Chairman of Ivory Coast’s National Assembly visits Can Tho City

On the afternoon of August 25, Chairman of Ivory Coast’s National Assembly Patrick Achi and a high-level delegation met with leaders of Can Tho City.

The delegation was received by Do Thanh Binh, Secretary of the Can Tho Party Committee; Truong Canh Tuyen, Chairman of the Can Tho People’s Committee; and leaders of relevant departments and agencies.

The visit and working session in Can Tho are expected to strengthen cooperation and exchanges between Viet Nam and Ivory Coast, while creating new opportunities for partnerships in areas where the city has strong potential, particularly agriculture, agro-processing, trade and investment.

Introducing Can Tho’s strengths to Chairman Patrick Achi, Secretary of the Can Tho Party Committee Do Thanh Binh said the city, as the regional urban centre of the Mekong Delta, has advantages in land, water resources, climate, river systems and human resources. Agriculture remains one of the key pillars of the local economy, with rice and fisheries making major contributions.

In rice production, Can Tho has more than 720,000 ha under rice cultivation, with average annual output exceeding 4.7 million tonnes. The city has 35 modern rice processing and export plants that meet international standards. It is now focusing on high-quality, low-emission rice production while reducing costs and increasing farmers’ incomes.

In fisheries, Can Tho has 96,500 ha of aquaculture and 95 processing plants meeting international standards. Its main strengths are brackish-water shrimp and pangasius. The city also has a fishing fleet of around 785 vessels and two modern fishing ports. Together, these resources allow Can Tho to supply more than 820,000 tonnes of seafood each year.

Can Tho leaders noted that the city’s seafood exports reached more than US$2.1 billion in 2025, accounting for nearly 19% of Viet Nam’s total seafood export value.

As Can Tho’s agricultural sector develops into an integrated economic ecosystem that links production with processing, logistics, trade, science and technology, and markets, Mr. Binh said these areas offer considerable potential for cooperation between Can Tho and Ivory Coast.

Can Tho leaders expressed their wish to strengthen connections between businesses from the two sides and promote exports to Ivory Coast and West African markets, particularly high-quality rice, pangasius, shrimp, fruit and processed agricultural products.

At the same time, Can Tho is ready to facilitate efforts by local businesses to explore, import and distribute products and raw materials in which Ivory Coast has an advantage. This could help build two-way trade relations that complement each other and bring benefits to both sides.

Chairman Patrick Achi said Can Tho is one of the leading partners in Viet Nam with which the “world’s cocoa capital” hopes to develop agricultural cooperation projects.

Mr. Achi said Can Tho had made effective use of its natural resources, environmental conditions and human resources to create new value. He agreed with the proposals put forward by Can Tho leaders on key areas of cooperation, including rice, fisheries, processing technology and forestry.

Chairman Patrick Achi expressed his belief that the visit and working session in Can Tho would provide an opportunity for Ivory Coast to deepen bilateral cooperation with Viet Nam. He said it could also lay the groundwork for the two sides to develop a comprehensive cooperation model, which leaders at both the national and local levels could further promote in the future.