The capital of Côte d’Ivoire, Abidjan, is now home to the largest exhibition center in West Africa and French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa, inaugurated on Monday July 17 by the Ivorian vice-president, Tiémoko Meyliet Koné.
This masterpiece, a source of pride for the country, includes, according to an official statement, a large exhibition hall, a Convention Center with 5,000 seats, an administrative building, a semi-covered car park with 800 spaces and various outdoor structures.
The same source points out that the new park, intended for multi-purpose use, has retractable stingy beds to accommodate international conferences (up to 5,000 people seated and 10,000 people standing), fairs (agriculture, automobile, youth, tourism, etc.), trade exhibitions, concerts, parties, banquets, political demonstrations and ceremonies of all kinds.
This project, implemented by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Promotion of SMEs, required an investment of more than 75 billion FCFA mobilized by the State of Côte d’Ivoire, and meets international standards. It enabled the creation of some 700 jobs during its construction phase.
Praising this “major achievement” which is included in the National Development Program (PND) 2021-2025, the Vice-President suggested, among other things, that “President Alassane Ouattara’s political vision provides for the creation of modern infrastructure in order to improve the competitiveness of the economy and to promote national and foreign investment in Côte d’Ivoire”.
For his part, the Ivorian Minister of Trade, Souleymane Diarrassouba, declared that “the objective of the construction of this imposing infrastructure is to impact the competitiveness of our companies, to impact commercial exchanges, to promote our artisanal products and to offer a place of choice to our artisans, our SMEs, our start-ups, our large companies and the cultural and creative industry”.
Located near the Félix Houphouët Boigny international airport in Abidjan, the park will host its first major event next September, in particular the SARA agricultural fair.
By OMA Newsletter N°1254 dated 07/18/2023
Article published under the direction of Dr. Najib Kettani
The OMA, NGO with an Intercontinental vocation
For the development of cultural exchanges
Valuing human potential
The promotion and consolidation of Africa’s development, and
Inter-African integration
