Cote d'Ivoire seeks to boost mining, energy sectors

ABIDJAN, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The government of Cote d'Ivoire has approved a 15-year policy plan to strengthen the country's mineral and energy sectors.

The Integrated Mineral and Energy Resources Policy (PIRME), approved at a Cabinet meeting in Abidjan on Wednesday, foresees an estimated cost of 38 trillion CFA francs (about 68 billion U.S. dollars).

The PIRME aims to raise the output of minerals and hydrocarbons to support wealth creation, promote local processing of the country's extractive resources to enhance their added value, and include national stakeholders in the value chain.

It also plans to develop electricity generation by raising the share of renewable energy sources in the energy mix, ensuring affordable and reliable energy access for all.

"The PIRME serves as a formal and clear framework outlining coherent sectoral directions to leverage mineral and energy resources as drivers for a new phase of sustained and sustainable growth," the government said in a statement.

According to the government, this integrated policy is expected to transform the extractive and energy sectors into major pillars of the national economy and gradually elevate Cote d'Ivoire to the status of an "upper-middle-income country by 2030."

Cote d'Ivoire has significant mineral resources, including gold, diamonds, manganese, nickel, bauxite, iron, columbite-tantalite, phosphate, lithium, copper, cobalt, and chromium.

The mining sector accounts for about 13 percent of the country's exports and 5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). In the hydrocarbons sector, two major discoveries -- the Baleine and Calao fields -- have opened a new era for Cote d'Ivoire, with national oil production projected to reach 200,000 barrels per day by 2028.

Regarding electricity generation, Cote d'Ivoire will commission four new solar power plants in 2027. By 2030, it aims to increase the share of renewable energy to 45 percent, up from the current 8 percent. ■