The Republic of Madagascar was one of the African countries which recognized our independence in the early days of our freedom.

Madagascar is a mostly unregulated economy with many untapped natural resources. The country faces challenges to improve education, healthcare, and the environment to boost long-term economic growth. Agriculture, including fishing and forestry, is a main source of the economy, accounting for more than one-fourth of GDP and employing roughly 80% of the population.

Bangladesh and Madagascar hold identical views on major international and regional issues and work in close cooperation in multilateral fora like the UN, NAM and IORA. Despite commonalities and good potentials, the relations between the two countries could not flourish as per expectations due to the geographical location and distance. 

Exports of apparel boomed after gaining duty-free access to the US market in 2000 under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA); however, Madagascar’s failure to comply with the requirements of the AGOA led to the termination of the country’s duty-free access in January 2010, a sharp fall in textile production, a loss of more than 100,000 jobs, and GDP drop by nearly 11%. Madagascar regained AGOA access in January 2015 and trying to recover the economic growth. Madagascar produces around 80% of the world’s vanilla. An ongoing IMF program in Madagascar aims to strengthen financial and investment management capacity.