This year’s Consultations on Development Cooperation between Namibia and Germany took place from 27 February to 1 March 2023 in Windhoek.
During the consultations, both parties reconfirmed the three core areas of the joint cooperation.
These core areas are Sustainable Economic Development, Training and Employment (with activity areas being private sector and financial sector development, as well as technical and vocational training); Climate and Energy Just Transition (with activity areas being renewable energy and energy efficiency as well as inclusive sustainable urban development); and Conserving Nature and Natural Resources, Protecting Life on Earth (with activity areas being natural resources management – biodiversity, agriculture and integrated land management as well as water).
Further fields of cooperation outside the focal areas which were discussed during the consultations are the outgoing focal area of transport and the cross-cutting programme of Sustainable Development Goals-Initiative Namibia. The activity areas are the outcome of Namibian-German government negotiations, while the main goal of development cooperation is to promote the sustainable economic development of Namibia by creating jobs and income, fighting poverty and the severe inequality here, while at the same time preserving the natural resources of the country.
German-Namibian cooperation is aligned with the ideas and goals formulated in Namibia’s development strategies, such as the National Development Plans (NDPs) and the Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP,) as well as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The consultations were held in a friendly and open atmosphere, and were characterised by intensive, transparent and fruitful discussions. Both sides highlighted the numerous concrete successes of German-Namibian development cooperation.
The German delegation informed about the priorities of BMZ’s (German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development) Strategy for Africa, which supports the development goals of the African Union and its member states, promotes the socially equitable and environmentally-friendly transformation of African economies, and seeks to address crises jointly with the neighbouring European continent in a spirit of solidarity. The two governments confirmed their commitment to further strengthen the long-standing partnership and friendship between the two countries. This is also reflected in the scale of German development funding, which is the highest per capita input in Africa.
The two missions likewise conducted a field trip to monitor projects’ progress and development impacts in the area of Technical and Vocational Education Training; Inclusive Sustainable Urban Development; Natural Resources Management, Agriculture and Integrated Land Management, as well as Transport.
The consultations paved the way for the next bilateral negotiations on development cooperation, which are planned for June 2023 in Germany.
Since Namibian independence, official development assistance of Germany until 2021 amounts to about 1.5 billion euros (roughly N$29.2 billion).