Jamaica Establishes Diplomatic Relations with the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire

In a move aimed at strengthening international partnerships, the Governments of Jamaica and the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire have formally established diplomatic relations during a signing ceremony in New York recently.

The Joint Communiqué establishing diplomatic relations was signed on December 16, at the Permanent Mission of Côte d’Ivoire to the United Nations (UN) by Ambassador Brian Wallace, Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the UN, and Ambassador Tiémoko Moriko, Permanent Representative of Côte d’Ivoire to the UN.

The newly forged relationship with the West African country aligns with the island’s broader foreign policy strategy of expanding engagement with non-traditional partners, particularly in Africa.

Both Jamaica and Côte d’Ivoire will seek to leverage this partnership to promote economic diplomacy, through trade and investment, tourism, cultural exchange, as well as other mutually beneficial areas to advance South-South cooperation.

The establishment of diplomatic relations provides a formal framework for collaboration, enabling both Jamaica and Côte d’Ivoire to pursue shared objectives and advance their development agendas through strengthened bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

Earlier this year, Senator the Honourable Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, signed a similar Communiqué in New York, alongside her Tunisian counterpart,

His Excellency Mohamed Ali Nafti, establishing diplomatic relations between Jamaica and the Republic of Tunisia.

Since independence, these two recent milestones have brought the total number of countries with which Jamaica has formalised diplomatic ties to 176.