Skip to footer

How Germany forced a rethink of Africa

At last week’s G20 summit, Germany won a major boost of private investment in Africa as a way to stem mass migration. But first Germany itself had to look at its own neglect of the continent.

|
AP Photo
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, welcomes the President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, for a meeting of the 'G20 Africa Partnership' in Berlin, Germany June 12.
  • By Monitor's Editorial Board

Just this year alone, an estimated 400,000 African migrants will flee to Germany, escaping either war or poverty, or both. If nothing is done, officials warn, millions more could arrive in coming years. Yet rather than simply seek solutions in Africa to this flood of humanity, Germany decided last year to first tally up its own indifference toward the continent.

Among the 400,000 companies in Germany, fewer than 1,000 invest in Africa, officials found. And Germany’s trade with Africa amounts to only 2 percent of its total foreign trade.

“That has to change!” declared Gerd Müller, Germany’s development minister, in February.

This humble introspection may help explain why German Chancellor Angela Merkel was so successful at the Group of 20 summit on July 7-8 in winning support from most of the world’s wealthiest nations for a major boost in private investment for Africa. Dubbed the “Merkel Plan” (a play on America’s Marshall Plan that revived postwar Germany), the initiative aims to shift global thinking about the business opportunities in Africa. Only then can investment in both entrepreneurs and infrastructure rise, helping to create jobs and discourage migration.

“We must change the lenses with which we look at Africa, from the traditional development mind-set to an investment mind-set,” says Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank.

Germany’s approach is to have G20 countries set a few models for Africa by partnering with the most reform-minded countries, such as Ghana, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, and Tunisia. Money will be given to fight corruption, curb capital flight, and improve tax systems – all necessary to reduce business risk in Africa. “We’re trying to put the spirit of partnership into the foreground,” said Ms. Merkel.

For all its troubles, from famine to dictatorships, Africa remains a gold mine as a potential workforce. By 2050, it will be home to more than one-quarter of the global population. Half of its 54 countries have reached middle-income status. And compared with Asia and Latin America, Africa has the largest share of adults running or starting a new business.

Such opportunities explain why Germany calls its plan “Compact with Africa.” Both sides must be responsible to act. Mass migration may have pushed Germany to focus on the continent’s crises. But it also looked at its past neglect of Africa – and the potential for investment.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to How Germany forced a rethink of Africa
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2017/0711/How-Germany-forced-a-rethink-of-Africa
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe