Germany–Ivory Coast relations are described by the German Foreign Office as "traditionally friendly".[1]
History
Immediately after the Ivory Coast's independence from France in 1960, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) established diplomatic relations with it. Thus, a branch of the German Consulate in Dakar, established in Abidjan on December 14, 1959, was transformed into an embassy. From 1984 until German reunification, the Ivory Coast also maintained diplomatic relations with the German Democratic Republic (GDR).[2]
In 1999, the two countries began cooperating on environmental protection. Ivorian PresidentAlassane Ouattara visited Berlin in January 2013 and met with German ChancellorAngela Merkel. The meeting focused on strengthening cooperation in the field of energy supply. In November 2017, German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Abidjan to attend the EU-Africa Summit.[3]
Economic relations
The bilateral trade volume between the two countries was €1.1 billion in 2021, making Ivory Coast one of Germany's most important trading partners in all of Africa.[4] Ivory Coast is an important supplier for the German cocoa processing industry and exports to Germany primarily raw cocoa.[1] In 2019, nearly 60 percent of Germany's raw cocoa imports came from the Ivory Coast.[5]
Since 2011, development cooperation has been deepened and intensified. Since the 1990s, the two countries have been working together on environmental protection. There are also joint cooperation projects in the areas of health/family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention, private sector development, and natural resource governance.[1]