Ivory Coast is looking to develop its agricultural and transportation sectors by using Iranian expertise and experience, says a group of business authorities from the West African nation.
“Ivory Coast’s economy is based on agriculture, so it needs to upgrade its farmers’ knowledge in this sector,” Savane Issiaka, director general of Ivory Coast’s National Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (UNACOOPEC-CI) said on Wednesday.
He was leading a delegation of Ivory Coast businessmen in a visit to Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) in Tehran.
He stressed that cocoa, coffee, banana, pineapple, cashew and mango are the main agricultural products of the Western African country.
The Ivorian official added that his country needs to generate 100,000 jobs for its youth, two thirds of which is working in the agricultural sector and the rest in transportation.
“If we can change and modify these two sectors and create jobs there, a whole lot of our problems can be solved,” Issiaka noted.
Director General of Arabic and African Affairs at the ICCIMA Shahram Khasipour highlighted the fact that Iranian engineers and experts have made huge advances in various economic sectors, adding that they can share their experience and expertise with Ivory Coast officials in a bid to further develop the two countries' bilateral economic relations.
“The requirement for this is to find trustworthy partners and to this end we need to increase our visits,” he stressed.
Khasipour added that easing banking relations and creating an easy freight and passenger travel to the country are need so the two countries bilateral trade are developed.
Iranian exports to Ivory Coast declined more than 25% in value and over 35% in weight during the last Persian year 1397 (20 March 2018-20 March 2019) in comparison to a year before that, according to the latest figures published by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA).