A Community Business Environment Scorecard
Economy of West African States (ECOWAS), was launched on Friday in Abidjan, following a
technical workshop, in the premises of the World Bank (WB).
After the opening of the work, made by the Ivorian minister to the Prime Minister, responsible for
promotion of private investment, Emmanuel Esmel Essis, the participants reflected on the
implementation of the ECOWAS business climate assessment sheet.
This workshop, according to Olivier Buyoya, regional representative of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), entity of
the World Bank in charge of promoting private sector development, aims to improve the
Business climate in the ECOWAS Zone.
“Today it is a question of taking stock of a certain number of reform indicators which have been
selected during a workshop held in Lagos with a view to accentuating the efforts that are underway" at the
of each member country of the organization, he underlined.
Mr. Buyoya commended the efforts of the Ivorian State in improving the legal and institutional framework in
investment, which resulted in a gain of 17 places in the Doing
Business 2019 placing Côte d'Ivoire among the 10 most reforming countries in the world.
During a roundtable in June 2017 in Lagos, representatives of the Ivorian public and private sectors were
invited, as a pilot country, to submit a list of reforms as part of the evaluation sheet of the
ECOWAS business environment.
Côte d'Ivoire aims to become an emerging country with a strong private sector. Thus, the head of state
Ivorian Alassane Ouattara, according to Mr. Esmel Essis “traced the furrows and asked that we be able to figure
among the best economies in the world in terms of business environment".
He underlined the commitment of Côte d'Ivoire, at the top of the State, in terms of the environment of
Business and "the particular importance that Mr. Ouattara attaches to the establishment of a business climate
more competitive in Africa and in the world”.
In July 2018, he created a State Secretariat responsible for the Promotion of Private Investment, which has changed
on September 4 in a ministry. The country therefore intends to attract investments for the sustainability of its
growth through the private sector to address development challenges.
Since 2013, the country has embarked on a vast program of reforms to improve business
with a strong digitization of administrative acts and services, by opening up to the competitiveness index of
economies the “World economic forum” and now to this ECOWAS initiative.
For the implementation of the ECOWAS Business Environment Scorecard, the countries
among other things, will have to set up a National Committee for this purpose with key representatives of the sector
private sector and have the reforms evaluated by experts.
Craig Giesze, international lawyer with the World Bank, said the scorecard is based
on three pillars: diagnostic evaluation criteria developed on the basis of best practices
international organizations, a consultative and reform monitoring process, and then peer learning.

The project, funded by the European Union for the benefit of ECOWAS, aims to remove the constraints and barriers
investment in West Africa, particularly those related to foreign investors, access to
market and cumbersome and non-transparent administrative processes.
The achievement of these objectives should make it possible to deepen the integration of investments, in particular
intra-regional investments and Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in the markets of
investments and services in West Africa.
It also aims to strengthen sub-regional integration by improving the regional framework for
investment policy, particularly the elimination of barriers to entry of investments in
each Member State.
As part of improving the sub-regional business environment, the Bank Group
global, funded by the EU in collaboration with the ECOWAS Commission, has been implementing since 2015
this project within the community space which has nearly 360 million inhabitants.