By Jörg Blank and Eva Krafczyk,
Nairobi – German businesses have yet to understand the true potential of the African continent, where they repeatedly lose out to Chinese rivals, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on a visit to Kenya on Wednesday.
“We repeatedly see that, unfortunately, Chinese involvement is ahead of us, is quicker to arrive and provides more effective help,” he said after a meeting with Kenyan premier Musalia Mudavadi in Nairobi.
“And I believe that’s a lesson we now have to learn. We have to become more flexible, we have to become quicker.”
In light of the US administration’s erratic trade policies, it is clear that all countries need to diversify their economic portfolio, Wadephul said, adding that Africa offers “significant growth potential.”
According to the minister, German investment has mainly focused on the north and the south of the continent in the past, while paying too little attention to the remaining regions.
Mudavadi highlighted local legislative initiatives and measures designed to reduce the risk for foreign investors and make Kenya more attractive for foreign businesses, including reforms to the country’s money laundering law.
The government is continuing to work on combating corruption, he said.
Both politicians pointed to opportunities arising from the German-Kenyan migration agreement, which paves the way for skilled workers to enter the German labour market legally, but also focuses on training measures in Kenya.
Mudavadi said he was not concerned about possible negative effects such as the loss of specialists urgently needed in the country, including medical personnel.
Concerns over future of UN
Wadephul, who is accompanied on the trip by an economic delegation, was scheduled to tour an education facility run by a German company and an international training centre for peace initiatives in Kenya.
Following his visit to Nairobi, he is due to travel on to Ethiopia for political talks in the capital Addis Ababa, as well as a visit to the headquarters of the African Union.
According to a spokesman for the Foreign Office in Berlin, the trip is focused on bilateral relations as well as regional and international security issues.
In light of US President Donald Trump’s controversial demand to take control of Greenland, the visit will also address the preservation of the rules-based international order.
In Nairobi, Wadephul and Mudavadi stressed the vital role of the United Nations in resolving global tensions, amid concerns that Trump might be planning to set up a rival body to the decades-old international organization.
“We have a peace council, and that is the United Nations,” Wadephul said, while acknowledging that the organization is in need of reform.
It comes amid a stir caused by Trump’s so-called Board of Peace, which is set to oversee the post-war Gaza Strip. The board’s charter, which Trump is set to sign on Thursday, has caused suspicion that the US president plans to expand the body’s mandate to other conflicts, in what would be a major challenge to the UN.
Mudavadi also highlighted the importance of the UN when it comes to solving international conflict, while noting that Kenya has not been invited to join the “Board of Peace.”
“From our perspective as Kenya, it is important that institutions such as the United Nations be strengthened because the whole aspect of peace architecture globally is anchored around the UN framework,” he said.
“We believe that multilateralism is the way to go,” Mudavadi, who also serves as foreign minister, added. “I think if there are issues, it’s good to reform the UN rather than create parallel processes if we want to have a coordinated approach.”
