India-Madagascar Relations

Political Relations:

India has had maritime links with Madagascar for several centuries and visits to Madagascar and settlements of Indian merchants in Madagascar date at least to the late eighteenth century. The late nineteenth century and early years of the twentieth century witnessed a steady increase in the number of persons from India in Madagascar and persons of Indian origin began to play a significant role in business. India opened a Consulate General in Antananarivo in 1954. Upon Madagascar gaining independence in 1960, it was upgraded to an Embassy. India and Madagascar enjoy cordial bilateral relations. Both countries have similarity of views on many issues and Madagascar supports India’s permanent membership of the UNSC.

Since January 2009, Madagascar has been in a state of political crisis and uncertainties after change of power led by Andry Rajoelina, the then Mayor of Antananarivo, through a street movement and army dissent against President Marc Ravalomanana who was subsequently forced into exile in South Africa in March 2009. Andry Rajoelina (AR) took the title of the President of the High Authority of the Transition (HAT). This was rejected by the international community. The African Union and the SADC criticized the coup d’état. Later on, the AU suspended Madagascar from its primary membership. The European Union refused to recognize the new government. The UNSG Ban Ki-moon also deplored the political developments in Madagascar. SADC nominated the former President of Mozambique Mr. Joaquim Chissano as mediator to resolve the Malagasy crisis. After which a Roadmap was finalized and a consensus all party Government, with AR as the President of the Transition, was appointed in November 2011 with the aim of holding elections. The elections are finally being held after being postponed number of time.

Due to non-recognition of the present regime by the international community, the aid for developmental projects (except humanitarian aid) remains suspended to Madagascar. Bilateral cooperation with India also remained suspended and no high level bilateral visits to Madagascar have taken place since 2009. Mr. Pierrot J. Rajaonarivelo, Minister of Foreign Affairs, led a delegation to India to participate in the Council of Ministers Meeting of Indian Ocean Rim- Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) held on 02 November 2012 in Gurgaon. During the visit, he met Hon’ble Minister of State for Commerce & Industry Ms. Daggubati Purandareswari.

A list of high-level bilateral visits is as follows:

Visits from Madagascar

S Name of the Visitor Purpose Date of l. visit No. 1 Mr. Didier Ratsiraka, President Bilateral 1980 . 2 Mr. Didier Ratsiraka, President To participate in 1983 . NAM Summit 3 Malagasy Parliamentary delegation Bilateral 2000 . 4 Mr. Lila Hanitra Bilateral Ratsifandrihamanana, 2001 Foreign Minister 5 Mr. Marce Ranjeva, Foreign Bilateral 2005 . Minister discussions 6 Chief of Staff to the President February Bilateral . 2006 7 Mr. Marius Ratolojanahary, Bilateral . Minister for Agriculture July 2007 discussions on Agricultural matters 8 Mr. Ivohasina Razafimahefa, To participate in CII . Minister for Economy, Commerce organized India Africa and Industry, and March 2008 Project Partnership Mr. Marius Ratolojanahary, Conclave Minister for Agriculture 9 Mr. Marius Ratolojanahary, To sign LOC November . Minister for Agriculture Agreement with EXIM 2008 Bank 9 Mr. Pierrot J. Rajaonarivelo, To participate in the November . Minister of Foreign Affairs IOR-ARC Ministerial 2012 Meeting

Visits from India

Sl. Name of the Visitor Date of visit Purpose No. 1. Shri P.A. Sangma, Bilateral 1985 Minister of State for Commerce 2. Shri Hari Kishore Singh, Bilateral 1990 External Affairs Minister

Ship Visits: The India Naval Ship INS “Mumbai” paid a four day goodwill visit to Port Toamasina from 9th to 12th September 2006. The Indian Coast Guard Ship ICGS

“Samar” visited Diego Suarez Port in August 2007. The INS “Talwar” visited Diego Suarez for four days from 24th to 28th August 2008.

Bilateral Developmental Cooperation:

Government of India had extended a concessional Line of Credit of US$ 25 million to Madagascar for raising productivity of rice and setting up of fertilizer plants which had enhanced India’s image in Madagascar. The Malagasy Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Marius Ratolojanahary, signed an agreement in this regard in New Delhi in 2008 with EXIM Bank of India. However, this project is yet to be implemented as the shipment is still lying at the Tamatave Port and despite the best efforts of the Embassy (including a joint inspection with the former Minister of Finance), the shipment could not be released so far.

The Government of India provided cash assistance of US$100,000/- to Madagascar as disaster relief for damages caused due to the tropical cyclone ‘Haruna’ in early 2013.

A proposal to set up CGAARD under India-Africa Forum Summit Capacity Building Courses/Workshops (IAFS) is pending on our side for a decision.

