US signs $524.7m investment compact with Côte d’Ivoire

The Millennium Challenge Corporation, the US government’s main development fund, said on Tuesday it had signed a $524.7-million investment compact with Côte d’Ivoire to build schools and improve roads around the busy port in the commercial capital Abidjan.

The five-year compact was signed at the State Department between Côte d’Ivoire President Alassane Ouattara and Jonathan Nash, the MCC’s acting chief executive.

MCC investments are aimed at showcasing countries with good policies and the body’s seal of approval is meant to attract foreign investors.

Split from 2002 to 2011 between rebels in the north and government forces in the south, Côte d’Ivoire has since become one of the world’s fastest growing economies and is regularly cited as a model of post-conflict renewal.

The MCC said its grant funding would help build 84 secondary schools and train teachers to boost education in a country where roughly 40 percent of the population is under 14.

It said its investments in the Abidjan Transport Project will help rebuild the road network around Abidjan’s port, among the busiest in sub-Saharan African, and reduce transport costs.