Madagascar's president calls for participation in Afro-Asian Summit

Madagascar's President Hery Rajaonarimampianina on Wednesday called for cooperation from participants of Afro-Asian Summit to cope with political and economic challenges, a statement from the presidency said.

"We must strengthen our unity and cooperation to cope with political and economic challenges. This needs a common plan with new proposals and evaluation of projects we have already started," Hery Rajaonarimampianina said during the opening ceremony of Afro- Asian Summit in Jakarta.

"Challenges for Madagascar on economic, climate and improving people's living standards are very big," the president said.

"Our goal is to become a developed country having its place in the world. We want to have good relationships with the world and build a democracy having direct impact to economy and giving benefits to the Malagasy people," President Hery said.

The president said most of Madagascar's trade exchange is done with Asian countries. "Many of them became Madagascar's suppliers while some of them received products from Madagascar."

Hery said that decision to be taken during the summit will become a force to change the dreams of leaders to reality for the interest of their respective people.

Madagascar's president will co-chair a session of the summit on Thursday.