Côte d’Ivoire’s 2016-2020 development plan helped the country achieve 5.9% yearly growth on average. With the new plan, the country wants to do better by capitalizing on the digital sector. 

Côte d’Ivoire will build a national data center and develop a 7000-kilometer of fiber-optic network by 2025, Communications Minister Amadou Coulibaly announces. The investments, which will complement others planned in the framework of the national digital development strategy, will help develop the national economy.

They were presented on Wednesday, June 15, during a meeting held in Abidjan to present the 2021-2025 National Development Plan’s financing mechanism. At the meeting, Amadou Coulibaly explained that the data center and the fiber optic projects were key priorities for his ministry because of their importance for digital transformation, which Côte d’Ivoire wants to accelerate.  

The data center will allow the centralization of public services (being dematerialized) in a secure location, rendering them more efficient.  The fiber optic network will enable the government to offer access to affordable high-speed internet -an essential tool for access to dematerialized services and economic opportunities- for every household.  

Côte d'Ivoire approved its 2021-2025 national development strategy during the ministerial council held on December 22, 2021. It focuses on seven key points including the development of infrastructure, services, and financial services, building skills, improving the business environment and the digital economy, enhancing innovation, cybersecurity, and digital trust. 

According to the World Bank, the digital economy will fetch Côte d'Ivoire more than US$5.5 billion by 2025, and more than US$20 billion by 2050, if the government and the private sector strengthen investments in the five fundamental pillars of the digital economy: infrastructure, platforms, financial services, entrepreneurship, and skills. 

Muriel Edjo