Ivory Coast
Côte d'Ivoire (also known as the Ivory Coast), in western Africa on the Gulf of Guinea, is a little larger than New Mexico. Its neighbors are Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ghana. The country consists of a coastal strip in the south, dense forests in the interior, and savannas in the north.
History
Côte d'Ivoire was originally made up of numerous isolated settlements; today it represents more than sixty distinct tribes, including the Baoule, Bete, Senoufou, Agni, Malinke, Dan, and Lobi. Côte d'Ivoire attracted both French and Portuguese merchants in the 15th century who were in search of ivory and slaves. French traders set up establishments early in the 19th century, and in 1842, the French obtained territorial concessions from local tribes, gradually extending their influence along the coast and inland. The area was organized as a territory in 1893, became an autonomous republic in the French Union after World War II, and achieved independence on Aug. 7, 1960. Côte d'Ivoire formed a customs union in 1959 with Dahomey (Benin), Niger, and Burkina Faso. The nation's economy is one of the most developed in sub-Saharan Africa. It is the world's largest exporter of cocoa and one of the largest exporters of coffee.
Info
National name: République de Côte d'lvoire
Current government officials
Languages: French (official) and African languages (Dioula esp.)
Ethnicity/race: Akan 42.1%, Voltaiques (Gur) 17.6%, Northern Mandes 16.5%, Krous 11%, Southern Mandes 10%, other 2.8% (includes 130,000 Lebanese and 14,000 French) (1998)
National Holiday: Independence Day, August 7
Religions: indigenous 25%–40%, Islam 35%–40%, Christian 20%–30% (2001)
Literacy rate: 48.7% (2011 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2011 est.): $35.6 billion; per capita $1,600. Real growth rate: -5.8%. Inflation: 5.2%. Unemployment: unemployment may have climbed to 40-50% as a result of the civil war. Arable land: 10%. Agriculture: coffee, cocoa beans, bananas, palm kernels, corn, rice, manioc (tapioca), sweet potatoes, sugar, cotton, rubber; timber.
Labor force: 8.764 million. Industries: foodstuffs, beverages; wood products, oil refining, truck and bus assembly, textiles, fertilizer, building materials, electricity, ship construction and repair.
Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, diamonds, manganese, iron ore, cobalt, bauxite, copper, hydropower. Exports: $11.24 billion (2011 est.): cocoa, coffee, timber, petroleum, cotton, bananas, pineapples, palm oil, fish. Imports: $7.295 billion (2011 est.): fuel, capital equipment, foodstuffs. Major trading partners: France, Netherlands, U.S., Nigeria, Italy, Thailand (2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 223,200 (2011); mobile cellular: 14.91 million (2011). Radio broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 8, shortwave 3 (1998). Television broadcast stations: 14 (1999). Internet hosts: 8,498 (2011). Internet users: 967,300 (2011).
Transportation: Railways: total: 660 km (2011). Highways: total: 80,000 km; (2011 est.). Waterways: 980 km (navigable rivers, canals, and numerous coastal lagoons) (2003). Ports and harbors: Abidjan, Aboisso, Dabou, San-Pedro. Airports: 27 (2011 est.).
First Contact
The Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI) is a Continental organisation created under the auspices of the African Development Bank in 1975. The objective of the Association is to promote economic and social development in Africa through co-operation among banks and financial institutions. The main activities of the AADFI are the provision of services to members and their affiliated institutions particularly in the areas of information, capacity-building and development policy advice. In this regard, the AADFI organises various programmes comprising skill-based workshops and policy seminars aimed at assisting member-institutions to improve and update their technical competence and structures in line with the changing development needs of their countries.
