At the organization's Steering Committee meeting held on Thursday, November 23, 2023 in Abidjan, the Board of Directors of the Côte d'Ivoire-Ghana Cocoa Initiative (ICCIG) approved the guidelines for the accession of new members.

ICCIG Executive Secretary, SEM. Alex Assanvo announced in a statement that the ICCIG Board of Directors is in its third year of existence and, as other countries have expressed interest in joining the Initiative, a framework has been created for this to happen. “Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana control 60% of the global supply and we hope that with the accession of other producing countries, this will make the Initiative an even more powerful force on the global market,” he said

The Secretary believes that the new membership, “will also strengthen our joint advocacy and commitment to the European Union for the recognition of our national traceability systems and the ARS 1000 Sustainable Cocoa Standard, as contributors to the compliance of our products in the sector”.