On December 4 and 5, 2025, Abidjan played host to the 43rd multisectoral mission of the Club Afrique Développement, an initiative led by the Attijariwafa bank group in collaboration with the Société Ivoirienne de Banque (SIB). Held under the banner “Made in Côte d’Ivoire, Made for Africa,” the event brought together over 300 business leaders and institutional representatives from 14 African countries, all focused on deepening economic ties across the continent.
The opening ceremony was led by State Minister Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani, representing the Ivorian Prime Minister, and joined by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Souleymane Diarrassouba. Key figures such as Mohamed El Ghazi, CEO of SIB, and Mouna Kadiri, Director of the Club Afrique Développement, also addressed attendees, setting the tone for two days of high-level exchange.
Each country delegation was headed by the CEOs of Attijariwafa bank subsidiaries, including Mouawia Essekelli (Egypt), Mounir Ibrahim (Mauritania), Larbi Allabouch (Gabon), and Amine Kittane (Mali), along with counterparts from Congo, Morocco, Senegal, Togo, and Tunisia. Their presence underscored the pan-African scope of the initiative and the group’s commitment to building bridges between economies across the region.
The event aimed to foster stronger South-South cooperation by promoting cross-border investment and industrial partnerships within Africa. In his remarks, Minister Adjoumani emphasized the importance of creating an investment-friendly environment and actively supporting local industries to drive Côte d’Ivoire’s structural economic transformation.
A high-level panel discussion featured key voices in African business and trade, including Ahmed Baya of CHEMAL Holding, Daouda Coulibaly from Attijari West Africa, Fatoumata Fofana of ZLECAf Côte d’Ivoire, and Jean-Pierre Carpentier from Groupe PORTEO. The session also included an in-depth presentation of Côte d’Ivoire’s new Investment Code, offering participants insights into the country’s evolving regulatory framework.
Throughout the two-day event, more than 500 B2B meetings took place, reflecting a strong appetite for intra-African business collaboration. To round out the mission, participants toured the TRANSCAO industrial complex, a key cocoa processing facility in West Africa, highlighting the country’s ambitions to move up the value chain in one of its most vital export sectors.
