Hello, I'm Catherine Biaranga, presenter and correspondent for the BBC News Channel,

and this is the interview from the BBC World Service,

the best conversations coming out of the BBC, people shaping our world from all over the world.

I will come back to Russia. I will participate in the elections.

There's an increase in violence according to the coca crop.

There is no place in the world where women are equal.

I will give away the vast majority of my money. It's my full-time focus for the rest of my life.

For this interview, I speak to Tijan Tiam, leader of Iroko's main opposition party.

You're going to hear about his bid for the country's presidency that has been blocked by an

Ivorian court. Mr. Tiam, a former chief executive of Credit Suisse, says the decision to bar

him from the presidential ballot

is politically motivated, a claim firmly denied by the Ivorian government. In this conversation,

he defends himself against critics who say he is not well known in the country and also sets

out his ideas to grow the Ivorian economy through investment

and technology. Since the turn of the century, Ivory Coast has suffered two civil wars but has a high

level of income compared to its West African neighbours. But Tijan Tiam says historical violence in the country has held back its development.

And he also believes the current row over his candidacy is deeply damaging to its reputation and

prospects. An investor told me this sentence, which really stayed with me. He said,

look, if you cannot tell me that I can come to this country and sue the president,

son or daughter and have a chance of winning, I won't come. So the rule of law, when I'm fighting here to say that it's not for the regime to choose who runs opposition parties. It's not for

the regime to eliminate opposition leaders. That is not stability. That is exactly that will scare

investors away. Welcome to the interview from the BBC World Service with Tijan Tiam.

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