The Minister of Commerce and Industry presided over the ceremony and officially opened the validation workshop for the strategic study on the development of small-scale industrial processing on Thursday, July 10, 2025, in the Marcory municipality.

This important meeting brought together representatives of the private sector, including professional and employer organizations, as well as actors from artisanal and semi-industrial processing. It provided an opportunity for Dr. Souleymane Diarrassouba to reaffirm the Government’s strong commitment to promoting an inclusive, sustainable industrialization rooted in the economic and social realities of Côte d’Ivoire.

“The Government, under the leadership of His Excellency Alassane Ouattara, President of the Republic, is engaged in a dynamic structural transformation of Côte d’Ivoire’s economy through industrialization,” he declared, before justifying this commitment by the implementation of the 2021-2025 National Development Plan (PND), which has fostered the industrial sector’s growth at an average rate of 12.4% since 2021. Moreover, within this framework, the industrial sector’s added value has increased from 19.1% of GDP in 2016 to 22.7% of GDP in 2024, thanks to the significant contribution of the private sector.

Following this, Minister Souleymane Diarrassouba highlighted the need to meet the challenge of promoting the small-scale processing sector, driven by very small artisanal or semi-industrial enterprises, whose actors represent nearly 75% of the active population and make a strong contribution to the local economy.

To this end, he proposed a holistic solution combining effective public policies, easy access to financing, skills strengthening, and the integration of industrial enterprises into regional value chains. At the core is a strategic study initiated by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, with the main objective of driving a dynamic process of structuring, formalizing, and enhancing small processing units.

This study, the Minister of Commerce and Industry continued, proposes an operational strategy accompanied by a budgeted implementation plan, evaluation mechanisms, and an adapted governance framework, aiming to foster an organized, competitive, and value-creating sector. The study benefited from the support of the CASA consulting firm, FREMIN, UNIDO, the Directorate General of Industry, and key ecosystem stakeholders who attended the ceremony in the presence of the representative of the African Development Bank (AfDB).