Readout of Deputy Secretary Graves’ Meeting with Minister of Commerce and Industry of Côte D’Ivoire Souleymane Diarrassouba

On November 3, 2023, Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves met with Minister of Commerce and Industry of Côte D’Ivoire Souleymane Diarrassouba at the 20th Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum. During their meeting, Deputy Secretary Graves reaffirmed the importance of AGOA reauthorization as well as the U.S.- Côte D’Ivoire commercial relationship. The two discussed the ongoing progress towards renewing the bilateral commercial Memorandum of Understanding and the Department of Commerce’s intent to open a new Foreign Commercial Service office at the U.S. Embassy in Abidjan next year. The meeting concluded with conversation about opportunities for U.S. companies to help further Cote d’Ivoire’s goals around food security and digitization.