Tiana RASAMIMANANA - Président du SIM.wav

I've been saying lately: it's not the title that matters most, it's commitment. One can become a progenitor in a few minutes, even seconds, but to be a father requires commitment. And I think your presence here today demonstrates your commitment — you are committed CEOs.

Your Excellency Mr. President of the Republic of Madagascar, Mr. Secretary General of the Indian Ocean Commission, Madam President of the Reunion Region, Ladies and Gentlemen Ministers of the government, Ladies and Gentlemen Members of Parliament, Ladies and Gentlemen Governors, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen Ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps, Ladies and Gentlemen representatives of international organizations, distinguished CEOs, dear partners and sponsors, honored guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. I have today the immense honor of being the spokesperson for the Syndicat des Industries de Madagascar (Madagascar Industries Association), which firmly believes in the collective strength born of unity. It is from this conviction that the initiative to organize this CEO Summit was born.

This first edition aims to bring together the voices and forces of regional actors and their partners to develop synergies and transform the Indian Ocean into a space of prosperity and integration. While this initiative was led by SIM in collaboration with BECOM agency, it could never have come to fruition without all of your support: the public authorities — particularly His Excellency the President of the Republic —, our sponsoring ministers, the Secretary General of the IOC, the President of the Reunion Region, the chancelleries — notably the French embassy and its entire team —, His Excellency the Ambassador of Comoros, business leaders as well as all employer groups, the DBMs and their regional counterparts. Your presence today already marks a decisive first step toward realizing our shared ambition for our region.

For Madagascar, this ambition is based on the strategic vision of His Excellency the President of the Republic, who has established three pillars for his development program: human capital, industrialization, and good governance. Madagascar's assets are undeniable: its natural resources, its young and dynamic workforce, and its strategic position that makes it a natural crossroads facilitating regional exchanges. We remain convinced, however, that our region's strength lies in the complementarity of each of its islands.

By uniting our forces, we can build a self-sufficient, competitive, and economically influential region. This was established from the creation of the IOC, and we hope that this CEO Summit will further confirm this ambition. We envision a future where our industries collaborate effectively to reduce our dependence on imports, where a free trade area facilitates the movement of goods, services, and people, and where we produce enough to meet our needs.

Needless to say, we aspire to shine in the global market. The Indian Ocean region must not be like a brilliant student who remains complacent at the back of the class, resting on their laurels. We have enormous potential.

We must not let ourselves fall behind the many countries that were absent from the international scene just a few years ago. Our islands possess fantastic assets to succeed in globalization and position themselves among the best in the world. We have diversity, creativity, and the enthusiasm of our youth.

We have our geography, our climate, our culture, and our history. We have our expertise, our natural resources, and, of course, our businesses and entrepreneurs. Our companies are the engines of our countries' development, and will be even more so tomorrow.

Companies also depend on entrepreneurs. Today, I want to pay special tribute to all of you present here — those who innovate, hire, take risks, create wealth, integrate, train, enable our social model to develop, our deficits to decrease, who bring purchasing power, well-being, and fulfillment to our citizens through projects and work. I would like to emphasize this point because, for me, these women and men who, every day, serve their country while putting their families, their comfort, often their own assets at risk — well, these women and men, these entrepreneurs, are the heroes of the nation.

I would like to take this moment to pay tribute to them and applaud them as they deserve. The challenges to overcome represent opportunities to seize for our businesses, as we must remember that the world needs to be equipped and the future needs to be invented. We must therefore prioritize innovation: test, try, make mistakes, bounce back, start again, search and find again and again.

We have tremendous assets for this: our creativity, our diversity, and our complementarity. But all this will only be possible if we are collectively able to prepare the ground for new generations by carrying out the essential reforms to anticipate and exploit these changes. For this, we will adopt the strategy of the three Vs.

Not car, villa, and vacation, but three other Vs: Vision that needs to be defined, shared Values — our convictions and accepted collective rules — and the Will to act and implement necessary reforms. We must become a model of regional integration capable of meeting our own needs while shining on the international stage.

This vision is achievable if we have the courage to act together and transform our ambitions into reality. The Madagascar Industries Association celebrates its 65th anniversary, and we have chosen to mark this anniversary as part of this first edition of the CEO Summit.

We hope there will be others to reaffirm our determination to play an active and decisive role in the transformation of our region. This is an opportunity for me to pay tribute to the efforts and vision of the twelve presidents who have succeeded one another at the head of SIM since its creation. Each of them, through their commitment, has contributed to making SIM what it is today.

It is thanks to their leadership, resilience, and capacity for innovation that, 65 years later, we can proudly say that SIM embodies the dynamism of Malagasy industry, a pillar of Madagascar's economic development and a key player in building a strong, integrated, and prosperous Indian Ocean region. Their legacy inspires us to go even further, to continue this upward trajectory and to keep industry at the heart of our common future. Excellencies, Mr. President of the Republic, honored guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, the CEO Summit is not just an event. It is a call, an invitation to build together an ambitious future for our region. Today, we have the opportunity to lay the foundations for an integrated, self-sufficient, and competitive Indian Ocean region where each island, each nation, and each actor plays an essential role.

Together, let us make this summit the starting point of a historic transformation for our economies, for our peoples, and for generations to come. Thank you for your kind attention.