Berlin – “The 11-point plan sends the right signal. But signals alone do not build infrastructure, finance projects or win tenders. Africa will not wait for German procedures: ultimately, what matters is speed, financing and concrete contracts,” said Claudia Voß, CEO of the German-African Business Association, on the occasion of the dialogue forum hosted by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) on increasing the participation of German companies in procurement under financial cooperation programmes.

The German-African Business Association welcomes the intention of the BMZ and BMWE to align development cooperation more closely with foreign trade and investment promotion. The plan sets important priorities: companies are to be involved at an earlier stage, tenders are to be made more attractive, and greater consideration is to be given to quality and sustainability criteria. European consortia, early contractor involvement and regular monitoring could also help raise the visibility of German and European strengths. This is important because Africa is not a peripheral issue in development policy, but a key partner for Europe in growth, industry, energy, raw materials and infrastructure.

“The problem is not a lack of interest among German companies. The real bottlenecks are financing, risk mitigation, project development and political support,” Voß said. This is precisely where the plan remains too cautious. Dialogue must not become a permanent review process. German companies need bankable projects, procurement procedures that are accessible to small and medium-sized enterprises, and financing instruments that mitigate genuine risks rather than allowing exaggerated perceptions of risk to obstruct opportunities.

The German-African Business Association is therefore calling for a clearly visible pipeline of African projects, with defined priority countries and sectors. Financial cooperation, export credit and investment guarantees, blended finance and small-ticket financing must be better coordinated. Business associations and companies should be involved earlier and on a more formal basis. Monitoring must demonstrate which projects are being developed, the volume of investment being mobilised, and the extent to which German companies, SMEs and local value creation are actually benefiting.

The BMZ reform plan presented in January, along with the business forums held as part of government consultations with partners such as Ghana, Zambia, Nigeria, Senegal and Kenya, set the right priorities. These initiatives must now be translated into effective implementation.

“Africa is looking for partners, capital, technology and value creation. Germany should stop focusing primarily on risks and instead make opportunities financeable,” Voß said.

Press contact:
Martin Rambach
rambach@afrikaverein.de
+49 170 3711310