Martin Endjala
Germany will finance Technical and Vocational Training and the promotion of small and medium sized enterprises to the tune of N$650 million.
The announcement was made yesterday on the 21st of April 2022, during the signing of a financial and technical cooperation agreement between Namibia and Germany in Windhoek. Obeth Kandjoze, the Director General of the National Planning Commission and the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany Herbert Beck signed the agreement that were concluded following successful development cooperation negotiations in 2021.
Other programs to be covered are the establishment of a Sustainable Financing Mechanism for Namibia’s Protected Areas, the establishment of an Urban Development Fund, Green People’s Energy and Sustainable Use of Namibia’s Mineral Potential.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which has been domesticated in the national developmental frameworks such as NDP5 and the Harambee Prosperity Plan II, forms part of the backbone for structuring the Namibian-German development cooperation.
According to Kandjoze priority areas are fully in support of the objectives of the Harambee Prosperity Plan II.
The emphasis of the cooperation agreement is on a quality driven transformation process in order to achieve sustainable and inclusive development and to reach the common goal of overcoming poverty and inequality by supporting job creation, particularly targeting the youth.
At the last round of bilateral development negotiations, Namibia and Germany agreed on new grants and loans in the amount of 242 million Euro, which is approximately N$4 billion.
The areas of cooperation comprised private sector and financial system development, as well as vocational education and training, natural resource management, water Infrastructure, inclusive and sustainable urban development as well as renewable energy infrastructure.
The next round of negotiations on development cooperation will be held in 2023.
According to Beck, the Namibia-German cooperation has yielded positive results and has contributed to Namibia’s quest of achieving its national aspirations such as employment creation and poverty reduction.
Beck further highlighted that some of the many ongoing programmes under the cooperation include the support to address the economic and social challenges Namibia faces due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
To date Germany’s development cooperation with Namibia both at governmental and non-governmental levels amount to more than 1.2 billion Euros, which is the largest development assistance by Germany to an African country.
