3 - 2014

Southern Africa Initiative of
German Business - SAFRI
Dear Readers,
After lengthy talks and negotiations,
the EPA agreement between the European Union and six Southern African countries has now been signed.
The agreement is of prime importance
for the African and the German economies in the long run. It will promote
the processing of raw materials in the
countries or regions of sub-Saharan
Africa. The range of goods and services on offer and the competitiveness of companies as well as the
export of processed products will
also be promoted.
The processing of raw materials will
be vital for the sub-Saharan countries
if they want to take an adequate place
in the global value chain. Abundant
natural resources alone are not sufficient for the populations of these
countries to find work and achieve
a better living standard.
Commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and
Development, the Federal Institute
for Geosciences and Natural Re-
news
3 - 2014
September
Current Information • Encounters • Projects • Events
sources and the Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
are implementing the „Globale
entwicklungspolitische Rohstoffinitative“ (GERI – Global Development Policy Raw Materials Initiative).
A primary focus of GERI is to ensure
cooperation with the private sector.
In particular, more emphasis is to
be placed on the promotion of local
business structures in the environs
of large-scale mining projects.
The worldwide globalisation process
should not only be examined under
its economic but also under its political, social and cultural aspects.
The International Economic Forum
Baden-Baden deserves merit for
putting globalisation to the test.
It is not an end in itself, but a means
to an end to provide people with
more prosperity as well as more
individual and political freedom.
The perspective must not be limited
to economic factors only. This must
be born in mind especially in times,
in which the world is once again
covered with crisis hot spots – which
already have a negative impact
on the economic data of exportoriented German business.
Supporting organisations:
Bundesverband der
Deutschen Industrie e.V.
SAFRI welcomes Economic
Partnership Agreement between the
EU and six Southern African countries
The Southern Africa Initiative of German Business – SAFRI
welcomes the conclusion of an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)
between the European Union (EU) and the six African states Botswana,
Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland.
The EPAs are going to remove the existing trade barriers between
the trade partners over a period of up to 25 years and improve
cooperation in all trade-relevant areas.
“We welcome the EPA between
the EU and the six SADC member
states as it is an important step
on the way to extending the trade
relations between Europe and
Southern Africa,” declares SAFRI
Secretary General Andreas Wenzel.
With kind regards,
“Now it is important that the EU
reaches an agreement with all
other SADC member states and
supports the African partners in
the implementation of the agreement on a long-term basis.”
Andreas Wenzel
Secretary General
In the Cotonou Agreement signed
in 2000 the European Union and
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the Group of African, Caribbean
and Pacific States (ACP) decided
to conclude WTO-compliant trade
agreements. For this purpose
Economic Partnership Agreements
(EPAs) are to be concluded. The
deadline ends on 30 th September
2014.
The EU’s negotiating approach is
to cover all states of one region
with regional EPAs and, in addition
to goods and services, to include
trade-related topics of the economic framework conditions, such as
subsidy measures and the public
contract system.
Deutscher Industrie- und
Handelskammertag
High importance for African
and German business
Although the share of sub-Saharan
Africa in German foreign trade is
still relatively low the EPAs with
African countries are of prime importance in the long run:
“If in the future the processing of
raw materials in the countries or
regions of sub-Saharan Africa can
be implemented more successfully,
the range of goods and services on
offer and the competitiveness of
companies in sub-Saharan Africa
can be enhanced and the export of
processed products can be increased, the EPAs will be very conducive
to the development of these industries and companies. This applies
to the whole range of industries
from agrobusiness to technological
products,” explains Andreas Wenzel.
Better access to the African markets will provide better opportunities for German importers and
import-oriented investors in the
diversification of supply chains as
well as for German exporters and
export-oriented investors in the
opening of new markets.
More information on the
EPA agreements in the
SAFRI Information sheet HERE
Opinion piece by Andreas Wenzel that
will appear in the „afrikapost“ magazine
3/2014
SAFRI news
3-2014 / September
Competence Centre Mineral Resources of the Southern African-German
Chamber of Commerce and Industry
GERI offers Business to Business
services in the mining sector
in Southern Africa
Since early 2014 the Southern African-German Chamber of Commerce
and Industry has been running the Competence Centre Mineral
Resources (CCMR) commissioned by the German Federal Ministry
of Economics and Energy. The Competence Centre supports the
sustainable resources policy required by the German government.
Commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation
and Development (BMZ) the Federal Institute for Geosciences and
Natural Resources (BGR) and the Gesellschaft für Internationale
Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) are implementing the “Globale entwicklungspolitische Rohstoffinitative” (GERI – Global Development Policy Raw
Materials Initiative). It is the German government’s development policy
tool accompanying its raw materials strategy and serves to operationalise the development policy strategy paper “Extraktive Rohstoffe”
(“Extractive raw materials”) issued by the BMZ.
