Panel 5 – Rail Transport: Challenges and Opportunities

Theme: "Rail at the service of logistics competitiveness and the ecological transition of the Abidjan-Lagos and Abidjan-Ouagadougou corridors"

Objectives of the panel:

- Position rail transport as a pillar of the strategy for sustainable decongestion in the region's major port hubs and connectivity to the hinterland.

- Highlight investment and partnership opportunities in the rail sector for regional logistics.

- Illustrate the contribution of rail to the decarbonisation of freight transport and the competitiveness of economic players.

- Discuss the challenges of implementing railway development programmes faced by the states of the Abidjan-Lagos and Abidjan-Ouagadougou corridors

Pre-Key Note speaker: H.E. Dr. Kandeh K. Yumkella, Special Envoy of H.E. Bio on West Africa Integration and Investment Summit (WAIIS-2026), and Chairman of the Presidential Initiative on Climate Change, Renawable Energy, and Food Security (PI-CREF)

Key Note speaker : H.E. Joseph Bukari Nikpe, Minister of Transport, Ghana

Speakers:

1. Mr Jean François Marteau, Regional Director for Transport, West Africa, World Bank

2. Mr Simplice Essoh, Director General of SITARAIL

3. Mr Jean-Pierre Semengue, Associate Partner – Expert in Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Safety (RAMS), VIATTECH

4. Mr Moustapha Cissé, Director General of the Ivorian Railway Heritage Company (SIPF)