New opportunities for development in Africa? - the lessons of Madagascar’s experience

Ivohasina Fizara Razafimahefa, PhD, Office of the President of the Republic of Madagascar, Director of Economic Affairs

16.05.2006, 19:00 Uhr
GTZ-Haus Berlin, Reichpietschufer 20

In a Memorandum on German politics related towards Africa (PDF, 168kB) in 2000, leading German Africanist scholars classified Madagascar as a country without any development perspective. However, only six years later, the German Federal Government calls the situation of in Madagascar encouraging. After a crisis following the parliamentary elections in 2001, political stability was reestablished in Madagascar, and the economy seems to recover progressively from the shock.

Madagascar is apparently part of a more general trend: The pessimism about Africa’s development, as perceived only a few years ago, now seems to be diminishing. The latest issue of the journal Internationale Politik, for example, was entitled “Zukunftskontinent Afrika” (Africa – the Continent of the Future). Careful optimism seems to predominate the atmosphere amongst analysts of African development.

European diagnosis of African development chances appear thus to be built on unstable grounds, which also questions European recipes for development. Meanwhile, voices criticizing the very concept of co-operation for Africa in its rudimental nature are reverberating. The Kenyan economist Shikwati talks about “misdevelopment aid”, while the Cameroonian philosopher Mabe calls it “ideology of salvators”.

Which strategies are favorable for economic development, and are cross-country concepts and diagnosis for Sub-Saharan Africa possible at all? We want to discuss this topic with Mr. Ivohasina Fizara Razafimahefa, Economic Policy Advisor of the President of Madagascar. Mr. Razafimahefa earned his PhD in Economics from Kobe University, Japan. His research focused on Macroeconomics and International Economic/Trade Relations. The following areas will frame the discussion:

• Which steps and decisions recently taken in Madagascar can explain the stabilization of the economic situation?

• Which other economic strategies are promising from the point of view of the Economic Policy Advisor of the President of Madagascar? Which decisions are currently pending?

• Which of these problems and approaches are specific for Madagascar, which ones are also valid for other countries of Sub-Saharan Africa?

If you are interested in participating in the meeting, please register until 10 May 2006 via www.fize.de.

The discussion will be held in English language.

Für diese Veranstaltung verantwortlich:
Johannes Krause und Janntje Böhlke-Itzen

Schriftgröße

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