On January 13 (same day local time), Mr.KURAMITSU, Ambassador of Japan to the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire, and H.E. Mr. Marcel AMON-TANOH, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, signed the “Agreement between the Government of Japan and the Government of the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire for the Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investment” (the Japan-Cote d'Ivoire Investment Agreement) (English (PDF)/Annex (English) (PDF)/Japanese (PDF)/Annex (Japanese (PDF)) in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire.

This Agreement aims at further liberalization, promotion and protection of investment between the Contracting Parties. It stipulates the treatments accorded to investment activities and investments when an investor (an enterprise etc.) of a Contracting Party invests in the other Contracting Party, such as national treatment, most-favoured-nation treatment at both the pre-establishment and post-establishment phases of investments, fair and equitable treatment, prohibition of performance requirements, conditions for expropriation and compensation, freedom of transfers, and procedures for dispute settlements.

Cote d'Ivoire has in recent years maintained high economic growth rates and leads the West African economy as a regional logistics hub. There are growing interests from Japanese companies in Cote d'Ivoire as a base of the West African market, and investment in the country is expected to further expand. This Agreement is expected to ensure free and stable corporate activities of Japanese companies operating in Cote d'Ivoire as well as to contribute to development of economic relations between the two countries.

At the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) held in August 2019, Prime Minister Abe announced that the Government of Japan will put forth every possible effort so that Japanese private investment in Africa, which was worth $20 billion over the past three years, will further increase (PDF). Signing this Agreement is an example of such effort. With regard to African countries, Japan has signed or concluded Investment Agreements with Egypt, Mozambique, Kenya and Morocco. This Agreement is subsequent to these Investment Agreements.

The Contracting Parties will notify each other, through diplomatic channels, of the completion of their respective internal procedures necessary for the entry into force of this Agreement (in case of Japan, the approval of the National Diet will be required). This Agreement will enter into force on the thirtieth day after the latter of the dates of receipt of the notifications.