Ｖｉｃｅ Ｐｒｅｓｉｄｅｎｔ ｏｆ Ｍａｄａｇａｓｃａｎ Ｎａｔｉｏｎａｌ Ｐｅｏｐｌｅ Ａｓｓｅｍｂｌｙ Ｍａｍｙ Ｒａｋｏｔｏａｒｉｖｅｌｏ ｉｎ Ｃｈｉｎａ

In mid-Autumn， Mamy Rakotoarivelo， vice president of the Madagascan National People’s Assembly， together with his wife and two sons came to China on vacation， fulfilling his long-cherished wish.

Mamy Rakotoarivelo， 45 years old， is a new star in the Madagascan political circle. In May 2002 he took up the official post of minister of information and now is the spokesman of the government led by President Marc Ravalomanana. In January 2003 he was elected vice president of the National People’s Assembly in charge of foreign affairs. In December that year at his initiation， the Madagascan National People’s Assembly set up a Madagascar-China Assemblymen’s Friendship Group， the first friendship group between Madagascan assemblymen and their counterparts in other countries.

Mrs. Rakotoarivelo is in charge of the largest media group in Madagascar. Midi and Mon Journal， which belong to the group， are the two daily newspapers with the largest circulation in the country. She had asked several times what were the secrets behind China’s earth-shaking changes. They wanted to reveal the secrets through the visit.

The Rakotoarivelos got the answer in Shenzhen. It is mainly due to the adoption of Deng Xiaoping’s policy of reform and opening up and taking the road of development conforming to China’s characteristics that Shenzhen has developed from a small fishing village to a modern city. Mr. Rakotoarivelo said， the mode of China’s development is suited to the developing countries including Madagascar. After visiting China in May， 2004 Madagascan President Ravalomanana decided to introduce China’s development mode to Madagascar. Rakotoarivelo said， Shenzhen has taken the road of first developing the industry of processing export commodities， which has then brought along the development of transportation， information and financial industries. Madagascar can also take this road of development. Madagascar， a member of the COMESA and the SADC， links Asia and Africa. China can invest in Madagascar to build factories and export technologies and products which can be sold in the African market. Two months ago the airline from Bangkok of Thailand to Antananarivo was open， making Chinese businessmen’s travel to Madagascar easier. He hoped that Chinese businessmen and local government officials would visit Madagascar for investigation.

Mrs. Rakotoarivelo said， China’s economic development has made Madagascar see the hope of its own development. She hoped that in the future she would have a chance to visit China’s northwestern regions， and believed that China’s strategy of coordinated development would bring profound changes to the poor areas. To Madagascar， a country with an income of only 250 US dollars per capita， this will， no doubt， be valuable experience.

The Rakotoarivelos stayed quite a few days in Beijing， Shanghai and Hangzhou. The Yuyuan Garden with rich oriental features and the Royal Summer Palace left deep impressions on their two children. They wrote down their impressions in their diaries， and planned to tell their classmates about China when returning home. During their stay in China， the two children also visited the Science and Technology Museum where they experienced Chinese children’s life in the summer vacation and learnt knowledge of natural sciences with audio-visual aids. The visit to China left profound impressions in their young hearts.

Rakotoarivelo said that the purpose of spending their vacation in China was to let the Madagascan younger generation know more about China today and let Madagascar-China friendship last from generation to generation.