Vitalii Koval discusses promising areas of agricultural cooperation with Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Agriculture

Ukraine’s Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, Vitalii Koval, held an online meeting with Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of State, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Oksana Osmachko and Ukraine’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Côte d’Ivoire, Yurii Pyvovarov.

The parties discussed prospects for developing Ukrainian-Ivorian cooperation in the agricultural sector.

Vitalii Koval emphasised that expanding Ukraine’s cooperation with the African continent was a key priority for the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food.

“There are many points of alignment between Ukraine and Côte d’Ivoire for successful and mutually beneficial cooperation. This is a confident step towards broader engagement with the African continent. We must develop our trade relations. Our goal is to view the African continent as an African union. Côte d’Ivoire is a vibrant country with significant potential,” the Minister stressed.

According to Vitalii Koval, Ukraine currently exports sugar, sunflower oil, animal by-products, cereals, and tobacco products. Meanwhile, imports from Côte d’Ivoire to Ukraine include cocoa products and nuts.

Vitalii Koval highlighted that, despite the war, Ukraine’s agricultural sector remained the backbone of the economy, with trade supporting domestic stability and ensuring food security on other continents. According to him, the only effective way to secure food supplies for Africa is to enhance the continent’s own agricultural production capacity.

The ministers discussed the following areas of cooperation:

• Expanding trade relations;
• Developing agricultural diplomacy and education;
• Innovations, with Ukraine’s agricultural sector actively adopting innovations, unmanned technologies, and advanced mechanisation, leading to a revival in agricultural machinery manufacturing;
• Agricultural processing and production of value-added products;
• Assessment and restoration of degraded soils in Côte d’Ivoire;
• Use of mineral and organic fertilisers;
• Expert evaluation of new plant varieties;
• Irrigation;
• Development of seed production and the use of plant protection products.

The parties agreed to establish a working group at the ministerial level, involving state research institutions and businesses, to develop a roadmap for further cooperation.