During this visit, Guy Ryder celebrated the succeses of  his colleagues and especially  praised the work of the ILO in the promotion of decent work, which has been his priority during his term of office whose framework of intervention in Africa is outlined by the 2019 Abidjan Declaration. 

“Wonderful to join the ILO Africa team and thank them for their excellent work and to say farewell”,
said Mr. Ryder, adding that “I was very touched by the meeting organized in Abidjan to mark my upcoming departure in October, and great to be connected with the extended ILO family across the region online”.
During his visit, Guy Ryder met with the Vice President of the Republic Tiémoko Meyliet Koné, Ivorian Prime Minister, Patrick Jérôme Achi, and the Minister of Employment and Social Protection, Maitre Adama Kamara.

To his hosts, Mr. Ryder praised the commitment of Côte d'Ivoire to achieve the objectives of the Abidjan Declaration. He also praised the climate of stability in the country achieved through the mechanisms of social dialogue with the key, a social truce. "The ILO and Côte d'Ivoire share a common path, social dialogue," he said. Guy Ryder expressed appreciation to the Ivorian authorities for the long-standing support to the organization, including the strategically positioned ILO Building.
For Adama Kamara "the Abidjan Declaration will remain forever a success of your mandate. Thank you for all the support of the ILO with which we have a very good collaboration. We are proud to host the ILO Regional Office here in Abidjan”.
Affirming the importance he attaches to the informal economy, Mr. Ryder went to the Marcory market to meet with the women of the modern food cooperative of this commune (COMOVIMAR). "The transition from the informal to the formal economy in Africa is a priority. I was impressed by the commitment of the women in this sector that I visited in Marcory. We must continue to work on this sector," said the outgoing Director General of the ILO.

On behalf of the women’s cooperative, Marcelline Douai Adopo thanked and paid tribute to the ILO for its support to the formalization of the informal economy. "Thank you, Mr. DG, for this cooperative which has enabled the women workers of the Marcory market to have social protection and to partly solve the problem of the lack of decent work for market gardeners; this will contribute to the formalization of this sector.

Mr Guy Ryder has been the head of the ILO since October 1, 2012.

Press contact:

Asmaa Rezk, Communication specialist, DWT ILO/Cairo; email: rezk@ilo.org

François Gombahi, Communication specialist, CO-ILO/Abidjan; email: kouassig@ilo.org