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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.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
Without the key raw materials, there would be neither digitalization nor an energy transition in Germany, the minister warned.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Germany’s economic model of recent decades is being questioned more and more openly, including through the new US tariff policy, Klingbeil said.<\/p>\n
“In order to safeguard our national and European interests and be economically successful, Germany and Europe therefore need new strategic partnerships.”<\/p>\n
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.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n