Madagascar And Mauritius Strengthen Links

by Lorys Charalambous, for LawAndTax-News.com, Cyprus

07 June 2005

Madagascar's National Assembly last week ratified an investment protection agreement signed last year with Mauritius.

The investment protection agreement was one of a number of economic cooperation agreements signed by the two countries, whose growing bilateral links were strengthened earlier this year during a highly successful visit to Madagascar by Mauritian Prime Minister Paul Berenger.

Madagascar's interest in Mauritius is partly driven by the fact that it is the third largest provider of FDI to Madagascar after France and China; Madagascar is also influenced by Mauritius's membership of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), of the Commission de l'Océan Indien (COI) et of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which Madagascar also joined late last year.

There were 50 Mauritian enterprises in Madagascar at the end of 2004, and 11 others have since been established. Ten of these operate in Madagascar's Free Zone.

Madagascar's Minister of Commerce, Olivier Andrianarison, said that local firms wouldn't be able to boost the national economy if they were afraid of competition. He underlined that economic frontiers no longer existed in the global economy, and that Malagasy companies needed to develop their links with foreign countries.

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