• Own database; creation of
By focussing on the Southern
African region – in particular South
Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and
Democratic Republic of Congo –
these markets can supply German
companies and be sales markets
for products and services.
The Competence Centre is the central contact point for German com-
market transparency (gathering,
analysis and communication)
• Communication and cooperation
platform (network, exchange,
competence partners)
• Services (advice, delegations,
studies, development cooperation projects etc.)
• Promoting German technologies
in the market (events, activities,
long-term contacts)
For further information:
http://suedafrika.ahk.de
Photo: Fotolia
Contact:
Lea Heidemann, Project manager
Southern African – German Chamber
of Commerce and Industry
(AHK südliches Afrika)
P.O. Box 87078, Houghton,
2041 South Africa
Telephone: +27 (0)11 486 2775;
Fax: +27 (0)86 687 1656
[email protected]
Within GERI, BGR and GIZ are implementing bilateral cooperation
projects in the raw materials sector. GERI works in a flexible and demand-oriented way, providing both
short-term advice e.g. in contract
negotiations as well as methodical
support for long-term reform
projects. Depending on demand,
BGR and GIZ will enable bilateral
and also regional activities.
Cooperation with the
private sector
A main focus of GERI is the cooperation with the private sector. In
particular, more emphasis is to be
placed on the promotion of local
business structures in the sectors
of large-scale mining projects.
Large-scale mining projects in
developing countries often operate
alongside local business and there
are very few links with local enterprises. The considerable potential
of these projects for creating local
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Photo: Fotolia
panies in this sector in Southern
Africa and has the following tasks
and objectives:
mation platform from which small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) can obtain detailed information about the local business potential and get the relevant support
to implement it. Moreover, SMEs
will be supported with targeted training activities so that the investors
will have qualified staff available.
In addition, GERI provides various
contacts with other support activities for SMEs, such as investment
financing or the introduction of
vocational training activities. Depending on the type of investment,
the requirements and the demand
situation, such activities will be
bundled into one service package.
The B2B services are still in an
early preparation stage. A final concept with a business model is to be
presented by the end of this year.
Once they have been introduced
these offers are open to all SMEs,
independent of their origin, provided that they can prove the financial feasibility of their project and
the compliance of their engagement
with environmental standards,
employee rights and human rights.
jobs as well as the promotion and
diversification of business in the
medium term is hardly leveraged.
This is where GERI comes in.
Starting in Southern Africa, GERI
will provide a series of B2B offers.
The core of these offers is an infor-
Contact:
Johannes Danz: [email protected]
About GERI:
www.bmz.de
SAFRI news
3-2014 / September
In 2014 the Southern Africa Initiative of German Business – SAFRI
and the Southern African-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(SAGCC) in Johannesburg initiated the project “Recording Business
Opportunities in South Africa” (see SAFRI News 02/2014).
The project is also intended to present the efforts of German companies in the South African economy. For this purpose, videos of
successful small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa
have been shot and will be distributed via various websites and
Social Media channels.
The following companies are involved in this project, amongst others:
MAHLE Behr, World Net Logistics,
Evonik and Falke.
During the 4 th German - South
African Business Forum from
17 th to 19 th September 2014
the videos will be available on
a separate website which will
go live soon.
Company representatives
share their experience
Apart from presenting the success
stories of the companies participating in the project, CEOs, managers
and employees will share their
company‘s experiences in South
Africa. They will show the advantages and challenges of direct investments of German companies
in South Africa and explain how
to deal with the latter.
Graphic: Screenshot of the video website
The website where the
videos can be accessed from
the 19 th September is:
www.business-opportunities-sa.com
The following link will take you
directly to the ASApreneur website:
www.asapreneurs.de
STEP participants at workshop
in Berlin
had an exchange about the global
fight against corruption and corporate integrity.
23 rd
On the
July 2014 this year’s 13 STEP participants from
Southern Africa joined 60 German scholarship holders
of the Foundation of German Business (SDW) in the workshop
„Bridges to Southern Africa“ held at the Federal Ministry
for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Photo: Joanne Dittrich
Videos about successful
German companies in South Africa
The STEP Interns building bridges between Germany and southern Africa
The event was opened by Günter
Nooke, the German Chancellor‘s
Personal Representative for Africa.
Anosha Wahidi from the BMZ explained the cooperation between
the German Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development
and business, while Christoffer
Brick from the Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit
(GIZ) worked with the students
on a concept for entrepreneurial
responsibility.
On the following day the STEP
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participants visited the Federal
Ministry for Economic Affairs and
Energy (BMWi). Monika Ottemeyer,
head of division responsible for
sub-Saharan Africa, gave a presentation on the role of the Ministry
in German foreign trade policy.
