“Successful Development Cooperation between Namibia and Germany continues”

On 4 June 2024, Honourable Obeth Kandjoze, Director General of the National Planning Commission, and His Excellency Dr. Andreas Götze, Deputy Head of Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany, signed two Government agreements on Financial Cooperation and Technical Cooperation between Namibia and Germany.

These agreements cover three new programmes to the value of 19 million Euros (currently approx. 386.50 million NAD) on climate resilient water supply as well as climate resilient groundwater management in northern Namibia and urban development in Lüderitz and Aus in the //Karas Region. Both sides agreed and committed to speed up the implementation of the project.

The commitments for the signed agreements were made during Government Negotiations on Development Cooperation between Namibia and Germany in June 2023. In the scope of these negotiations, strategies and priorities for the future cooperation are discussed and agreed upon. The Namibia - German cooperation has yielded positive development results and has contributed to Namibia’s quest of achieving its national aspirations such as employment creation, poverty reduction and reducing inequality.

Employment creation, poverty reduction and reducing inequality is a central component of the relations between Namibia and Germany. Germany’s official development assistance since Namibia's independence until 2023 amounts to approx 1.6 billion Euro (roughly 32 billion NAD). In per-capita terms, Namibia is thus the largest recipient of German development cooperation in Africa.

Following Government Negotiations in June 2023, this year’s bilateral consultations took place from 24 April to 26 April 2024 in Swakopmund. The consultations were held in a friendly atmosphere and were characterized by intensive, transparent, and fruitful discussions. Both sides highlighted the numerous concrete successes of Namibian - German development cooperation. The German side assured to align its future development cooperation with the ideas and goals formulated in Namibia’s development strategies such as the National Development Plans (NDPs) with the priorities of the NDP6, to be launched in April 2025 and the Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP) as well as the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Prior to the 2024 Inter-governmental consultations, the two parties conducted a field trip to monitor project progress and development impact in the area of the Rural Development (bush control and biomass utilization); Natural Resource Management (Nam Parks); Environmental and Climate Change (Benguela Marine Spatial Planning); Renewable Energy under the Energy H2 Partnership Namibia/Germany (HyIron) as well as completed projects under the former Namibian-German Special Initiative Program which was finalised in 2017.

The next bilateral negotiations on Development Cooperation are planned for September 2025 in Lüderitz, //Karas Region.