German pharmaceutical lab Merck opened a representative office in Cote d’Ivoire to serve French-speaking countries in West and Central Africa.

“This new office will help us reinforce the activities we already have in Cote d’Ivoire. It will also be a hub from which we will develop our operations in French-speaking West and Central African countries,” said Merck’s director for North and West Africa, Karim Bendhaou.

As he was setting shop in Abidjan, the German group also provided Cote d’Ivoire two minilabs to hel rapidly detect counterfeited drugs.

In 2015, the group said it planned to double its sales in Africa over the following five years to about 500 million euros in 2020, by expanding its footprint and its staff across the continent. InNovermber 2015, it started making an anti-diabetes drug in Algeria and opened a representative office in Nigeria.

Merck’s largest site on the continent is in South Africa where it handles its South and East African businesses, including Kenya, Angola and Mozambique.