Demographic realities will drive Germany’s Africa push

Subject

Germany's Africa strategy.

Significance

Germany in late November hosted officials and investors from twelve ‘reform-minded’ African countries at a conference in Berlin in quite different circumstances from the more famous Berlin Conference of 1884. In that year, European leaders carved up the African continent among themselves. In 2019, Berlin hosted a meeting for the G20 Africa Compact, an initiative of Germany’s 2017 G20 presidency. This different context could easily lead to underestimation of the gathering’s importance. However, the underlying demographic drivers of Germany’s new Africa push suggest the latest Berlin Conference could yet prove significant: for Germany, Africa and even the direction of globalisation.

Impacts

• The absence of many major African economies from the Compact partner list may limit the initiative’s short-to-medium-term impact.
• China-Germany cooperation on the environment, sustainability and urbanisation could have practical application in Africa.
• Strategic immigration from Africa could have long-term benefits for Germany’s economy, but politics may constrain this possibility.