French premier in Abidjan

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls was in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on Monday on the final leg of his African tour.

Valls inaugurated a 120 million euro water pumping station been funded by France sharing what he called “the message of France to Ivory Coast.”

“The message of the France to Ivory Coast is simple. It can even be summarized in a few words: Ivory Coast re took its place in West Africa, in Afica and its place is that of a leading country. It is of course the case in economic terms with the renewed dynamism of its economy and its growth rate that draws the entire region”, Valls said.

Ivorian Prime Minister, Daniel Kablan Duncan deplored the decline of french investment in Ivory Coast saying, “overall trade with France is progressing normally though personally, I can say that there are opportunities that are not sufficiently exploited. If I can paint a picture: there was a lot of progress with stock investment of 1.056 billion FCFA in 2014. But in terms of investment volume, France which held first place in 2014, lost it in 2015. So, we can say we can do better.”

Manuel Valls’ African tour which also took him to Togo and Ghana.

The French Premiers’ visit to Ivory Coast came a day after the country’s referendum on constitutional changes.

AFP