With the 2021 Delegate Programme we invited ten participants from four African countries to Germany to discuss investment promotion and technology transfer. The programme was closely tied to the newly established ITPO Germany Advisory Programme. The participants from Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Sudan were invited to Frankfurt to visit companies and factories, discuss with German financing and development institutions and attend expert workshops as well as the Investment Management Exhibition 2021. The programme allowed the participants to discuss business and investment strategies for African countries, learn about technologies and machinery made in Germany and develop new contacts and networks.
Company and factory visits were the main focus of the Delegate Programme and allowed for fruitful discussions on the transfer of German technologies. At the factory visit at Linde Material Handling in Aschaffenburg, the delegates were introduced to the production of modern forklift trucks, the development of e-forklifts and Linde’s (intra)logistics solutions business strategies in Africa. With Africa GreenTec the group had a productive exchange about renewable energy provision in Africa and off-grid solar solutions that work in remote and conflict areas. Schenck Process introduced the delegates to their business strategies for African markets in sectors such as mining, energy and the food industries.
Meeting with financing and development organisations was another important part of the Delegate Programme 2021. Germany’s expertise on advanced circular economy was the main topic of the meeting with by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). With the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) the delegates from Sudan discussed the current business outlook under the transition government and potential financial instruments to support the transition in Sudan. The VDMA trade associations Food Processing and Packaging Machinery and Process Plant and Equipment gave an overview about the association’s activities and their views on current chances and challenges in Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo as well as in Nigeria and Sudan. Cooperation possibilities were identified in order to facilitate the transfer of German technology to the African target markets.
The delegates also had the opportunity to participate in expert workshops and a conference. The dedicated workshop on financing services with excellent inputs from AKA Ausfuhrkredit-Gesellschaft mbH, KfW IPEX-Bank and MAVEG Industrieausrüstungen GmbH helped the group to better understand projects financing opportunities and schemes such as export credits for African countries. Furthermore, the delegates participated in panel discussions under the theme ‘Invest in Africa – Invest in the Future’ to promote investment opportunities in their respective countries at the Investment Management Exhibition 2021.
The Delegate Programme is an integral part of UNIDO ITPO Germany to support partner organizations in increasing their visibility and network of contacts to German institutions, investors and technology providers. We would like to thank all our participants of this year’s programme! With the Delegate Programme 2021 we have come one step closer to our vision: Making investments and sustainable technologies from Germany a catalyzer in achieving the sustainable development goals by 2030.
