Abidjan, July 30, 2026 – The Ivorian Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Energy, Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly, and his Botswanan counterpart, Bogolo Joy Kenewendo, signed, on Thursday, July 30, 2026 in Gaborone, the first cooperation agreement in the history of Côte d’Ivoire with Botswana in the mining and energy sectors.
The text covers all strategic segments of the sector, including geological research, exploration, the diamond industry, gold resources, critical minerals, governance, training and institutional cooperation.
This agreement will allow Ivory Coast to draw on Botswana’s resources to transform its geological potential into economic development and to support its ambitions in the mining sector.
For Côte d’Ivoire, the Botswana experience represents much more than a lesson learned; it offers a model for economic transformation. In half a century, Botswana has built an integrated diamond industry, controlling the entire value chain from exploration to marketing, while making the governance of mining revenues a lever for development.
“We are taking inspiration from the Botswana model to transform the Ivorian mining sector,” said Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly.
Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly noted that Côte d’Ivoire is currently one of the most dynamic mining regions in West Africa. The world-class discoveries at Koné, Tanda-Iguela, and Doropo, along with the prospects for manganese, nickel, lithium, and diamonds, have significantly enhanced its attractiveness. The challenge now, he pointed out, is no longer simply to discover deposits, but to convert this geological wealth into industry, skilled jobs, and added value.
He welcomed the fact that since his first mission to Gaborone in February, technical exchanges have accelerated, culminating in a visit by Botswanan experts to SODEMI’s diamond sites to identify the first cooperation projects: “All these missions have made it possible to identify concrete projects that will be implemented within the framework of this memorandum of understanding.”
The minister also intends to leverage this cooperation for the private sector. According to him, the protocol creates “a favorable environment for the development of partnerships between Ivorian and Botswanan private companies,” with the ambition of transforming institutional cooperation into investments, technology transfers, and industrial projects.
