ANTANANARIVO, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) has decided to provide 15 million euro (19.5 million U.S. dollars) to Madagascar for the promotion of decentralization in the Indian Ocean island country.

    EU representative to Madagascar, Jean Claude Boidin, announced here on Wednesday that EU, jointly with the World Bank and the Switzerland, would provide the fund for local development of the poor country through decentralization.

    An agreement in this context was scheduled to be signed in the coming March between the Madagascan government and the EU, Les Nouvelles, a French-language daily, reported on Thursday.

    "The European Union strongly supports decentralization in Madagascar through the Local Development Fund", Boidin said when he made his courtesy call to Minister of Decentralization Manassé Bezara on Wednesday.

    Decentralization would result in rapid and sustainable development of local areas, 90 percent of which were very poor, the minister told the EU official.

    Madagascar's local development fund has focused on the improvement of local governance over the island country by providing the skills and necessary know-how for local leaders as well as material and financial resources that they need.