Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, 24 July 2018 – The debriefing meeting by the APRM Review Team of Cote d’Ivoire was held in the great hall of the prime minister of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire on 24 July 2018 to conclude the two weeks of field work that the Review Team had with the various stakeholders in Cote d’Ivoire. Mr. Bernard KONAN, President of the National Governance Commission started by thanking HE Mr. Daniel Kablan DUNCAN the vice-president of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire for his presence, a testimony of the place that governance occupies in the government policy and the national development plan. He also recognized the political will of the country’s top authorities by creating an enabling environment for broad consultation to produce a self-assessment report in a short period of time. He commended all stakeholders including civil society actors, political parties, the Technical Research Institutes, for their contribution in producing the national self-assessment report that paved the way for the external evaluation. HE. Ally COULIBALY, Minister for African Integration and Ivoirian living abroad, and APRM Focal Point welcomed the presence of the Vice President of the Republic and all members of the government and commended their commitment to APRM, a mechanism which was set up by Africans for Africans to measure governance in African countries. He indicated the report is expected to be presented in January 2019 by the President of the Republic who will explain in depth his socio-economic and political policy since he came to power in 2011. The Minister recalled the commitment that was made by the vice-president of the republic to make Cote d’Ivoire a champion of the APRM when the country joined the mechanism in 2015. The minister pointed out that Côte d’Ivoire is eagerly awaiting the conclusions of the external review mission.
Professor Khayal, head of mission, began by recalling the four thematic areas of the APRM and the consultations used by the evaluation team. He reported that the evaluation team was split in two to cover the whole country. He then reported that all teams received in each of the visited localities, a warm welcome from the administrative authorities, local elected officials and representatives of the NGC APRM and all meetings were held first with the administrative authorities, customary, religious and local elected officials. These cordial interviews focused on the achievements made in the governance of these localities but also on the constraints that must be overcome to improve governance. After each meeting with the authorities, a citizen consultation was held. The head of the delegation ended his remarks by stressing the need to finalise the NPoA which must be harmonized with the National Development Plan. HE Mr. Daniel Kablan DUNCAN, the Vice President of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire welcomed on behalf of the Head of State the presence of the APRM in Côte d’Ivoire, the diplomatic corps, member of the government, traditional leaders, civil society and private sector. He congratulated the experts for the wide consultations throughout the country as well as Minister Coulibaly for facilitating the evaluation process. The vice-president also spoke about the National Development Plan which places a strong emphasis on good governance. The Vice President reiterated the fact that the country is keen to learn the outcome of the report to enable the head of state to present it to his peers in January 2019.