Côte d’Ivoire Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Youssouf Bakayoko, undertook a friendship and work visit to Kuweit from 13-14 November 2007. the Ivorian Foreign Minister was invited by his Kuwaiti counterpart and ws also carrying a message of the Ivorian President, Laurent Gbagbo, for the Kuwaiti leader, His Highness the Emir Cheick Sabah Al-Ahmed El Sabah.

During his visit, H.E. Youssouf Bakayoko also had talks with the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, the Governor of the Kuwaiti Development Bank and other authorities with whom he evoked recent developments in the peace process in Côte d’Ivoire since the signing of the political peace Ouagadougou Agreement in March 2007 and addressed reasons for delays in its implementation. Ivorian Minister nonetheless emphasized the shared political will of the different parties for a rapid and definitive end of the crisis. H.E Youssouf Bakayoko received strong assurances of the Emir that his country was committed to taking the lead in conveying and hosting the Donor Round Table aims to raise necessary fund to support Côte d’Ivoire in the reconstruction of areas destroyed or damaged during the crisis. The decision of conveying this meeting had been taken at the 34th session of the Islamic Conference of the Foreign Ministers of the Islamic Conference Organization (ICO) held in Islamabad (Pakistan) from 15-17 May 2007.

Source: Côte d’Ivoire MFA