ABIDJAN – The international Basketball Federation (FIBA) will build its Africa regional headquarters in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, the country’s Minister of Youth, Sports and Recreation François Amichia confirmed on Thursday.

The new facility will be located in the Treichville borough.

The announcement was made during a visit of a FIBA delegation led by FIBA Africa’s President and FIBA Vice-President Hamane Niang.

Talking to FIBA.com, François Amichia said: “The decision of building the Africa regional headquarters in Abidjan is the result of a close partnership initiated in 2004.”

FIBA Chief Operating Officer, Markus Studer, added: “It is good news to finally know that the building of the headquarters of our regional office in Côte d'Ivoire will be effective. Cote d’Ivoire is a basketball country that has shown its readiness to accompany the development of the global basketball and we are sure that it is the best place to build such infrastructure.”

On the other hand, Niang, expressed his delight for the announcement: “All the African basketball stakeholders’ gratitude to the Ivorian Government for its commitment to the development and promotion of the game.

“I urge the Ivorian Basketball Federation (FIBB) to work harder in order to improve the image of the game in the country,” he pointed out.

Hamane Niang, François Amichia, Alphonse Bile, Richard Baillif, Markus Studer and Ingo Weiss

Abidjan is one of the five regional offices of the world basketball governing Body which has its main headquarters in Mies, Switzerland.

The meeting was also attended by FIBA Africa regional office’s Director Alphonse Bile, FIBA Treasurer, Ingo Weiss, FIBA Director of Projects, Richard Bailiff, Ivorian Basketball Federation President, Agui Mathieu and Jacques Andoh-Alle.

FIBA