NON MEMBER COUNTRIES
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Order the complete Madagascar file in French GEOGRAPHICAL
SITUATION : Fifth island in the world, Madagascar
is situated in the south-east of Africa, in the Indian Ocean. The 249 mile
long Mozambique Canal separates it from the Continent. AREA : 226 633 sq miles CLIMATE : Situated in the austral hemisphere,
Madagascar has a tropical climate, with two main seasons : CAPITAL : ANTANANARIVO POPULATION : 14.4 millions inhabitants (1999) MAIN CITIES :
LANGUAGES - ETHNICAL GROUPS - RELIGIONS : POLITICAL DATA : President of the Republic : Marc RAVALOMANA The executive power is made up by the President and a Government which is directed by a Prime Minister named by the Chief of State following proposal of the Parliament. The legislative power
is detained by the Parliament and the Senate (6 year term). The judiciary power is exercised by the Constitutional, Administrative and Financial Court, the Supreme Court, the Courts of Appeal, the Courts of Law and the High Court of Justice. Political Parties
: The main ones :
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS : The Republic of Madagascar is a member of several regional and international organizations, among which : ASECNA, COMESA, ONU, OCAM, OUA, COI…FINANCIAL BACKERS : BEI, FMI, WORLD BANK, AFD, PNUD, FED, …
ECONOMY AND FINANCE : CURRENCY : Malagasy Franc
AGRICULTURE : Madagascar produces a quite wide
range of farming products. Rice, the basic malagasy diet, is grown on 61%
of the cultivated land, and provides 40% of the added value. Other products:
peanuts, vanilla, cloves, sugar, cotton, coffee, yellow tobacco...
LIVE-STOCK : One numbers 10 000 000 beef, 2 300 000 sheep and goats, 22 000 000 poultry-heads, 1 000 000 hogs. FISHING : With 3 100 miles of coast, a continenal
high-plain of 69,500 square miles and 1,358,500 acres of interior waters,
Madagascar enjoys important halieutic ressources. Nevertheless, despite
its expansion, this sector is still poorly developped, in both the manual
and the industrial domains. MINING : Madagascar has several mineral substances, both in the ancient layers which underline 75% of the territory and in the sedimentary layers. The production is granit, quartz, marble, graphite,...
The industrial production makes up only 10% of the GDP. Its predominant aspects are transformation of agricultural products, imports substitution industries and the weight of state-owned companies or enterprises with strong state participation. Free enterprise has experienced spectacular development since 1951.
The RAILROAD NETWORK : The single metric gauge railway network comprises two sub-networks geographically located in two distinct regions : the Northern network (435 miles long) and the Southern network (104 miles long ). HARBOURS : 1 main long courrier harbour in Tamatave,
3 secondary long courrier harbours, 6 main coastal navigation harbours. AIR TRANSPORT : Considering the weakness of the
other infrastructures, the country's area and its geographically distant
position, the air network is vital to Madagascar, and numbers : 1 international
class airport, 8 main airports, 11 secondary airports, 38 aerodromes.
BANKING - PRIVATIZATIONS - TELECOMMUNICATIONS - INSURANCE - COMMERCE - TOURISM - HISTORY AND CIVILIZATION - ADDRESS BOOK…
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FOREIGN TRADE : Mainly made up of
agricultural and mining products, the main products exported are coffee,
vanilla, pepper, sisal, cloves, litchis, shrimp, meat...
PRIMARY SECTOR
The ROAD NETWORK : There is no North-South link,
and the poor condition of the roads is a major impediment to the development
of economic operators' activities.
