Indonesia may to join cocoa body soon: Ivory Coast says

Indonesia may to join cocoa body soon: Ivory Coast says

ABIDJAN (AFP): Indonesia is expected to join the Cocoa Producers' Alliance (COPAL) "very soon", Ivory Coast's Council of Ministers said yesterday in a statement issued in its economic capital Abidjan.

Indonesia "will very soon take a decision in the general direction desired by most cocoa-producing countries, for whom Ivory Coast is the spokesman," the statement said.

It follows meetings in Jakarta from July 18 to 31 during a visit by Ivorian Minister of Raw Materials Guy-Alain Gauze. The minister suggested that Indonesia join COPAL in order to allow better control of the world market. COPAL groups most leading cocoa-producing countries.

"The measures recommended by the alliance and the International Cocoa Organization have been applied in Indonesia for two years now and don't present any obstacle to Indonesia joining these organizations," the statement said.

Ivory Coast is the world's leading cocoa producer with a predicted current crop of 780,000 tons, while Indonesia is ninth with a crop of nearly 250,000 tons.

During his visit Gauze also proposed "an economic and technical co-operation agreement" between the two countries, which "could be signed in Abidjan in the coming weeks", according to the statement.