The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Mrs Aïchatou Mindaoudou, on Friday, 6 February 2015, met with the Minister of State to the President of the Republic, Jeannot Ahoussou Kouadio, as part of their regular encounters to discuss political dialogue between the Government and the Opposition.



Speaking at the end of the meeting, the Minister of State said he and the Special Representative had discussed the resumption of dialogue between the Government and the opposition parties in Côte d'Ivoire. In this regard, Mr. Jeannot Ahoussou Kouadio recalled that both sides had had successive meetings on 29 January and 5 February 2015.



« We met all the opposition parties for the first last week. We discussed the freezing of assets and the release of post-electoral crisis prisoners », said the Minister of State, adding that « the President of the Republic had left instructions that we should work to ensure that we are no longer talking about post-electoral crisis prisoners before the elections in 2015 ».



Regarding the provision of funds for political parties, Mr. Jeannot Ahoussou Kouadio, said « this issue was discussed and the State should be providing the means to parties to finance their political activities ».



The Minister of State concluded by asking the Special Representative to attend the signing next week of the final communique sanctioning the work between the Government and opposition and which takes into account the fundamental question of the financing of political parties and the allocation of quotas. « It is a step in the right direction in terms of strengthening democracy in Côte d'Ivoire », he added.



Mrs Mindaoudou said that as the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, it was important for her to be present during the signing of the final communique on the first meeting between the Government and all the political parties - a communiqué which sanctions an agreement on an issue which is fundamental for the opposition.



She concluded by expressing her satisfaction with the concrete results obtained and the progress made under the leadership of the Minister of State, Jeannot Ahoussou Kouadio.