Ivorian president hosts U.S. Secretary of State, talks security

Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara hosted the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Tuesday (Jan. 23).

During a press conference in Abidjan, the president thanked the US for its support in fields including health, intelligence, and security.

Blinken who is on a four-nation Africa tour unveiled new funding through the ten-year U.S. Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability.

"We appreciate particularly the leadership shown by Cote d'Ivoire encountering extremism and violence. We're announcing $45 billion in new funding, through the U.S. strategy to prevent conflict and promote stability for coastal West African states. With this new investment, the United States will have invested in nearly $300 billion just over the past two years in stability focused assistance in coastal West Africa."

"And we're also working to bolster Cote d'Ivoire security capacity. There's been a increase in training multiplied 15 times training equipment for the military just over the last year. We're expanding civilian forces investment as well."

Ouattara said he held a "good discussion" with the US top diplomat as they touched on issues including regional developments such as the "difficult situation" , "coups in neighbouring countries [Editor's note: in West Africa]".

Blinken will travel next to Nigeria and Angola.  The Chinese Foreign minister ended his Africa tour on January 18th.