contracts, which contracts henceforth must be communicated to the Mines Administration. In this context, it is expected that mining licensees and their subcontractors will have to employ primarily Ivorian nationals and contribute to the financing of their training program.
Similarly, they must also contribute to the financing of the capacity building of the agents of the mining administration and the training of the Ivorian mining engineers and geologists. But, beyond these constraints and penalizing provisions, the new Ivorian Mining Code appears as a modern device and intervenes in the framework of actions undertaken at the level of the countries of the sub-region, highlighting the need for transparent regulatory frameworks that guarantee both the interests of the State, investors and populations.