India, Madagascar discuss ways to strengthen bilateral relations

India's ambassador to Madagascar, Abhay Kumar, met Prime Minister Ntsay Christian here on Monday and discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries.

Kumar congratulated Christian on his reappointment as the Prime Minister after the recently concluded elections for the National Assembly of Madagascar.

In March 2018, President Ram Nath Kovind became the first Indian President to visit Madagascar. Kovind was conferred with the Grand Cross of the Second Class, Madagascar's highest honour for non-citizens, on this occasion. India and Madagascar also signed a defence cooperation agreement during the high-level visit of the Indian President.

During today's meeting, the Indian envoy and the Madagascar Prime Minister underlined the need to keep the momentum going in India-Madagascar bilateral relations generated after President Kovind's visit.

India has gifted Madagascar Bhabhatron-II, a radiotherapy machine which will be inaugurated soon. Two Indian scientists are working at the Centre for Geo-informatics Applications in Rural Development (CGARD) in Antananarivo which was inaugurated during President Kovind's visit.

In addition, India also provides over 100 scholarships to Malagasy students every year under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC) and a dozen under Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) scholarship programme.

Madagascar is also a member of Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).