A Country Partnership Programme between Madagascar and UNIDO has been launched, aiming to locally transform Malagasy products and create massive employment opportunities. The PCP launch took place Thursday at CCI Ivato. With 300,000 young people entering the job market annually, Madagascar is betting on skills development to accelerate industrial growth. This new initiative was launched with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). The Country Partnership Programme (PCP) was launched Thursday and extends until 2030. The objective is to unite the State, private sector, and donors around shared projects. "This is not a project, not a fund, not an isolated initiative from a single institution. The PCP is a national platform that includes all stakeholders: public, private, civil society, academia, and especially Madagascar's development partners," said Volatiana Rakotondrazafy, UNIDO representative in Madagascar, during Thursday's PCP launch in Ivato. The goal is to mobilize funds supporting industrial growth and local transformation of the island. Opportunities The challenge is also creating investment-friendly ecosystems while leveraging human capital. "Our main objective is to locally transform our raw products and strengthen value chains. For this, we must improve energy access, develop industrial infrastructure, and increase business competitiveness," said Colonel Michaël Randrianirina, president of the Republic's Refoundation, Thursday. According to the Iavoloha resident, this represents a step toward refounding the national economy. Madagascar's potential is already known. Its agricultural resources, minerals, and human capital are available. It remains to turn promise into concrete results, officials say. Recent UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) reports reveal a strategic gap. The island has expanded its export basket over ten years, but mainly low-value-added products. Local transformation is weak or nonexistent. To address this gap, the UNCTAD report identifies 259 potential products (124 highly prioritized) across 23 industrial sectors (agrifood, plastics, textiles, chemicals) to capture 1.1 billion dollars in export value through local industrialization. 203 are exportable and 48 could substitute imports. Elsewhere, the "Country Partnership Programme" has helped several countries accelerate industrial development. Ethiopia was among the first PCP pilot countries. The program focused on textiles, leather, and agrifood. It resulted in building and commissioning four integrated agro-industrial parks (IAIP) in Alula, Yirgalem, Bure, and Baeker, which attracted private investors, creating thousands of direct jobs. In Senegal, the PCP supported the Emerging Senegal Plan by targeting industrial parks, agro-industry, and logistics hubs while mobilizing the private sector and technical and financial partners. In Morocco, the program supported the transition of several industrial zones toward more ecological models (eco-industrial parks), improving water and energy management for local factories. According to Volatiana Rakotondrazafy, UNIDO representative in Madagascar: "The PCP represents a historic opportunity: an opportunity to accelerate structural economic transformation, an opportunity to create more decent jobs, especially for youth, and an opportunity to increase national value-added from the country's resources." Itamara Otton