Country Profile
From The Report: Cote d'Ivoire 2017
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Ethnically, linguistically and religiously diverse, Côte d’Ivoire is a West African nation with a rich culture. Once one of the continent’s leading economic powerhouses, the country was afflicted by civil war for much of the past 10 years. However, peace has largely prevailed since April 2011, and the nation is now looking to reclaim its former glory. The country benefits from a wide range of commodities that have helped underwrite its growth. Agriculture is a key economic sector, with cocoa being the most important crop and Côte d’Ivoire the largest producer globally. The country is also a minor net exporter of crude oil with proven reserves of around 100m barrels, the 64th-largest in the world. This chapter contains a viewpoint from President Alassane Dramane Ouattara and interviews with Marcel de Souza, President, Commission of ECOWAS; Pankaj Patel, President, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry; Carlos Lopes, Professor, University of Cape Town, and Visiting Fellow, Oxford Martin School.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Heal and grow: The country is putting the unrest of recent years behind it
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Ethnically, linguistically and religiously diverse, Côte d’Ivoire is a West African nation with a rich culture. Once one of the continent’s leading economic powerhouses, the country was afflicted by civil war for much of the past 10 years. However, peace has largely prevailed since April 2011, and the nation is now looking to reclaim its former glory. Geography Côte d’Ivoire is 322,463 sq km in size. It shares borders totalling 3110 km with Liberia and Guinea to the west, Mali and Burkina…

Analysis

Ringing the changes: Constitutional reform is on the way in 2017
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Côte d’Ivoire operates a presidential political system, under which the president is the head of state and holds extensive executive power. He or she appoints a prime minister, who in turn selects the Cabinet. The president is also head of the armed forces and initiates most legislation, though parliament can also do so. The head of state is entitled to appoint the seven members of the country’s constitutional court, which evaluates the constitutionality of legislation and the eligibility of…

Analysis

Mind the gap: The government is looking to spread opportunities more evenly across the country
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Côte d’Ivoire is prospering on the back of renewed political stability and rapid economic growth, although as is the case with many fast-growing markets, the rewards have not been evenly distributed. The government has grappled with the high concentration of economic activity in select regions, which has compounded regional inequality and led to challenges in service provision. Great progress has been made in the last 50 years, and the current administration has developed policies that should…

Viewpoint

Fundamental reforms: President Alassane Dramane Ouattara, on the third republic
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Viewpoint: President Alassane Dramane Ouattara During the 2010 presidential campaign, I committed myself to provide Côte d’Ivoire with a new constitution, that of the third republic. However, given the post-electoral crisis, we had to face urgent matters such as the return to peace; national reconciliation and social cohesion; institutional normalisation; and the recovery of the economy. Thanks to combined efforts from the government and the Ivorian people, we have brought back peace and ensured…

Interview

Looking forward, together: Marcel de Souza, President, Commission of ECOWAS, on ambitions and challenges
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Interview: Marcel de Souza What are the priority projects of ECOWAS’s Community Development Programme (CDP)? MARCEL DE SOUZA: A roundtable is planned for the beginning of 2017 to discuss the operation phase of seven priority projects. Among the projects to discuss is the Lagos-Dakar highway, which will be developed in two phases beginning with Abidjan-Lagos. This first phase of 1028 km will open numerous possibilities for communities along the stretch. The roundtable will also discuss the 2000-km…

Analysis

Neighbourhood watch: Improving diplomatic relations could signal closer ties to Ghana
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The volume of people and goods which traverse Côte d’Ivoire’s border with Ghana is significant both socially and economically. Relations between the two countries, however, have not always been straightforward. Côte d’Ivoire gained its independence from France in 1960, three years after its eastern neighbour won its independence from the UK. Their developmental paths diverged almost immediately, with Ghana’s then-president Kwame Nkrumah encouraging inter-African ties and self-sufficiency,…

Analysis

The state of the union: UEMOA offers a high degree of institutional integration
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From the Arab Maghreb Union in the north to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) at the other end of the continent, the African Union recognises eight regional economic communities. UEMOA, of which Côte d’Ivoire is a founding member, is one of the continent’s more institutionally integrated unions, with member states sharing a common currency, central bank and stock exchange. Established by treaty in 1994, the other six founding states are Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal…

Interview

A focus country: Pankaj Patel, President, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, on boosting bilateral trade relations
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Interview: Pankaj Patel How can trade and business interactions be increased between India and Côte d’Ivoire? PANKAJ PATEL: Côte d’Ivoire is India’s third-largest partner in West Africa with total trade between the two countries reaching around $970m in 2015-16. Furthermore, Côte d’Ivoire’s economic performance has been impressive over the past four years, with robust GDP growth resulting in a decline in poverty and a controlled fiscal and external balance. In recent years, trade between…

Interview

Identifying challenges: Carlos Lopes, Professor, University of Cape Town; and Visiting Fellow, Oxford Martin School, on obstacles and opportunities facing sub-Saharan economies
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Interview: Carlos Lopes What major factors are contributing to the drop in sub-Saharan GDP growth rates? CARLOS LOPES: We currently know very little on the structure of African economies. Only 12 countries in the continent have up-to-date national accounts, resulting in an underestimation of GDP and a lack of knowledge of the evolution and structure of several sub-Saharan economies. This situation is important because Africa has been moving very rapidly towards the services sector, with manufacturing…

Analysis

Judicial framework: An overview of the legal system and recent reforms
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Côte d’Ivoire’s constitution establishes the country as a republic operating a unitary system of government, with a legislature, an executive branch and an independent judiciary. The legal system is based on the civil code tradition rather than the British system of common law, reflecting the nation’s history as a French colony. The judicial framework is made up of three parts. The first is the Constitutional Court, which has exclusive jurisdiction over constitutional issues, including the…

Analysis

Stronger together: Regional body ECOWAS has deepened local integration
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Founded in 1975 to promote economic integration in West Africa and eventually bring about full economic and monetary union, ECOWAS is made up of 15 members, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria (where the bloc is headquartered, in the capital Abuja), Sierra Leone, Senegal and Togo. All have been members of the bloc since its inception, with the exception of Cape Verde, which joined a year later. Mauritania…