It followed the appointment of Daniel Kablan Duncan as Prime Minister on Wednesday.
Côte d’Ivoire’s former Foreign Affairs Minister, Daniel Kablan Duncan, was on Wednesday November 21, 2012 named Prime Minister, a week after the country’s government was dissolved following an apparent disagreement between governing coalition members over a bill on marriage. Duncan’s appointment was followed yesterday, November 22, 2012 by the announcement of a new cabinet.
The Associated Press news agency said President Alassane Ouattara named a new 29-member cabinet, putting Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan in charge of the Finance Ministry and keeping the same officials in key defence posts. The Secretary General in President Ouattara's office, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, read the decree announcing the cabinet. Former Finance Minister, Charles Koffi Diby, is in charge of Foreign Affairs while Paul Koffi Koffi and Hamed Bakoyoko will remain in charge of the Defence and Interior ministries, respectively.
The Bloomberg news agency quoted Coulibaly as telling telling reporters in the commercial capital, Abidjan, that Duncan, a 69-year-old economist, was appointed by President Alassane Ouattara on Wednesday November 21, 2012. The new PM replaces Jeannot Kouadio Ahoussou, who held the top government job since March 2012. Duncan pledged to make private industry and poverty reduction his government’s priorities and said President Ouattara wants to boost economic growth to above 10 per cent in 2014 and create jobs for youth.
Daniel Kablan Duncan comes from PDCI like his predecessor, Ahoussou. He was Foreign Minister in the previous government formed last March. He is the third Prime Minister appointed by Ouattara since taking power in 2011. He was also Finance Minister from 1990 to 1993 and Prime Minister from 1993 to 1999 under President Henri Konan Bedie. The new PM has worked at the International Monetary Fund and the Dakar-based Central Bank of West African States. On the basis of an agreement between Ouattara and Bedie during the presidential election of November 2010, the position of Prime Minister returns to the PDCI.
