Cote d'Ivoire to mobilize 9 bln USD from donors for development

Cote d'Ivoire has announced plans to organize in Paris, France, a consultative meeting for donors to mobilize 9 billion U.S. dollars to fund the country's development program for the next four years.

The donors' round-table will be held between May 17 to 18, 2016 in Paris, with over 300 personalities expected to attend, an official source said Wednesday.

"More specifically, we intend to mobilize 9 billion dollars from development partners to fund public investments for the period 2017-2020," the source revealed.

A consultative group will seek to "share" with international investors about Cote d'Ivoire's development vision and strategies by 2020 and to "mobilize external resources, whether public or private," which are necessary for funding the country's National Development Plan for 2016-2020 that is estimated to cost 60 billion dollars.

Cote d'Ivoire has completed implementation of its first National Development Plan for 2012-2015 which cost 22 billion dollars.

A consultative forum was organized in Paris in December 2012 to raise 8.6 billion dollars to fund the first development plan.

Just like the first National Development Plan, the 2016-2020 plan will seek to "transform the economic architecture, improve people's living conditions through investment in projects that have high growth potential and intensification of the fight against poverty."

After two years of experiencing a recession, Cote d'Ivoire's economy bounced back following the end of the 2010-2011 post election violence with an average annual growth of 9 percent. Enditem