Business in Madagascar, Antananarivo

The purposes of the subject “Foreign Trade and Business in the Republic of Madagascar” are the following:

1. To analyse the Malagasy Economy and Foreign Trade (Import, Export, FDI)
2. To know the business opportunities in the Republic of Madagascar
3. To explore the Malagasy trade relations with the country of the student
4. To know the Malagasy Free Trade Agreements
5. To examine the profile of Malagasy companies
6. To develop a business plan for the Malagasy market

Malagasy Preferential Access and Free Trade Agreements

1. Madagascar and the East African Economic Area
2. Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)
3. Southern African Development Community (SADC)
   1. European Union-SADC Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
4. COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Agreement
5. African Continental Free-Trade Area (AfCFTA)
6. Indian-Ocean Rim Association (IORA)
7. Indian Ocean Commission
8. Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA)
9. United States-Madagascar
   1. United States-Africa (AGOA)
   2. COMESA-United States Trade and Investment Framework Agreement
10. European Union-Madagascar
    1. Free Trade Agreement European Union-Eastern and Southern African States (Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Zimbabwe)
    2. Africa-European Union Strategic Partnership (Cotonou Agreement)
    3. Generalised System of Preferences (GSP)
11. Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP) - accession process

Trade Facilitation Programs

1. World Trade Organisation (WTO)
   1. WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
   2. WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)
   3. WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)
   4. WTO Agreement on Preshipment Inspection (PSI)
   5. WTO Agreement on Safeguards (SG)
   6. WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA)
2. World Customs Organisation (WCO)
   1. Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC)
3. International Bureau of Containers and Intermodal Transport (BIC)
4. International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO, Chicago Convention)
5. International Maritime Organisation (IMO)
   1. International Convention for Safe Containers (CSC)
   2. Convention Relating to Temporary Admission (Istanbul Convention)
6. Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea (Rotterdam Rules, UN)
7. Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea (Hamburg Rules, UN)
8. Customs Convention on Containers (CCC, UN) - not a member

African Trade and Economic Organisations

1. Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
2. African Union (AU)
   1. African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption
   2. African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD)
3. African Development Bank (AfDB)
4. Africa-India Framework for Cooperation
5. Africa-BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa)
6. Africa-Turkey Partnership
7. Africa-Asia Strategic Partnership (NAASP)
8. Africa-Korea Partnership
9. Africa-Japan Cooperation (TICAD)
10. Africa-South America Summit (ASA)
11. Forum on China-Africa Cooperation
12. Afro-Arab Cooperation
13. Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA)

Global Organisations

1. United Nations (UN)
   1. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
   2. International Trade Centre (INTRACEN)
   3. World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)
2. World Bank (WB)
3. World Trade Organisation (WTO)
4. International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The Republic of Madagascar

1. Malagasy Population: 25 million. Growth: 2,7%
2. Life expectancy: 64 years
3. Malagasy Area: 587,295 square kilometres
4. Malagasy Capital: Antananarivo (2.1 million)
5. Economic capital of Madagascar: Toamasina
6. Largest cities: Antananarivo, Toamasina, and Antsirabe
7. Official Languages of Madagascar: Malagasy and French
   1. English was official language from 2007 to 2010
8. Nearest countries to Madagascar: Mozambique, the Comoros, Mauritius, Mayotte, Reunion, the Seychelles, Eswatini (Swaziland), and Tanzania
9. Abolition of Slavery in Madagascar: 1896
10. Independence of Madagascar from France: 1960

More information about Madagascar (EENI African Portal).

Religions in Madagascar:

1. African Traditional Religions (52%)
2. Christianity(41%)

Madagascar belongs to the East African Economic Area (African Civilisation).

The Republic of Madagascar: one of the poorest African Countries.

Malagasy Economy:

1. Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa
2. Malagasy Economic growth: 2.6%
3. Malagasy Inflation: 6.9%
4. The main sector of the Malagasy economy is agriculture
   1. 3.6 million tonnes of rice (the third African producer)
   2. 1 million tonnes of cereals (maize, potato)
   3. Fruits and vegetables
   4. Litchies: 70% share of the European market. The first world exporter
   5. 50% of the global vanilla market
   6. The first world spices and other essential oils exporter
5. Malagasy industry (13% of the GDP): soap production, food and tobacco processing, brewing, textiles, and leather
6. Ranking in the Doing Business Index (WB): 142
7. Malagasy currency: Ariary (not convertible)

Foreign Trade of Madagascar:

1. Malagasy Exports: 1.251 million Dollars (FOB Value)
2. Malagasy Imports: 2.619 million Dollars (CIF Value)
3. Top Malagasy trading partners: France, Singapore, China, Germany, Canada, India, the United States, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Spain
4. Trade with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries: only 5.3% of the total exports/12% of the total imports
5. Trade with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) countries: only 3% of the total exports/6.9% of the total imports
6. Trade with the Indian Ocean Commission countries: only 3.1% of the total exports/5.5% of the total imports
7. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Madagascar: 386 million Dollars

The mission of the Economic Development Board of Madagascar (Public body) is to encourage the foreign direct investments and create a friendly business climate. The Board has defined six strategic sectors for the Malagasy economic development: tourism, agribusiness, light manufacturing industry, Information and communication technologies (ICT), infrastructure, and mining.