It was followed by an open discussion round.
After lunch the participants met
Tapiwa Uchizi Nyasulu, regional
coordinator for Southern Africa at
Transparency International, and
Presentations, discussions and
a guided walk through Kreuzberg
The programme also included
a guided walk through the Berlin
borough of Kreuzberg. Alpaslan
Karslioglu was the guide for the tour
“X-berg day – a trip to multicultural
Berlin”. The focus of the tour was
above all on the various migratory
streams and the relevance of the
different cultures in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Finally, the group visited the
South African Embassy, where it
was welcomed by Minister Plenipotentiary Horst Brammer. To round
off their visit the students from
Southern Africa enjoyed a guided
tour of the German parliamentary
building, the Bundestag.
Directory Mozambique
The German Federal Enterprise for
International Cooperation (GIZ) in
cooperation with Germany Trade &
Investment (GTAI) and the Southern
African-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry have recently
published a newsletter to inform
German business interests as to the
investment climate in Mozambique.
This text, „Neue Märkte – Neue
Chancen: Ein Wegweiser für deutsche Unternehmen – Mosambik“
(New Markets – New Chances:
a Guide for Germany Enterprise –
Mozambique) serves to outline
various sectors of the Mozambican
economy, as well as their potential
for future growth.
Click HERE to access the newsletter
SAFRI news
3-2014 / September
19 th - 22 nd September 2014 – Antananarivo (Madagascar)
International conference
to foster a new culture
of development and growth
The conference will offer the participants multiple presentation and
training formats as well as platforms
for exchanging ideas and showing
new personal and professional
perspectives.
The objectives of this international event in the Malagasy
capital of Antananarivo are to identify opportunities
and ways for personal and professional development
and to promote the creation of new mindsets.
Under the title “Creating a Mindset
for Growth and Development.
Ideas, Implementation, Skills” for
three days everything will revolve
around the question of how the
challenges that countries as well as
organisations and individuals are
facing today can be met. The conference will deal with the question
of how organisations and people
can create “their” place in an increasingly globalised world.
aches to look at the world and
think in a new light will also be
presented.
Intersectoral exchange
Assuming that today’s prevailing
mindsets, approaches, and skill
sets are increasingly failing to meet
current needs new, future-oriented
ways are to be found. People from
many different areas – education,
entrepreneurship, science and
technology – will share their experience, assessments and studies
with the other conference participants. Creative and artistic appro-
The conference languages are
English, French and Malagasy
(interpretation will be available).
For up-to-date information
about the conference please visit
www.j2ex.net
If you are interested in participating
in the conference or wish to obtain
further information please contact
Nina Mapili via Email:
[email protected]
17 th Oktober 2014 – Baden-Baden
IEF Congress in Baden-Baden
puts globalisation to the test
“Globalisation value(less)?” This ambiguous congress title of the
4 th International Economic Forum Baden-Baden under the patronage
of the German Minister of Finance Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble says it all.
The worldwide globalisation process is not only to be examined
under economic but also under social, cultural and sporting aspects.
This year’s IEF reflects a trend, regarding the one sided economic
growth policies of industrial nations which are being increasingly
questioned.
Internationally renowned personalities from politics, business,
culture and sports will therefore
discuss the question what a new
globalisation strategy, which also
offers positive perspectives to
the people in the poorer regions
of the world, could look like.
The former president of South Africa
Frederik Willem de Klerk, IOC presi-
Photo: Kärcher
On the 21 st July, 2014, at the request
of the Ambassador of Mauritius to
Germany, Sarojini SeeneevassenFrers, SAFRI offered a group of
students from Mauritius insights
into the world of German industrial
production.
The day started early with a presentation and guided tour of the production complex and museum of
Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG, an internationally oriented company that
operates in the high quality cleaning
technology sector. A tour of the
The group
from Mauritius
outside the
Kärcher factory
Daimler factory in Sindelfingen
followed. Here the students were
offered an exciting tour where they
learnt much about modern car production engineering and logistics.
This plant – the largest of the
Daimler AG – is the centre of their
upper and luxury class car production. To conclude the day the students were treated to fine Italian
cuisine. Also present were Mauritian
STEP participants who enthusiastically provided their young compatriots with reports about their
experiences in Germany.
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Photo: Hieronymus Ahrens
Mauritian School Students hosted by SAFRI: Insights into German industry
dent Bach and further prominent
speakers will discuss strategies
of how the gap between the poor
and the rich regions of the world
can be overcome.
On the eve of the forum, on 16 th
October at 7 p.m., a reception will
take place at Brenners Park-Hotel
in honour of Frederik Willem de
Klerk and the Ambassadors of the
Southern African countries to
Germany.
