Russia Tapping Into Cote D'Ivoire's Market Despite Competition From France - Ambassador

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th March, 2023) Russia is making efforts to tap into the market of Cote d'Ivoire by offering national products despite strong competition from France, Russian Ambassador to Cote d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso Alexey Saltykov told Sputnik.

"Historically, Cote d'Ivoire has been oriented toward French capital, and French companies have quite firm positions in the Ivorian economy, but this does not stop us, since there are areas where Russia has better technologies and developments. And for our part, we continue to work with Ivorian agencies and specialized organizations to offer our products and technologies," Saltykov said.

Moscow hopes that this hard work will eventually bring positive results, although the competition in the Ivorian market is very serious, the Russian diplomat added.

The ambassador also said that "now it may very well be the right time" to tap into the Ivorian market as Russia has developments useful to Cote d'Ivoire in various areas of the economy.

Cote d'Ivoire is a country located on the southern coast of West Africa. After over 65 years of the French colonial rule, the nation, along with other African states, gained independence in 1960. However, Moscow has repeatedly said that decolonization of the continent has not been completed as there are still territories remaining under colonial rule. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stated that Russia will continue to help African countries complete the process of decolonization by promoting certain initiatives at the United Nations.