As part of South-South Cooperation, India’s focus has been on capacity building including training in high skilled/technical fields through courses which are offered through ITEC and India Africa Forum Summit Scholarships, which has been widely appreciated by the local population. The utilization of these scholarships are as per the detailed chart below:

India Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC)

Number of slots Year Number Utilized allotted 2009-10 60 50 2010-11 60 67 2011-12 85 91 2012-13 80 82 2013-14 90 70 (to-date)

India-Africa Forum Summit Capacity Building Courses/Workshops (IAFS)

2010-11 16 2011-12 34 2012-13 16 2013-14 07 (till date)

Twelve ICCR slots are available but only six applications have been received, which had been forwarded to the ICCR for consideration in February 2013. For the year 2014-15, the ICCR has allotted 10 slots for Madagascar, for which nominations are being sought by the Embassy.

Tele-medicine and Tele-education facilities under the Pan African e- network started functioning in Madagascar from 23 April 2010. A large number of Malagasy students are taking benefit of this scheme being conducted in collaboration with Indian Universities such as Amity, IGNOU, Delhi University, Madras University, BITS-Palani, etc through the Imailaka University of Madagascar. In February 2013, twelve students, who attended high-level training through video conferences and through the partnership with these Universities in India, were awarded Master degrees/Diplomas in Business, IT and Finance & Control after two years of studies through the first on-line University ‘Imailaka University’ of Madagascar, which is operational since 2010. The Imailaka University appreciated the partnership between the Governments of India and Madagascar for launching the Pan-African E-network project and the Malagasy Government has requested for extending the facility beyond 2014 by Government of India.

Tele-medicine facilities are being offered in collaboration with a local clinic the Institut de Madagascar (IIM) and free consultations and diagnosis are being utilized by the Malagasy patients since 2010 from the top Hospitals (Narayana Hridayala Bangalore, AIIMS New Delhi, PGI Lucknow, Dr. Vallabh Bhai Nanawati Hospital Mumbai, Apollo Hospital Chenna and Fortis Hospital Noida) in India. This has been appreciated by the locals and created goodwill for India.

Under IAFS Progrogramme funding, a training programme by the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade in collaboration with the Malagasy Ministry of Commerce is tentatively scheduled for 7 March 2014.

Economic and Commercial Relations:

Madagascar has shown a tendency for political instability and declining economic trends over the past few decades. Since early 2009, the political crisis has led to a further decline in economic growth. The global financial turmoil also impacted negatively on the export-oriented activities of the country. The economic and social situation remains extremely fragile as the path to recovery is linked to aid and external factors. Though rich in unrealized agricultural potential, it remains amongst the poorest countries in the world. Nearly three-fourth of the population of Madagascar lives below the poverty line. The World Bank, in its recent report has given an even bleaker prognosis of the increasing poverty in Madagascar stating that around 90% of the population is below the poverty line of US$ 2/- per day.

Madagascar is rich in mineral and other resources including Graphite, Chrome, hydrocarbons, ilmenite, nickel, gold, oil, tar sands, uranium, precious and semi-precious stones and hardwoods.

Bilateral Trade between India and Madagascar has been steadily growing. The bilateral trade during 2011-12 was US$ 203.74 million with India’s exports at US$ 123.63 million and imports were at US$ 80.11 million. During the year 2012- 13 the bilateral trade was US$ 228.53 million with India’s exports at US$154.42 million and imports from Madagascar were US$ 74.10 million. In the first six months April-Sept 2013, bilateral trade was US$ 1,19,170,594 with exports at US$ 28,970,093 and imports at 90,200,501.The major items of imports from India by Madagascar are Petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, electrical machines and appliances, cotton & textiles, apparels, vehicles’ spare parts, stationery, steel for construction, sugar and cement. The major items of export to India by Madagascar are precious and semi-precious stones, cloves, clove leave oil, black pepper, iron scrap, coffee, shellfish, cinnamon, chromite and electrical.

Indian Community/Diaspora:

There are about 20,000 persons of India origin in Madagascar, including approximately 2500 Indian passport holders. Most of them are in trading. The role played by the Indian community in economic development of Madagascar is appreciated at all levels. Some of the Indian Diaspora is very influential and their contribution to the total GDP of Madagascar is substantial. The Indian Diaspora has been playing a significant role in preserving and promoting Indian culture and traditional values.

Cultural and Educational Relations

Following the on-going political crisis, there has not been significant exchange of cultural visits between the two countries in recent years. However, local cable operators are showing several Indian TV channels and there have been Indian movies telecast on National TV occasionally. The Embassy has been organizing cultural programmes including film shows with local organizations, which have been well attended.

At Embassy’s initiative, an EdCIL delegation visited Madagascar from 5 to 11 June 2013 and organized workshops/seminars in collaboration with the Universities of Antananarivo and Majunga, which were well attended and it is expected that many students would look at India as a destination for higher education.

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December 2013