I.1. Economic and Financial Plan

The participation of the President of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire in the UK-Africa Summit on January 20, 2020, in London. The summit was organized to establish favorable trade agreements with new partners in order to fill the gap left by the UK's exit from the European Union's customs union. During this summit, several contracts were signed between British companies and the African countries invited to London, totaling 7.5 billion euros. Côte d'Ivoire will benefit from an investment of nearly 95 million euros from the British company Aggreko for the supply of energy.

Several agreements and conventions were signed between Côte d'Ivoire and the United Kingdom:

• Agreement for the Promotion and Protection of Investments between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire (June 8, 1995, in London);

• Convention between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire to avoid double taxation and prevent tax evasion on income and capital gains taxes (June 25, 1985).

Various reciprocal high-level visits and conferences have helped strengthen economic cooperation.

Regarding visits, among others, these include:

• A visit by a British delegation led by H.E. Simon TONGUE, former Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Côte d'Ivoire, for a commercial mission from December 3-4, 2018, in Abidjan. The delegation included representatives from companies such as HSBC, Bechtel, Colas, and Mesira Ltd;

• A visit to London in June 2017 by Prime Minister Amadou GON COULIBALY for the launch of the Eurobond;

• A visit to London in 2012 by the President of the Republic, H.E. Alassane OUATTARA.

In addition, several economic missions and conferences were organized in both Côte d'Ivoire and the United Kingdom. These meetings brought together British and Ivorian business communities. The most important ones include:

• Conferences organized with the Business Council for Africa;

• Conferences on mining and hydrocarbons;

• Conferences on investments in infrastructure;

• Participation of His Excellency the Prime Minister, Minister of the Budget and State Portfolio, in the London Economic Forum on Investments and Trade in Côte d'Ivoire from September 13-15, 2017, in London.

Furthermore, the United Kingdom is one of Côte d'Ivoire's bilateral creditors. It participates in the restructuring of Côte d'Ivoire's debt under the implementation of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.

Following the completion point of the HIPC Initiative, Côte d'Ivoire signed the agreed minutes on June 29, 2012, for the treatment of its debt with all creditor countries members of the Paris Club, including the United Kingdom.

As part of negotiations with each country following this agreed minutes to finalize the terms of bilateral cancellations granted to Côte d'Ivoire, the United Kingdom canceled all of its debt claims against Côte d'Ivoire. This cancellation covers a debt stock of about 25 billion FCFA, or 30 million pounds sterling. This stock comes from the last five (05) Agreements (VII) (VIII) (IX) (X) and (XI), resulting from the restructuring of non-Official Development Assistance (ODA) debt.

Also, other financial commitments regarding Eurobond securities have been concluded between Côte d'Ivoire and the United Kingdom. These include securities issued by Côte d'Ivoire on the European market, bonds with progressive interest rates denominated in US dollars and euros.

Moreover, the United Kingdom supported Côte d'Ivoire during the long socio-political crisis it experienced. In this context, it granted 430 million FCFA to the UNDP and 17.5 billion FCFA to the ONUCI.

I.2. Technical Plan

On February 6-7, 2020, a visit by Prince Edward of England took place to participate in a ceremony of distinction for recipients of the international youth merit award.

• Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire regarding air services between the two (02) countries and beyond (December 1, 1976, in London);

• Agreement establishing a Joint Commission of Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (November 15, 1988, in Abidjan).