From 3 to 6 September 2024, Antananarivo, the capital of the Republic of Madagascar, hosted a series of activities organised by OHADA under the leadership of Prof. Mayatta Ndiaye MBAYE, Permanent Secretary. Scientific activities, technical discussions and diplomatic exchanges were among the highlights of this particularly busy week.
In terms of diplomatic exchanges, the audience granted to the Permanent Secretary and his delegation on Thursday 5 September 2024 by H.E. Mr Christian NTSAY, Prime Minister of the Republic of Madagascar, provided an opportunity to discuss, in the presence of the Minister of Justice, the opportunities associated with the country’s possible accession to OHADA. On this occasion, all the organisations representing the private sector, which were behind the creation of the Malagasy Consortium for OHADA, reiterated their unanimous call for Madagascar to join OHADA as soon as possible.
The afternoon of Friday 6 September 2024 was devoted to a technical meeting between the OHADA delegation and the members of the Supreme Court of Madagascar, meeting in a general assembly at the headquarters of the High Court. Organised on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, Head of Government, this meeting, the opening ceremony of which was chaired by Mr Alexis Benjamin RAKOTOMANDIMBY, Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice, provided an opportunity not only to present OHADA, but also to answer the various questions and concerns of the members of the Supreme Court.
These high-level discussions were held in conjunction with a four-day workshop co-hosted by OHADA and Malagasy experts Gérard RAMANGAHARIVONY, Secretary General of the Arbitration and Mediation Centre of Madagascar, Tafita RATSIMBA, Partner at Lexel juridique et fiscal, and Rivo RAZAFINDRAKOTO, Judicial Officer, Vice-President of the Antananarivo Court of First Instance. The work, carried out from a comparative perspective, showed that there is a high level of compatibility between OHADA law and Malagasy law on securities, commercial companies and alternative dispute resolution. They also highlighted the significant progress that needs to be made by Malagasy law to bring it into line with the standards set by OHADA legislation.
The Permanent Secretary warmly thanks Madagascar’s senior political and judicial authorities for their warm welcome and the quality of the discussions. He also expressed his deep gratitude to the National School of Magistrates and Registrars, the Association for the Unification of Law in Africa (UNIDA), ACP Legal Océan Indien and the Consortium Malagasy pour l’OHADA made up of the Groupement des Entreprises de Madagascar (GEM), the Syndicat des Industries de Madagascar (SIM) and the Fivondronan’ny Mpandraharaha Malagasy (FIVMPAMA), which worked synergistically to organise the workshop. The Permanent Secretary would also like to thank the professionals who took part in the deliberations (Judicial and Legal Officers, Lawyers, Registrars, Notaries, Bankers, Representatives of the Ministries of Industry, Commerce and Justice) and express the hope that the process of bringing OHADA and Madagascar closer will continue to grow from strength to strength.
