Frankfurt a. M., 27/01/2023: The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) published a guest article by Stefan Liebing and Andreas Freytag. The article discusses the new Africa strategy of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) reverses successful approaches of her predecessors. She seems to want to export European value models above all. Svenja Schulze presented her ministry’s new Africa strategy. The highlighted emphasis on gender justice and climate protection are noble goals. Nevertheless, Liebing and Freytag criticise the ministry’s perception of its own ability to implement these goals and the intended measures to achieve them as not being purposeful. There is far too much talk of structural policy. According to the two authors, the ministry refuses to recognise the importance of private stakeholders. For Africa, investment and foreign trade are very important but seem to play only a minor role for the ministry.
Political stability, respect for human rights, non-discrimination and social balance are much more enforceable when people are satisfied with their economic situation. This can only be realised if companies invest and create jobs. However, the paper does not make any substantial statements on new instruments for financing and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, on the great economic opportunities. At best, there is a weak commitment to the importance of jobs. Above all, Germany seems to want to export European value models. The authors would like to see the German government take the new Africa strategy as an opportunity to develop an integrated view of the continent’s challenges, also taking into account the findings of the past years.
The full German article is behind a paywall. FAZ subscribers can access it via this link: https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/neue-afrika-strategie-eine-vergebene-chance-18635473.html
More information on the Africa Strategy can be found via this link to the Ministry’s official page: https://www.bmz.de/en/countries/bmz-africa-strategy
The complete document on the new Africa Strategy: https://www.bmz.de/resource/blob/137602/bmz-afrika-strategie-en.pdf