FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. – Pennsylvania National Guard and Côte d’Ivoire military officials announced Jan. 13 that the Pennsylvania National Guard has been selected to partner with Côte d’Ivoire through the Department of War National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program.

“It is with great honor and enthusiasm that the Pennsylvania National Guard welcomes Côte d'Ivoire as our newest partner in the State Partnership Program,” Pennsylvania Adjutant General Maj. Gen. John R. Pippy said. “We are eager to forge a new and lasting relationship with our friends in Côte d'Ivoire.

“We look forward to a robust exchange of knowledge in areas of security, disaster preparedness and professional development,” Pippy added. “Together, we will enhance our capabilities, strengthen regional stability and create enduring bonds of friendship and cooperation. We are excited to embark on this journey with the people of Côte d'Ivoire.”

With nearly 18,000 Soldiers and Airmen, the Pennsylvania National Guard is one of the largest state National Guards in the U.S. It is headquartered at Fort Indiantown Gap, near the state capital of Harrisburg, and has units in more than 60 communities across the commonwealth.

Côte d’Ivoire, also referred to as the Ivory Coast, is a West African nation with a population of about 32 million. Its political capital is Yamoussoukro, though its largest city and economic capital is the coastal city of Abidjan.

It has a strong, growing economy and is the world’s largest exporter of cocoa, which is used to make chocolate. Pennsylvania is home to several major chocolate makers, including Hershey, Mars and Godiva, and the Port of Philadelphia is the primary entry point for cocoa imported to the U.S.

“The State Partnership Program between the Côte d'Ivoire Armed Forces and the Pennsylvania National Guard is a strategic opportunity to transfer operational and crisis management skills, strengthen national security, improve the resilience of Ivorian communities and create indirect economic synergies around the cocoa and chocolate industry,” said Côte d’Ivoire Armed Forces, or FACI, Chief of Defense General Lassina Doumbia.

Formal signing ceremonies will be conducted later this year in the United States and Côte d’Ivoire.

This will be the Pennsylvania National Guard’s second State Partnership Program, or SPP, partnership. It has partnered with Lithuania since 1993.

The SPP now includes 107 partnerships with 116 nations around the globe. The program evolved from a 1991 U.S. European Command decision to set up the Joint Contact Team Program in the Baltic Region with Reserve component Soldiers and Airmen.

A subsequent National Guard Bureau proposal paired U.S. states with three nations emerging from the former Soviet Bloc, and the SPP was born, becoming a key U.S. security cooperation tool that facilitates cooperation across all aspects of international civil-military affairs and encourages people-to-people ties at the state level.

This cost-effective program is administered by the National Guard Bureau, guided by State Department foreign policy goals, and executed by the state adjutants general in support of combatant commander and U.S. Chief of Mission security cooperation objectives and Department of War policy goals.

Through the SPP, the National Guard conducts military-to-military engagements in support of defense security goals but also leverages whole-of-society relationships and capabilities to facilitate broader interagency and corollary engagements spanning military, government, economic and social spheres.