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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN TRADE: THE DRC SIGNS THE INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT ON COCOA-ICCO IN ABIDJAN IN THE IVORY COAST

Promoting the cocoa sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo with the protection of local producers, the Congolese Government, through the Minister of Foreign Trade, Julien Paluku Kahongya, proceeded this Tuesday, June 2, 2026 in Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire to the signing of the International Cocoa Agreement - ICCO, which aims to regulate the cocoa market and mobilize funds to support producers

A strategic agreement which focuses on 7 major axes including increasing producers' income, improving the environmental footprint of the cocoa sector, encouraging cocoa processing in producing countries, promoting products made from cocoa, producing statistical information and developing the cocoa industry in line with rural requirements.

For the Minister of Foreign Trade, Julien Paluku Kahongya, the accession of the DRC constitutes a major opportunity to structure the national cocoa sector and assert its position on the international market, but also, the country will now participate in making major global decisions on the orientations and regulation of the cocoa market, access official and confidential and prospective statistics from the ICCO, sit on strategic commissions and committees to defend Congolese interests, strengthen qualitatively and quantitatively exports of cocoa made in the DRC and benefit from the assistance of the ICCO for the design, execution and search for financing for cocoa projects in the DRC, while adding that the volumes of cocoa exported by the DRC increased from 47,346 tonnes in 2021 to more than 92,220 tonnes in 2025, according to INS data.

Ambassador Aly Touré, Spokesperson for the exporting members of the ICCO and Irchad Razaaly, Ambassador of the European Union in Côte d'Ivoire, representative of the Spokesperson for the importing members of the ICCO welcomed the DRC for having signed this agreement.
Note that this intergovernmental organization is made up of 51 member countries including cocoa exporters and importers.