C?te d'Ivoire and Ghana should forget traditional rivalries and forge closer trade ties, Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo said during a twoday official visit.

"If the two states get together, we will be the economic and cultural locomotive for west Africa," said Gbagbo on Wednesday before meeting Ghanaian President John Kufuor.

C?te d'Ivoire and Ghana are the world's top two cocoa producers and Ghanaian officials said that cocoa was high on the agenda for talks.

Along with fellow producers Nigeria and Cameroon, C?te d'Ivoire and Ghana agreed on a plan a year ago to withdraw at least 250000 tons of 2000-2001 cocoa from the market to support prices but it was never implemented.

Gbagbo expressed a desire for the two countries to go beyond their language barrier and emulate western countries that have built strong trade links despite linguistic differences. Ghana is English-speaking while C?te d'Ivoire is francophone, a result of years of colonial rule under Britain and France.