(3 minutes read)
· German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Pretoria, South
Africa to commence her visit to countries in southern Africa.
· South Africa was Germany’s most important political partner
in Africa before the Zuma era.
· Though Western African countries, particularly South Africa
and Angola are good m destinations for investment by the German
companies as also for trading, the partnership has not progressed
much, particularly during Zuma’s rule. That also coincided with the
worst economic phase of South Africa.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Pretoria, South Africa to
commence her visit to countries in southern Africa. She will also
visit Angola. Significantly, Germany is a major trading and investor
partner of South Africa and a limited manner in Angola. Germany’s
total exports to Africa are about 2% of its global exports. Of that,
more than half of it goes to South Africa. German investments also
follow this pattern. South Africa receives the maximum investments
from Germany mainly in areas like automotive, pharmaceuticals and
chemicals. The visit of the German Chancellor comes at a time when
several countries in the West including Great Britain and France are
visiting the African countries.
It may be recalled that President Cyril Ramaphosa made the first step
to cement the revive the relationship between the two countries by
flying to Germany in October 2018. This was followed by a return
visit by German President Frank-Walther Steinmeir, a month later.
With President Ramaphosa firmly on the saddle in South Africa, there
was a significant change in the foreign policies of South Africa.
While his predecessor and now much maligned Jacob Zuma had tilted the
foreign policy more towards BRIC countries, which apart from South
Africa, included Brazil, China, Russia and India. Ramaphosa, on the
other hand, has set about wooing old friends like Germany, France, and
Great Britain.
South Africa was Germany’s most important political partner in Africa
before the Zuma era. Interestingly, both countries took a similar
stance on global issues.
Now, South Africa will take over the presidency of the African Union
and Germany will assume the presidency of the European Council in
the next few months. Though Western African countries, particularly
South Africa and Angola are good m destinations for investment by the
German companies as also for trading, the partnership has not
progressed much, particularly during Zuma’s rule. That also coincided
with the worst economic phase of South Africa.
Angola is now the largest producer of Oil in Africa after Nigeria.
There are several countries, which consider Angola as the budding
destination for investments in a range of sectors including
petrochemicals. Again, German presence is much behind what it should
be, given the technology leadership the country commands.
During the visit, the German Chancellor is expected to take up the
issue of enhancing German presence in both countries.
