New German development strategy ties aid to economic partnerships
Germany is set to tie development aid more closely to economic partnerships, under a new strategy set out by Development Minister Reem Alabali Radovan in Berlin on Tuesday.
“Germany needs partners in the Global South,” said Alabali Radovan. “Especially when it comes to cobalt or copper, there is no way around the Global South.”
Without the key raw materials, there would be neither digitalization nor an energy transition in Germany, the minister warned.
The development strategy envisages developing specific initiatives and projects together with companies and associations, and involving the business community in bilateral government consultations at an early stage.
The aim is to support companies by improving funding opportunities. In addition, customized tendering criteria should increase the chances of German companies prevailing over competitors – for example from China – when awarding contracts.
Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil, who also serves as finance minister, pointed out that a quarter of the world’s population is expected to live in Africa by 2050.
Germany’s economic model of recent decades is being questioned more and more openly, including through the new US tariff policy, Klingbeil said.
“In order to safeguard our national and European interests and be economically successful, Germany and Europe therefore need new strategic partnerships.”
The action plan also focuses on reconstruction in Ukraine, Syria and the Gaza Strip. This will be “a mammoth task that cannot be accomplished without private sector involvement.”
In an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio, Alabali Radovan held out the prospect of supplying emergency shelters for the Gaza Strip. “They are already financed, they are ready,” she said.
