1.
GV & SV EXT Economic Ministry (2 shots)
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2.
MV INT Minister Bedie introduced to EEC members by Cheysson
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SV Ivory Coast map and portrait of Houphouet Boigny
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4.
SV INT Bedie and Cheysson enter conference room and greet delegates (2 shots)
0.30

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GV Delegation seated at conference table
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MV Bedie and Cheysson signing agreement (3 shots)
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SV Bedie and Cheysson shake hands as delegates applaud
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8.
SV PAN Delegates chat and drink cocktails
1.07

9.
SV Cheysson and Bedie talking with delegate
1.14



Initials BB/1515 RS/BOB/BB/1533



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The European Economic Community has signed a GBP5,250,000 sterling (2844.8 million CFA francs) aid agreement with the Ivory Coast.

The Community Commissioner for Aid and Co-operation with the Third World, M. Claude Cheysson and the Ivory Coast Economic and Financial Affairs Minister M. Henri Konan Bedie signed the agreement in Abidjan on Saturday (June 9).

Nearly GBP 750,000 sterling (920.8 million CFA francs) of the aid doesn't have to be repaid and special conditions are attached to the rest. Most of the money will go towards financing agricultural projects in the north of the country. The main one is the planting of 33,345 acres of rubber trees (13,500 hectares).

The non-repayable aid will help with the re-organisation and rehabilitation of families living in the Bandama Valley in the centre of the country, affected by the flooding of the valley behind a dam.

About 14,000 people will be helped by the project.

The previous day (June 8) the Ivory Coast and France signed two financial agreements covering French aid for development projects amounting to about GBP 500,000 sterling (272 million central African francs).

The money is for the construction of an extension to the medical faculty in Abidjan and the extension of the Ivory Coast's educational television system.