Partnership with Africa

President Horst Köhler: "The humanity of our world will be measured against the fate of Africa"

Africa is changing. A new dynamism can be sensed. Africans have launched their own vital initiatives to tackle the problems on the continent. The founding of the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) are encouraging signs of new thinking, which the industrialized countries should recognize and respond to. If we acknowledge Africa's true nature and rich diversity, we will be in a position to effectively support development on the continent in collaboration with the Africans themselves.

I would like to contribute to these efforts. Together with the ZEIT Foundation and in cooperation with the Federal Government, I have established the Partnership with Africa initiative to discuss with reform-minded African Heads of State and Government and representatives of civil society and the political and business communities of Africa and Germany the relationship between the countries of Africa and the industrialized nations.

I look forward to a frank and open dialogue. We will listen to each other and will not shy away from any questions. We will examine the progress achieved to date in establishing real partnership between the countries of Africa and the industrialized nations. Are we working as true partners to help make life better for millions of Africans? Have we understood that in this ever more interconnected world we are also increasingly reliant on one another? If we have not, we need to ask what has stood in our way, what has prevented a genuine partnership from taking shape? Do our conceptions of partnership differ? Do we lack the will to enter into any such partnership?

Both Africans and Europeans will address these issues. Improving the lot of the people in Africa is one of the great challenges of our time. As I have said before, it is my conviction that the humanity of our world will be measured against the fate of Africa.

Steffen Heizmann

There is an Africa which the world doesn’t know: an Africa full of fresh ideas, innovations, new thinking for moving the continent and inspiring solutions for the challenges of the world in the 21st century.more...

internet: www.partnerschaft-mit-afrika.de

contact:
Bundespräsidialamt Spreeweg 1, 10557 Berlin, Germany Postal address: D-11010 Berlin Telephone: +49 (0)30 20 00-0 Fax: +49 (0)30 20 00-19 99 IVBB: (01888) 5 00-0 Email: poststelle@bpra.bund.de