Washington:
The United States lifted all remaining restrictions on direct assistance to Madagascar Tuesday in light of successful elections and installation of a new government five years after a 2009 coup.
Madagascar's new President Hery Rajaonarimampianina, who was sworn into office in January, launched a charm offensive against the world's biggest aid institutions earlier this year hoping to revive the support to his impoverished country.
Major donors like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United States and the European Union cut off the flow of aid to the Indian Ocean island after the coup.
That in turn spurred private investors to pull out, aggravating the economic woes of one of the world's poorest countries.
"We have lifted all remaining restrictions on direct assistance to Madagascar," State Department spokeswoman Jan Psaki said in a statement.
According to the World Bank, around 30,000 jobs were directly lost after the 2009 coup. The country was hit especially hard by losing the trade privileges which helped it export to the United States.
In addition, "the United States has invited Madagascar President Rajaonarimampianina to the US-Africa Leaders Summit" Psaki said.
President Barack Obama invited 47 leaders to the landmark August summit, seeking to widen US trade, development and security ties with an increasingly dynamic continent.
Notably missing from the list -- among several other African nations -- was Madagascar.
The move to lift restrictions follows Rajaonarimampianina's announcement of a cabinet of technocrats and relative political unknowns in April.
It also comes on the heels of the African Union lifting its four-year suspension of Madagascar in January following the late-2013 democratic elections, the first since the coup by former strongman Andry Rajoelina.
"We remain one of Madagascar's largest humanitarian partners, providing more than $55 million in food security and health programs in FY 2013," Psaki said.
Madagascar's new President Hery Rajaonarimampianina, who was sworn into office in January, launched a charm offensive against the world's biggest aid institutions earlier this year hoping to revive the support to his impoverished country.
Major donors like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United States and the European Union cut off the flow of aid to the Indian Ocean island after the coup.
That in turn spurred private investors to pull out, aggravating the economic woes of one of the world's poorest countries.
"We have lifted all remaining restrictions on direct assistance to Madagascar," State Department spokeswoman Jan Psaki said in a statement.
According to the World Bank, around 30,000 jobs were directly lost after the 2009 coup. The country was hit especially hard by losing the trade privileges which helped it export to the United States.
In addition, "the United States has invited Madagascar President Rajaonarimampianina to the US-Africa Leaders Summit" Psaki said.
President Barack Obama invited 47 leaders to the landmark August summit, seeking to widen US trade, development and security ties with an increasingly dynamic continent.
Notably missing from the list -- among several other African nations -- was Madagascar.
The move to lift restrictions follows Rajaonarimampianina's announcement of a cabinet of technocrats and relative political unknowns in April.
It also comes on the heels of the African Union lifting its four-year suspension of Madagascar in January following the late-2013 democratic elections, the first since the coup by former strongman Andry Rajoelina.
"We remain one of Madagascar's largest humanitarian partners, providing more than $55 million in food security and health programs in FY 2013," Psaki said.
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