Economic Development

L to r – Senator Darrel Aubertine (D – Watertown); Alicide Djedje (pronounced Jay-Jay), the Ivory Coast Ambassador to the United Nations; Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm A. Smith and M. Ahmed Diomande, Finance Secretary to the Senate Democratic Conference. Diomande is a native of the Ivory Coast. The four met to discuss strengthening bilateral relationships between NYS and the Ivory Coast in the area of education, culture and commerce, including the future of New York Chocolate (the former Nestle plant) produced in Fulton, Oswego County. The chocolate-producing plant is now owned by a farmer's cooperative from the Ivory Coast.