Ivory Coast

The Republic of Cote d’Ivoire has signed Scribe Strategies & Advisors to a six-month $300K pact to boost its relationship with the US.

Under the pact that runs through the remainder of the year, Joe Szlavik’s firm will work to increase trade and investment, and enhance the Ivory Coast’s profile in the US.

It also will highlight its government’s effort to counter terrorism and the spread of al-Qaeda and the Island State, especially in the northern part of the country. Scribe’s contract is with Adama Coulibaly, Ivory Coast’s minister of finance and budget.

Africa Intelligence reports the Scribe contract comes at a critical time for the government of Ivory Coast’s president Alassane Ouattara, who may or not run for a fourth term in October.

That uncertainty may be why he was sidelined during Donald Trump’s July 9 meeting with African leaders from Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal.