Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Uganda: Building Resilient Trade Competitiveness by Fast Tracking the Digital Technology Sector (NTF V)

<p><span lang="EN-GB">ITC and CBI have been cooperating for decades. This cooperation led to a series of sector development programmes under the Netherlands Trust Fund (NTF) since 2005. The current project is part of the NTF V programme funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands and implemented in close coordination with the Dutch Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI).</span></p><p><span lang="EN-GB">The NTF V programme was approved in July 2021 and will run until June 2025. Its ambition is to contribute to building back better in the partner countries with a focus on creating a link between MSMEs in the digital technologies with a focus on agritech. To this end, agritech start-ups will be supported to improve their understanding of agribusinesses&rsquo; needs, to gain more agribusinesses partners, and, in some instances, to help digitalize agribusinesses.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span lang="EN-GB">Project activities will foster business-friendly tech ecosystems, strengthen business support organizations such as tech hubs and equip tech start-ups with resilient business models, linking them to business, partnership and investment opportunities while contributing to the digitalization of traditional SMEs in other sectors.</span></p><p><span lang="EN-GB">Benin, C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire, Mali and Uganda are part of the targeted countries for NTF V. NTF V Multi-country Tech will build on the work initiated under NTF IV&rsquo;s spin-off #FastTrackTech Africa and NTF IV Uganda. The project aims at contributing to the creation of sustainable jobs in the digital technologies sector and the modernisation of agribusiness through digital technologies.&nbsp;</span></p>