On Thursday, 19th April 2023, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire marked a significant milestone in our cooperation, as commissioned the permanent headquarters of the Ghana-Cote d’Ivoire Cocoa Co-operation Initiative here in Accra, a testament to the enduring bond between our two nations, and our shared commitment to the cocoa industry.
This beautiful edifice does not only signify what regional unity and co-operation can achieve, it also represents our shared aspiration for a prosperous cocoa economy, one that is modernised and industrialised, and delivering wealth to the millions of hard-working cocoa farmers and producers in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.
President Akufo-Addo was proud that the hard work of the Ghana Cocoa Board and Le Conseil Du Café-Cacao of Cote d’Ivoire has resulted in a formalised international organisation, called the Cote d’Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Co-operation Initiative, whose permanent headquarters is situated here in Accra, the vibrant capital of Ghana, with an Ivorian national as its Secretary-General.
Young as this co-operation is, it has already chalked a number of successes. The first is the joint facility from the African Development Bank to finance productivity improvement, and increase domestic processing and consumption of Cocoa in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.
Then, in 2019, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana convened a global cocoa meeting in Accra, where we held a dialogue on a very important subject, a subject critical to the survival of the global cocoa supply chain – the crucial subject of cocoa farmers’ incomes. That meeting culminated in the adoption of the Living Income Differential for cocoa producers in the two countries, which involves the additional payment to cocoa farmers of four hundred United States dollars (US$400.00) per tonne on the world market price for every cocoa sold by the two nations, effective from the 2020/2021 season.
Source:Mybrytfmonline.com/Kwabena Nyarko Abronoma
