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GV Building of Ministry of Economy and Finances in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
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SV M. Henri Konan Bedie, Minister of Economy and Finances of Ivory Coast with American delegates signing documents. (3 shots)
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SV Delegates applaud.
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GV Building site and men at work. (3 shots)
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GV Houses being built. (2 shots)
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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: INTRODUCTION: The United States' government is to guarantee American bank loans to the Ivory Coast. Credit totalling 21 million dollars (about 13 million pounds sterling) has been made available to the Ivory Coast to help with a vast house-building programme.

SYNOPSIS: At a ceremony in Abidjan, the country's capital, Finance Minister, Henri Konan Bedie of the Ivory Coast and the United States Ambassador, Monteagle Sterns, signed agreements on Tuesday (8 March) covering the first three loans, worth a total of almost eight and a half million dollars (about five million pounds sterling). The programme provides for the construction of low cost dwellings in Abidjan and its suburbs.

The money will also go towards providing low cost housing in the town of San Pedro, and improving existing housing in both San Pedro and Abidjan. Abidjan became the country's capital in 1934. At the beginning of the century it was just a small village, but now it is a city with a population of over 350,000.

Since gaining its independence from France in 1960 over 400 industrial plants have been built in the Ivory Coast with foreign investment credits.