By Zuko Komisa
South Africa’s investment portfolio in the Ivory Coast is growing, according to President Cyril Ramaphosa. On Friday in Pretoria, he spoke at the South Africa and Ivory Coast Business Forum.
Through the portfolio, there is potential for the export of machinery, consumer goods, cars, and paper, according to President Ramaphosa.
About R1.6 billion worth of goods were exported from South Africa to the Ivory Coast in 2021.
Kaya Biz with Gugulethu Mfuphi spoke to Victor Kgomoeswana – Africa Analyst and Executive Director for Marketing and Communication at the University of Limpopo about the significance of Ivory Coast’s partnership with South Africa
LISTEN TO THE FULL CONVERSATION HERE:
Kgomoeswana says this is a very smart partnership for South Africa.
“This is a smart partnership because Côte d’Ivoire is a country located on the West Coast of Africa…. because countries like Ghana and Nigeria, with big economies of West Africa, are mainly English, Côte d’Ivoire is that country that France goes into the continent. There are big plantations making the furniture that many people look at when importing… Then you have cocoa plantations, apart from being one of the biggest cocoa producers which go into making chocolate, it also has a factory to manufacture chocolate.” says Kgomoeswana
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Ramaphosa claims that imports from the Ivory Coast are getting better and include more goods like cocoa, cashew nuts, and oil.
Numerous infrastructure projects in Côte d’Ivoire are being financed by RMB and Nedbank, which are two significant South African banks.
The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition of South Africa travelled to Côte d’Ivoire last month with a delegation of black industrialists on an investment technical visit.
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