Côte d'Ivoire wants to further transform its agricultural raw materials; move from exports to a processing economy. This is the central message conveyed by the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Crafts, Kalil Konaté, during the first Ivorian-Italian Investment Forum, this October 15, 2026 in Abidjan. In front of Italian investors, the Minister called for concrete partnerships capable of accelerating the industrialization of the country. He presented the government's ambition which is to increase the rate of local processing of agricultural raw materials to 50% by 2030. This strategy could generate up to 500,000 industrial jobs according to the objectives presented during the forum.To this end, an envelope of 639 million euros, or more than 420,000,000,000 CFA francs, as part of the Mattei Plan for Africa, is intended to support initiatives in Côte d'Ivoire. The country is one of the nine pilot nations of this program.

The forum also aims to take advantage of the synergies between the Mattei Plan and the development priorities defined in the National Development Plan (PND) of Côte d'Ivoire. Ivory Coast represents a growing West African market for Italy, with a relatively diversified economy, an essential logistics and commercial hub and offers a favorable investment environment.Italian interest is part of a broader strategy of economic rapprochement with African countries, materialized in particular by the Mattei Plan. For Rome, the stated objective is to develop economic and cooperation partnerships that associate Italian companies with the development needs of partner countries.

In 2025, bilateral trade between the two countries reached 829.4 million euros, an increase of 10.9%, with Italian exports totaling 292 million euros and imports amounting to 537.4 million euros.