Energy impacts Ivory Coast's elections

YAMOUSSOUKRO, Ivory Coast, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Energy issues are becoming a factor in Ivory Coast's presidential campaigns, with the election scheduled for Nov. 29.

Jeune Afrique reported Sunday that advisers to President Laurent Gbagbo, including Abidjan port manager Marcel Gossio, former Finance Minister Paul-Antoine Bohoun Bouabre and Water Resources Minister Alphonse Douati along with the heads of major state-owned companies are providing input to update Gbagbo's economic and financial reorganization program in order to present it to the voters ahead of the election.

National Office for Technical and Development Studies Director General Ahoua Don Mello said of the effort, "We are going to emphasize the decentralization of economic power in order to create activities that will generate jobs and revenue in every region."

Gbagbo's platform prioritizes employment and national economic development fabric by retaining state control of strategic sectors while promoting industrialization. Foreign investors in the country's oil industry are now required by the Gbagbo administration to form joint ventures with the state-owned Ivorian Petroleum Company (Petroci); similar laws govern foreign investment in the country's mining sector, which requires foreign investors to partner with the state-owned Cote d'Ivoire Mining Development Co. (Sodemi).