Mao Weiming, deputy secretary of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and governor of Hunan Province, met in Changsha with Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina and his entourage on September 8, 2024. They came to China to attend the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing.

Rafaravavitafika Rasata, Madagascan minister of Foreign Affairs; Marie Sahondrarimalala, Madagascan minister of National Education; David Ralambofiringa, Madagascan minister of Industrialization and Commerce; and, Jean Louis Robinson, Madagascar's ambassador to China, accompanied him on the tour.

Ji Ping, China's ambassador to Madagascar; Zhang Yingchun and Wang Yi'ou, Hunan provincial leaders; and Qu Hai, provincial secretary general, were present.

On September 8, Governor Mao Weiming met with Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina in Changsha.

Madagascar is an island country in the Indian Ocean located in southeastern Africa. It has an area of 592,000 square kilometers and a population of about 28.92 million. Its economy is based on agriculture, and it is very rich in mining resources, with high potential for hydroelectric resources.

Governor Mao welcomed the guests and briefed them on the situation of Hunan Province. He noted that since 2007, the two sides have been linked by "a seed". The hybrid rice developed by Academician Yuan Longping has taken root and blossomed in Madagascar, bearing full rice ears. Madagascar has become the first country in Africa to realize the commercialization of hybrid rice. It is the technology center of hybrid rice in Africa, which has realized the full industrial chain coverage of breeding, seed production, planting, processing, and sales.

Mao believed that Hunan Province is an important frontier for carrying out China-Africa people-to-people exchanges and cooperation, and one of the most active provinces in China in terms of economic and trade cooperation with Africa. Hunan will attentively implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and the achievements of the FOCAC summit. The province will make good use of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, the Pioneering Zone for In-depth China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation, and other opening-up platforms, to further strengthen the exchanges and mutual understanding with Madagascar, deepen economic and trade exchanges, and promote industrial cooperation. He added that Hunan will consolidate the strong momentum of agricultural cooperation and expand exchanges and cooperation in such fields as infrastructure construction, new energy, mining development, and culture and tourism, to contribute more to the deepening of China-Madagascar comprehensive strategic partnership.

The meeting.

President Rajoelina thanked Hunan for the hybrid rice technical assistance given to Madagascar for a long time, and expressed his appreciation for Hunan's achievements in modern agriculture, industrial manufacturing, and scientific and technological innovation. He mentioned that Madagascar is now striving to improve the level of agricultural modernization and industrialization, building itself into the "Granary of Africa".  He hoped to further learn from Hunan's successful experience and practices in the development of modern agriculture, mineral exploitation and utilization, and culture-tourism integration. Both sides may give full play to the complementary advantages of each other, to deepen the collaboration in such fields as energy and infrastructure construction, making the Madagascar-China relationship a benchmark for Africa-China relationship.

The meeting.

During his stay in Hunan, President Rajoelina and his party made an inspection tour in Changsha. He learned about intelligent manufacturing and new energy technology development at the No. 18 Factory of the Sany Group. In the Geological Bureau of Hunan Province and the Geological Experiment and Testing Center of Hunan Province, Rajoelina inspected the situation of geological research and accepted the donation of briquette production line. He then came to the Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center to study the science and technology innovation of seed industry. He also visited the Longping Rice Park and the Zoomlion Intelligent Industrial Town.

Photos taken by Liu Shangwen.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Yu Jiangjiang

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn