The President of the Republic of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina, will make an official visit to Rwanda on August 7 and 8, announced the report of the Council of Ministers of Wednesday August 2. This trip follows the invitation of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, an African president who was a special guest of Madagascar during the Malagasy national holiday in June 2019.
The report of the Council of Ministers specifies that some members of the government, parliamentarians and representatives of the private sector will accompany the president during this mission. Indeed, the signing of bilateral cooperation agreements and meetings between economic operators are planned during this visit.
Visiting Rwanda is of particular importance for Madagascar since it is an opportunity for Madagascar to benefit from the Rwandan experience in terms of rapid growth. Rwanda is also one of the African countries that have experienced considerable economic growth and development in recent times.
This visit nevertheless takes place in a very delicate political context for African countries vis-à -vis their European partners, following in particular political events in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. African leaders are called upon by their counterparts to express themselves in favor or not of Western countries to better clarify their position.
In February 2019, a team from the Economic development board of Madagascar (EDBM) already carried out a prospecting mission in Rwanda where it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Rwanda Development Board. The objective was to increase the flow of investments between the two countries. It was also raised at the time of the opening of an airline between Antananarivo and Kigali to promote trade between the two countries.
“I am delighted with the strengthening of cooperation between Madagascar and Rwanda, a model of development in Africa. The flow of investments between our two countries will be accentuated thanks to this new memorandum of understanding”, Andry Rajoelina rejoiced at the time on his Twitter account.