Upon the invitation of the Southern
African Initiative of German Business – SAFRI the participating
ambassadors will already arrive on
the afternoon of the 16 th October
to visit different locations in BadenBaden.
For further details, the programme
and registration please visit:
www.wirtschaftsforum-baden-baden.com
Frederik Willem de Klerk and SADC
Ambassadors as guests of honour upon
SAFRI’s initiative
SAFRI news
10 th September 2014
Start of the Africa Roadshow
at the Erfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK)
IHK Africa Roadshow with
focus on Angola, Ghana,
Nigeria and Kenya
In an Africa Roadshow in September six German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (IHK) will
provide information about the potentials of the often still underestimated future markets south of the
Sahara. The focus will be on the
markets in Angola, Ghana, Nigeria
and Kenya.
Among the experts reporting on
these markets will be the heads of
the Delegations or Chambers of
German Commerce and Industry
in these countries. The target group
of this event are mainly German
SMEs. Interested entrepreneurs
can obtain the information required
for a successful entry into the
markets of these countries e.g.
an overview of the economic
situation in sub-Saharan Africa,
an insight into the legal conditions
and information about financing
and protection opportunities.
Despite the difficulties of entering
the African markets the economic
UPCOMING EVENTS
boom is continuing in many countries of the continent. Impressive
growth rates, a wealth of natural
resources, a good investment climate and an aspiring middle class
all speak for a market entry. An increasing demand for raw materials but also the access to foreign
investors and international capital
are brought to bear. The markets
offer a high market potential for
various industrial sectors such as
infrastructure, consumer goods
and agriculture. Comprehensive
information about local particularities and pitfalls is therefore
indispensable.
The local delegates of German
business are reliable partners who
can accompany market access.
Dates and venues of the
roadshow:
• 10 th September, IHK Erfurt
• 15 th September,
Oldenburgische IHK
• 16 th September,
Handelskammer Hamburg
• 17 th September, IHK Hannover
• 18 th September, IHK Dresden
• 19 th September, IHK GießenFriedberg
For further details please contact
the respective Chambers of Industry and Commerce (IHK).
12 th September 2014
Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), Bonn
Machinery and plant engineering, energy, waste disposal
and environmental protection
in Angola
This event is
being organised
by the Delegation
of German Business in Angola and the Southern
African-German Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (SAGCC)
on behalf of the Federal Ministry
for Economic Affairs and Energy.
The German RETech Partnership e.V.
and the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg Chamber
of Commerce and Industry are
partners for the event. Target
group: SMEs
The event is intended to help small
and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs), self-employed business
people as well as freelancers and
service providers in their preparation for entering new markets.
In a one-day seminar the participants are to be intensively prepared for the market and the respective market segment in Angola.
They will receive general and
3-2014 / September
sector as well as subject-specific
information about the market in
Angola and market entry conditions. This comprises general data
about the country, information
about local machinery and plant
engineering, energy, waste disposal and environmental protection,
market potentials, legal framework conditions and experience
reports.
For further information about
the event and participation
please contact:
Southern African-German
Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (SAGCC)
Danilla van Jaarsveldt
Telephone: +27 (0)11 486 2775
Email: dvanjaarsveldt@german
chamber.co.za
17 th - 19 th September 2014
Johannesburg (South Africa)
4 th German-South African
Business Forum 2014
The German-African Business
Association (Afrika-Verein) and the
Southern African-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(SAGCC) are organising the Business Forum. At the conference
high-ranking German and South
African representatives from
politics and business will come
together and discuss the most important economic policy developments as well as business opportunities in both countries.
With an export volume of € 8.8 billion and a FDI stock of € 6.2 billion,
the Republic of South Africa is
Germany‘s largest economic partner in sub-Saharan Africa.
According to the Federal Statistical
Office about 600 German companies are active in the country and
employ more than 80,000 South
Africans in total. The main industries are automotive, petrochemistry, tourism, machinery engineering, vehicles, mining, energy,
ICT and medical engineering.
As usual the forum will deal with
the latest business policy developments. Moreover, new potentials
for German-South African cooperation will be highlighted. This
year’s event will inform on current
projects and opportunities for economic engagement in the areas of
transport, urbanisation, industrialisation and energy supply. In addition, the successes and challenges of German-South African partnerships will be discussed.
For further information, the programme
and registration please visit:
www.gsabf.de
Imprint: Südliches Afrika Initiative der Deutschen Wirtschaft – SAFRI, Plieninger Straße 148 b, HPC: Z135, 70567 Stuttgart - GERMANY
Responsible for the content: Andreas Wenzel (Secretary General), Editorial: Jochen Müller, Christine Burger • [email protected] • www.safri.com • Telephone: +49 (711) 17-93093 • Telefax: +49 (711) 17-93816
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