The holding of the International Conference on Africa's Emergence in Abidjan is taking place in a context marked by the good macroeconomic performance recorded by the continent over the past decade. Africa currently ranks second among the continents with the highest level of growth (over 5%), behind Asia.

Investment opportunities abound in Africa, attracting investors from all walks of life. Africa is a Continent of the future. A Continent full of promise. The new candidate continent for emergence in the world.

However, Africa still faces many challenges, including: deepening the structural transformation of its economies through the mastery of technology and the modernisation of administration, which are sources of productivity gains; reducing poverty and inequality by sharing the fruits of growth more widely among its populations; and solving the problem of the integration of young people into the labour market in a sustainable manner by creating jobs. The challenge, but also the opportunity for our countries, is to consolidate and perpetuate the foundations of strong, competitive and inclusive growth, a source of sustainable development and social progress.

Côte d'Ivoire is resolutely committed to this dynamic. The implementation of the 2012-2015 National Development Plan has enabled our country to achieve significant economic and social successes in recent years: a growth rate of more than 9% on average per year from 2012 to 2014, the upgrading of economic and social infrastructure as well as the construction of new infrastructure, the improvement of the business climate, which necessarily involves the establishment of an environment of transparency and good governance.

We are now in the process of renewing this plan for the period 2016-2020. This is why we are delighted that the International Conference on Africa's Emergence is being held in Abidjan.

This platform will allow Côte d'Ivoire to exchange its experience with other African countries and other continents, in order to integrate into its future planning the best global experiences in development.

This High Level Conference represents a real opportunity to help accelerate the emergence of the African continent, by exploiting the best practices from the experience of pioneer and emerging countries.

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