Germany to promote green restructuring of African economy – dev ministry

Germany wants to promote the development of a climate and environmentally-friendly economy in Africa, the development ministry (BMZ) announced in its “Africa strategy”. “Africa is growing and changing enormously,” development minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) said, adding that how the continent develops in the 21st century will have an increasingly strong influence on Germany and Europe. Therefore, the government wants to create framework conditions to foment the creation of new jobs – especially in the areas of renewable energy, climate protection, sustainable agriculture and health – and support a socio-ecological transformation of the economy in the continent. The development ministry has partnered with 33 African countries.

Following both the pandemic with its disruption of supply chains and Russia’s war in Ukraine and the ensuing energy crisis, Germany is trying to diversify its import partners and reduce dependencies, especially in the energy and raw materials sectors. Germany and Europe “urgently need partners beyond the West,” Schulze said. “How we deal with the African continent today will determine how it deals with us tomorrow. That is why the attitude of respect and good neighbourliness is not only morally right, but also in our interest.” The Africa strategy is based on a six-month consultation process with European and African representatives from politics, business, civil society, science and youth. It was criticised for being too ambiguous, with development policy spokesperson of the parliamentary group Die Linke Cornelia Möhring saying funding commitments and clearly defined steps to achieve the goals are still missing. The Africa Association of German Business said the strategy failed to recognise the contribution of the private sector in job creation and development, and called for more support for German companies in the continent.