Taipei, Nov. 13 (CNA) Taiwan has reopened its representative office in the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, or Ivory Coast, which had been closed after operations were suspended in 2017, to boost two-way investments, trade and economic exchanges, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said on Saturday.
The Taipei office in the West African nation reopened following a five-year hiatus after both sides recently reached an agreement to do so, in order to help Taiwanese companies to explore trade and investment opportunities in Africa, MOFA said in a press release.
MOFA, however, did not say when the deal was reached nor when the office was officially reopened, but it said the office will be called "Bureau de Representation de Taipei en Côte d'Ivoire" in French, and the "Taipei Representative Office in Ivory Coast" in English.
According to Ivory Coast-based French-language news site La Diplomatique d'Abidjan, the office was reopened in September.
The news outlet said the Taipei mission is located in Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast, and its reopening would help to boost the African country's economy.
A Taiwanese trade delegation recently visited Ivory Coast to hold a series of talks with Ivorian entrepreneurs on possible cooperation in the areas of infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, as well as goods and services, the report said.
Taiwan is interested in bolstering economic ties with Ivory Coast in all kinds of industries, the news outlet cited Jeff Sun (孫杰夫), deputy director of the New Taipei City-based Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association, as saying.
According to MOFA, since the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan's official name, and Ivory Coast ended official diplomatic relations in 1983, Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs had operated a Taiwan Economic Bureau in the West African country until January 2017.
MOFA said the office was shut due to concerns about business operations, but did not elaborate.
Since then, Taiwan's Trade Office in Nigeria and its representative office in France had been jointly responsible for overseeing Taiwan's affairs in Ivory Coast.
With an area of 320,000 km2, Ivory Coast has a population of nearly 26 million people.
Its economy is also the fastest-growing in Africa, with GDP growth reaching 7.4 percent in 2017 and 6.9 percent in 2018, the ministry said, citing World Bank data.
The country is also rich in natural resources, including cocoa, coffee, oil and gold, making it a springboard for Taiwanese business ventures throughout the region, the ministry added.
The ROC only has one African diplomatic ally among its total 14, namely, the Kingdom of Eswatini.
