Cooperation: Working Visit to Madagascar

The partnership with Madagascar, the leading beneficiary of Monaco’s Cooperation for over 20 years, is carried out through around forty projects involving both the public sector and civil society. Since 2016, the two countries have been linked by a health cooperation agreement, and since 2022, by a general framework agreement signed during the visit of the Minister-Counsellor for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. This latest visit also included a meeting with Professor Zely Arivelo RANDRIAMANANTANY, Madagascar’s Minister of Public Health.

Among the flagship programs supported by the Monegasque Government, the delegation visited, on the island of Sainte-Marie, the progress of the Ministry of Public Health’s national strategy for universal health coverage, developed with the support of the World Health Organization.

During the trip, the delegation visited four regions of the country, where more than 8 out of 10 people live below the poverty line, yet civil society displays remarkable resilience and vitality. It was also an opportunity to engage with local communities and around thirty partners. Monaco’s representatives praised “the diversity and quality of the projects supported by the Government of the Principality of Monaco, whether in the fields of health, food and nutritional security, education and child protection, or local entrepreneurship and access to decent work.”

From Antananarivo, the capital, to Fianarantsoa, a city in the central highlands, the itinerary included project site visits and working meetings, highlighting the initiatives supported by the Principality on the Big Island.

Meetings were held with local authorities and partners such as the FERT/FEKAMA/FIFATA agricultural consortium working toward more sustainable agriculture, the new Miarakap entrepreneurial hub, and longstanding partners like the IECD in the hospitality and catering sectors. Also featured was the Sandrata project, led by Apprentis d’Auteuil, which supports child protection organizations. The pediatric cardiac surgery program by Monaco Collectif Humanitaire is also being successfully implemented in the country.

The delegation was warmly welcomed at the Rainier III preventorium by the Sisters who run the facility.

Lastly, the visit gave Isabelle ROSABRUNETTO the chance to spend some time with Monaco’s Consul General, Cyril JUGE, who is also committed to supporting Malagasy youth, as well as the local Monaco Cooperation team.