On Wednesday, July 29, 2020, a Council of Ministers was held from 10:00 to 12:45, at the Palace of the Presidency of the Republic in Abidjan, under the chairmanship of His Excellency Alassane OUATTARA, President of the Republic, Head of State.

The agenda for this meeting included the following items:

A/-General Measures

– Bills and Orders
– Draft decrees

B/-Individual Measures

C/-Communication

A/– GENERAL MEASURES

BILLS AND ORDERS

Under the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights;
The Council adopted an order extending the mandate of members of the High Authority for Good Governance (HABG) other than the President, as well as its ratification bill.

Pending the appointment of their alternates, this order extends, until 31 December 2020, the mandate of the members of the High Authority for Good Governance, appointed by decree no. 2014-216 of 16 April 2014.
DRAFT DECRETS

1- Under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in liaison with the Ministry of Planning and Development, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene and the Ministry to the Prime Minister, responsible for the State Budget and Portfolio;
The Council adopted a decree ratifying the Loan Agreement No. 2000200004699, totalling EUR 75,000,000, or EUR 49,196,775,000, or EUR 99,000,000,000,000,000,000, CFA francs, concluded on 03 July 2020 between the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, for the financing of the COVID-19 response support programme.
This funding is a budget support operation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences. It will strengthen the conditions for responding to the health crisis and strengthen economic and social resilience.

2- Under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in liaison with the Ministry of Transport;
The Council adopted a decree ratifying the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire and the Government of the State of Qatar on Maritime Transport, signed on 17 September 2018, in Doha, Qatar.
This agreement aims to strengthen cooperation in the field of maritime transport, with a view to facilitating economic and commercial relations between the two (02) States. It provides, inter alia, for the mutual recognition of documents of ships and identity documents of seafarers duly issued by the competent authorities of both (02) and the pooling of resources in the fight against maritime pollution by ships.

The ratification of this agreement will open to Côte d’Ivoire the right to carry out maritime transport on the international commercial ports of the State of Qatar open to navigation and to protect the national marine environment as well as possible.

3- Under the Ministry of Mines and Geology, in liaison with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and the Ministry to the Prime Minister, in charge of the Budget and the State Portfolio;
The Council adopted an order awarding a mining permit, valid for gold, to the company «MAKO COTE D’IVOIRE SARLU, abbreviated MAKO CI SARLU», in the department of Korhogo.

This permit is issued for a period of four (04) years.
B/– INDIVIDUAL MEASUREMENTS

1-Under the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights;
Following the renewal, by decree no. 2020-572 of 20 July 2020, of the mandate of the President of the High Authority for Good Governance, Mr N’Golo Fatogoma COULIBALY, the Council adopted two (02) decrees:

The first decree renews, for a period of three (03) years, the mandate of the members of the High Authority for Good Governance as follows:
– Mr Moussa KONE, Magistrate Outside the Hierarchy;
– Mr Boniface Obou OURAGA, University Professor.
The second decree appoints the following persons as members of the High Authority for Good Governance, for a term of three (03) years, from 1 September 2020:
– Mr ASSI Emmanuel;
– Mr Louis-André DACOURY-TABLEY.

2-Under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
The Council agreed to the appointment of Mrs Catherine Grâce BROOKER as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, with residence in Abidjan.

C/– COMMUNICATION

Under the title of Prime Minister, Head of Government, Minister of Budget and State Portfolio;
The Council adopted a communication on the implementation of the Priority Action Plan (PAP) activities at the end of June 2020.
The first half of the implementation of the 2020 PAP, adopted in January 2020, was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in travel restrictions, population containment, and a slowdown in economic activity.

Thus, the budget deficit, which had been reduced to the Community standard of 3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), thanks to rigorous management and strengthened budgetary discipline, should be widened and should go toover 5.1% of GDP as agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the beginning of the pandemic.
In spite of this pandemic, the Government has maintained the momentum of economic transformation, by increasing the supply of public services in various areas, including health, education and training, the provision of drinking water, sanitation, electrification and roads.

Government action in the second half of 2020 will be devoted, on the one hand, to the continuation of programmed actions which have been hampered in their implementation due to the health crisis and, On the other hand, the continued implementation of the Government’s Social Program (PSGov), with the bonus of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also, the Government intends to continue its action with the preparation and organization of presidential elections, the preparation of National Identity Cards (CNI), the acceleration of the realization of major structuring projects, including the Autoroute du Nord at the Yamoussoukro-Tiébissou-Bouaké section, the urban train, the fourth bridge, the Y4 ring road, as well as the sports complexes of the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) 2023.

Done at Abidjan, 29 July 2020
Sidi Tiémoko TOURE
Minister of Communication and Media,
Spokesperson for the Government
porteparolat@communication.gouv.ci