The 2024 FOCAC Summit is underway in Beijing, and Hunan Daily’s multimedia series "Friends & Partners" is currently being published. On September 5, a reporter delivered a copy of "Friends & Partners" to Kouya Bertin Gomun, Commercial Counselor of the Embassy of Côte d’Ivoire in China, who attended the summit. He carefully browsed the newspaper and said that he had been following the "Friends & Partners" series. He said that the reports were detailed and faithfully portrayed the friendly and mutually supportive ties between China and Côte d’Ivoire.. The series not only tells the story of Mainland Group investing in and establishing multiple rubber processing plants in Côte d’Ivoire, but also highlights the profound ties between Côte d’Ivoire and Hunan.

“Côte d’Ivoire is an agricultural country whose economy relies heavily on agricultural products such as rubber, cocoa and cashews. Processing these products rather than selling the raw materials directly is already a good measure,”said Gomun. He hoped Mainland Group could move further up the value chain toward finished products. For instance, Mainland Group could move from basic rubber processing to the manufacture of tires and sealing components, or process cocoa into finished products such as chocolate. Meanwhile, he also hoped to expand cooperation with Hunan in other emerging areas such as business, digitalization, infrastructure and health.