tourism

2005 looks like being a key year for Madagascar tourism.  Having weathered a Ukraine-style electoral crisis that swept away the Marxist government, and extensive cyclone damage early this year, the country is set to benefit from  improvements in economy and infrastructure.  Even the movie business is getting in on the act with Dreamworks set to release a Shrek-style animation following zoo animals escaping to the wild, entitled Madagascar.  Madagascar's Anglophile President Marc Ravalomanana has recently appointed a London-based charge dأ¢â‚¬â„¢affaires, and has announced plans to open a fully fledged embassy in 2005 and Tony Blair wants to put Africa at the top of the G8 summit agenda in 2005 - the UK has the presidency.  More generally the UK government has been an active campaigner pushing for the cancellation of insurmountable and crippling debt burdens, planning to substantially increase aid in 2005.

Madagascar has won serious support from institutions and governments around the world for its dynamic efforts to stamp out corruption, reform bureaucracy and generally create a climate that will reduce poverty in a desperately poor country. These efforts have been applauded by the World Bank, EU and many governments. They have also taken an enormous amount of political courage by the incumbent government.

Very surprising then, that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office chooses now as the time to announce the closure of the British Embassy in Antananarivo, bringing to an end the longest Ambassadorial representation on the island continent.  What kind of message does this send to a country keen to increase links with Britain and the English-speaking world and whose political leaders are implementing policies long promoted by the UK?  What on earth are the Malagasy people supposed to think of the FCO decision?

Hilary Bradt, whose 8th edition of Madagascar: The Bradt Travel Guide has just been published, reports: 'I was in Madagascar in November leading a tour for Naturetrek, and was so impressed at the efforts the government was making to improve the country's infrastructure and of course there is the "Durban Initiative" whereby the president vowed to triple the size of protected areas in Madagascar in five years. This brave commitment deserves our support.  I wonder if the 'Men in Suits' at the FCO are aware of the history that binds Madagascar and Britain?  Queen Victoria had a close relationship with the Malagasy monarchs because of the influence in the 19th Century of the London Missionary Society.'