Country

Summary

Côte d’Ivoire is a West African country, a member of the African Union. With an area of 322,462  ^km2,it is bounded to the north by Mali and Burkina Faso, to the west by Liberia and Guinea, to the east by Ghana and to the south by the Atlantic Ocean. The population is estimated at 22,671,331 in 2014. Côte d’Ivoire’s political and administrative capital is Yamoussoukro (Abidjan remaining the economic capital), the official language of French and the CFA franc (1 euro – 655,957 CFA francs) as its political and administrative capital. The country is part of ECOWAS  and is a member of APPO. First a French protectorate in 1843 and became a French colony in 1893, the country gained its independence on 7 August 1960, under the leadership of Félix Houphouet-Boigny, the first President of the Republic. The economy is dominated by the export of commercial crops, especially cocoa, coffee and cashew nuts for which Côte d’Ivoire is ranked first, third and largest exporter in the world. The contribution of GDP to the industrial sector is estimated at 20% and about 50% to the services sector. Côte d’Ivoire has significant mineral resources (gold, iron,   manganese, etc.) and potential reserves of  crude oil and natural gas.  The country produces electricity, mainly from  local natural gas.