Ethiopia: AU, Germany cooperate on skills development, Peace, Security and infrastructure

05 Octobre 2017

ADDIS ABEBA,  Ethiopia, October 5 (Infosplusgabon) - The annual bilateral consultations on the development Cooperation between the African Union (AU) and Germany have been successfully concluded, with the focus, this year, on further cooperation in job creation through the enhancement of technical and vocational skills and entrepreneurship.

According to the media channel of the AU, the deal is in line with the AU theme of the year, “Harnessing the demographic dividend through investments in the youth”.

Concretely, Germany committed itself to further support the Skills Initiative for Africa, a funding facility implemented by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) for innovative programmes in the area of technical and vocational training.

Those eligible for the application of funding via this facility are private companies, technical, vocational, education and training institutions and government institutions in the selected pilot countries namely; South Africa, Kenya, Tunisia, Cameroon and Nigeria

Mr Guenter Nooke, the German Chancellor's Personal Representative for Africa in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and Head of the German Delegation, stated: “Our interest is that Africa can create sufficient jobs for its young and growing population. Economic transformation, skills development, better infrastructure and bigger markets for intra-African trade are central to create prospects for young people and to combat the root causes of forced migration. One central element of what we agreed with the AU Commission and NEPAD today is to jointly do more in the area of training, economic growth and digitalisation.”

The African Union Commission Deputy Chairperson, Kwesi Quartey, lauded the existing partnership between the African Union and Germany, particularly referring to Germany's commitment towards Africa during its G20 presidency.

Germany has pledged 36 million Euros to various sectors of development. Of the total amount, 22 million Euros is earmarked for financial contribution, 6 million Euros for the Skills Initiative, 3 million Euros for technical cooperation in Migration Governance and 5 million Euros earmarked for technical cooperation in the Afro-German Youth Initiative.

Quartey said that the focus of the cooperation on education and skills development as significant, underscoring the Commission’s focus to have every African child in school by 2020.

“The African Union appreciates the German Government for its continuous support and long term co-operation in key sectors of development such as education, job creation, integration, the Continental Free trade Area, infrastructure and energy, peace & security as well as support in institutional Capacity Building Programme.” he stated.

Against this background,, Ambassador Georg Schmidt, Commissioner for Sub-Saharan Africa and the Sahel in the German Federal Foreign Office, stressed: “Development is not possible without Peace and Security. And Peace and Security remain one of the most demanding challenges of the African Union. A strong African Union with a strong Peace and Security Council is in our joint interest. Therefore, our cooperation in this field is paramount. That includes, for example, our longstanding support for the AU Border Programme or the African Police Programme. But support from partners is only one side of the coin – the other side is commitment of the AU member states to implement the decisions they have taken, and provide more financial resources to this end.”

During the two days of consultations, further agreement was reached in the areas of infrastructure and energy, migration (support to the implementation of the Migration Policy Framework for Africa) and strengthening of the institutional capacities of the African Union Commission.

Both delegations also discussed the upcoming AU-EU summit in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, which will take place at the end of November 2017.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/AOI/GABON 2017

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