Zambia, Madagascar agree to work together
Zambia, Madagascar agree to work togetherFrom Christeter Macha Antananarivo, Thursday
ZAMBIA and Madagascar have agreed to work together and signed the General Cooperation and the Joint Permanent Commission-JPC agreements. The two agreements would enhance economic and technical cooperation between the two countries in areas such as agriculture, livestock, trade, transport, meteorology and education.
The agreements would further enhance economic and technical cooperation in scientific research, industry and handicrafts, fisheries, energy, health, information and finance among others.
Zambia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Kabinga Pande signed on behalf of the Zambian Government while Madagascar Foreign Affairs Minister, Marcel Ranjeva signed on behalf of the host government.
A joint communique issued at the end of the state visit to Madagascar by President Mwanawasa who is also Southern African Development Community (SADC) Chairman, noted that the two countries while expressing satisfaction with the warm state of relations agreed with SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salomao that Madagascar needs help to develop customised infrastracture programmes for energy, maritime, air transport, communications and ICTs.
They also agreed to include these programmes in the SADC infrastracture master plan. This agreement followed Dr Salomao’s report on the SADC power sector review and consultative mission to Madagascar in November last year which showed that Madagascar was experiencing critical power supply shortages which lead to frequent power blackouts in the country.
Madagascar has a current power capacity of only 200 megawatts while the current demand is above 2,000 and 4,000 megawatts in the long-term.
The two Heads of States and the SADC executive secretary underscored the need for Madagascar to devise the short and long-term strategies to address the supply and demand disparities including the linking of the Madagascar Power utility company to the Southern African Power Pool in order to benefit from other SADC countries’ experiences and exchange programmes.
Dr Mwanawasa and President Ravalomanana urged SADC to devise short, medium and long-term measures that would mitigate power shortages faced by Madagascar and the SADC region.
The two Presidents re-affirmed that they would to continue to cooperate at regional, continent and international levels through SADC, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), African Union (AU) and the UN.
At the end of the visit, President Mwanawasa expressed appreciation for the warm reception and hospitality accorded to him and his delegation during his stay in Madagascar and reiterated the need for continued interaction between the peoples of the two countries.
President Mwanawasa has since returned home aboard the Presidential challenger accompanied by his wife, Maureen and Foreign Affairs Minister, Kabinga Pande.
He was seen off at Ivato International Airport by Mr Ravalomanana, and his wife Lalao and other senior government officials from Madagascar.—ZANIS
Labels: MADAGASCAR
posted by MrK @ 4:50 AM
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