• Cote d’Ivoire Ambassador to SL says the two countries can enhance cooperation in field of tourism, IT and trade
• Says he’s encouraged after meeting with President who seeks stronger ties with African nations
• Chambers of Commerce of the two countries to sign MoU to strengthen ties
•  Plans afoot to organise a mission for potential investors 
• Says Cote d’Ivoire’s investor-friendly rules, tax regime and trade agreements with Europe and USA are attractive to foreign investors

Ambassador of Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to Sri Lanka Eric Camille N’Dry who was here to present his credentials to President Ranil Wickremesinghe as well as attend the Independence Day celebrations kick-started several important discussions to enhance cooperation between the two countries in areas such as trade, investment and tourism.

Ambassador N’Dry who led the delegation from the Embassy of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire in New Delhi, with accreditation to Sri Lanka, also participated in the conference with African Heads of Mission with the President, as Sri Lanka looks for new partners in the region to enhance business and seek new opportunities for businesses.

In an interview with the Daily FT, the Cote d’Ivoire Envoy said he is encouraged by the Government’s interest to develop ties with West Africa in particular, a much neglected area hitherto, and said there are many opportunities for Sri Lankan businesses that can benefit from the investor-friendly country while Cote d’Ivoire too can learn from Sri Lanka to develop areas such as tourism. Here are excerpts of the interview: 

By Chandani Kirinde 

Ivory Coast to Sri Lanka Ambasssador Eric Camille N' DRY

Q: This is your first visit to Sri Lanka. What are your first impressions of the country?

 I am delighted to be here. I am very impressed with what I have seen. Before coming here, I had vague information about this country. Since coming here, I see that the reality and what we hear are two different things. It’s a very beautiful country. People are warm and friendly and I feel really at home.

Q: You are here to present your credentials to the President. I believe Sri Lanka and Côte d’Ivoire only established diplomatic relations recently.

The two countries established diplomatic relations in 2014 and I am the second Ambassador of Cote d’Ivoire to be appointed to Sri Lanka. We also opened an honorary consulate here and Sheran Fernando is the Honorary Consul. He also made a visit to Cote d’Ivoire in 2021. When he was there he met with some of the authorities and also some members of the business community and we had some very interesting discussions. 

Q: You also held talks with the President with a group of other African envoys. What was the outcome?

 Envoys of several African nations, some based here and some in New Delhi met with the President. We were very pleased by what the President mentioned about putting relations with Africa as one of his Government’s top priorities and improving economic and commercial ties with the African continent. I informed the President that we are ready to work in that direction and my country has identified certain areas of cooperation namely tourism, rubber industry, Information Technology (IT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and several other areas where the two countries can cooperate. We are planning to have more in-depth discussions with the business community in order to see what we can do as concrete measures in that direction.

Q: You also held talks with the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. What was the outcome?

We had some discussions with the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and put them in touch with our Chamber of Commerce in Côte d’Ivoire. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Sri Lankan side on Monday, and later on, the Cote d’Ivoire side will sign. This will be the first step in building ties between the business communities of the two countries.

Q: What are the investment opportunities available for Sri Lankan business in Côte d’Ivoire? 

 We got independence in 1960 and from then on we have put most emphasis on agriculture. We are the number one producer of cocoa in the world. We are also a big producer of cashew nuts, coffee, cotton and rubber. Agriculture has helped us to boost the economy, but the government now wants to diversify into other areas and not depend only on agriculture. Tourism is an area we want to develop. We launched the ‘Sublime Côte d’Ivoire’ tourism development strategy in 2019. We had four million tourist arrivals annually before COVID. We want to reach five million by 2025. For that we have to increase infrastructure, in terms of hotels, and other facilities. We need to learn from Sri Lanka’s experience and also investors can come and have a look and discuss with our people so we can share our experiences and engage in new projects.

There are other sectors too where we think Sri Lankans can be involved. We produce rubber so we would like to find investors to build tyres and other rubber-based products. Also, there is scope for food processing. We are the number one producer of cocoa as well as many other products but we process very little. Of the cashew we produce we only process 10% so there is scope to add value to such produce. I am here to see if we can organise a prospective mission to Côte d’Ivoire because then they can see for themselves the potential for investment as seeing is believing.

Q: You have strong ties with India and China. In what areas have these countries invested in Côte d’Ivoire?

Our diplomatic relations with India are older than with Sri Lanka. There are some Indians already there. They buy a lot of cashew nuts from us while Vietnam too is a big buyer. There are also some Indian companies who have opened up in my country such as Tata while Ashok Leyland too is planning to set up an assembling plant there. There are Indian pharmaceutical companies who operate there.

We have a tax free zone which was built with the assistance of the Indian government. We call this the Mahatma Gandhi Free Zone. It is only 20 minutes from its largest city Abidjan, which is well-connected with highways while power supply, communication links are strong. We also have a lot of land available in these areas. We have a very attractive investment

code in terms of innovation and incentive mechanisms, especially local content, tax credits

and exemptions, etc.

Our ties with China are also getting stronger and they are investing mainly in infrastructure, mining, etc. Côte d’Ivoire is rich in minerals such as nickel, gold, diamond, manganese, bauxite, ornamental stone, iron and now we have discovered gas. Geographically we are between Ghana and Mali and both these countries have many minerals, so we have to explore more. We issue exploitation permits to companies to come and explore and even Sri Lankan companies can enter this market.

As we were a French colony our ties with France are very strong, but we have decided to diversify and strengthen relations with other countries. 

Pix by Ruwan Walpola

Huge opportunity for  Sri Lankan entrepreneurs in Côte d’Ivoire, says Honorary Consul