{"id":85623,"date":"2017-01-18T20:23:04","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T18:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/germany-and-african-countries-seek-to-strengthen-trade-and-investment-ties-at-first-ever-germany-africa-business-forum\/"},"modified":"2017-01-18T20:23:04","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T18:23:04","slug":"germany-and-african-countries-seek-to-strengthen-trade-and-investment-ties-at-first-ever-germany-africa-business-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/germany-and-african-countries-seek-to-strengthen-trade-and-investment-ties-at-first-ever-germany-africa-business-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany and African Countries Seek to Strengthen Trade and Investment Ties at First Ever Germany-Africa Business Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/press\/germany-and-african-countries-seek-to-strengthen-trade-and-investment-ties-at-first-ever-germanyafrica-business-forum?lang=en\">Germany and African Countries Seek to Strengthen Trade and Investment Ties at First Ever Germany-Africa Business Forum<\/a>: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Africa is a priority for German government in 2017 as it holds G20 presidency<\/li>\n<li>There is much consensus for building trade relations; Africa is world&rsquo;s fastest growing region and German companies need to find new markets<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/p>\n<p>This year, Germany will host the first ever privately held event exclusively dedicated to strengthening trade and investment ties between Germany and the African continent. The Germany-Africa Business Forum (www.GermanyAfrica.com), which will take place March 23, 2017 in Frankfurt, capitalizes on a wave of interest taken by the German government and companies to increase their engagement with African countries. Last October, German Chancellor made a 3-day visit to Mali, Niger and Ethiopia, vowing that Africa would be a major focal point of its G20 presidency, which began in December 2016.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Even with annual trade with Africa of $  60 billion, Germany has lagged behind other countries that have done more to seize trade opportunities. The Germany-Africa Business Forum will seek to familiarize German companies with the continent and diversify their investment base. Out of more than $  10 billion in German investments on the continent each year, 90 percent is with just three countries &ndash; South Africa, Nigeria and Algeria.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There is a consensus that Africa remains ripe for German <em>Mittelstand<\/em> companies are already showing an interest in places where their skills and technology can bring value,&rdquo; said Charles Huber, MP and Member of the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development, Republic of Germany, a keynote speaker at the forum. &ldquo;Germany&rsquo;s need to expand to new markets coincides with increasingly healthy economic indicators in many African countries, including a growing middle class, more political stability and an appetite to develop manufacturing&nbsp;domestically. What Africa appreciates is in particular German work ethic, precision and reliability.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>There is a consensus that Africa remains ripe for German investment, from small-startups to industrial giants spanning the economic spectrum. German <em>Mittelstand <\/em>companies are already showing an interest in places where their skills and technology can bring value. Germany shows a strong need to expand to new markets, with companies doing just 2 percent of their business in Africa.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The time to strengthen German-African trade and investment connections has never been greater. Six of the world&rsquo;s 10 fastest growing economies are in Africa and the continent is projected to be the world&rsquo;s fastest growing region until 2040. The Germany-Africa Business Forum seeks to &ldquo;bridge the gap&rdquo; by facilitating dialogue, business dealings and dynamic commercial and political interchange.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There is already a strong foundation of trade relations between Nigeria and Germany and an even stronger rationale to expand upon them,&rdquo; said the Honourable Okechukwu E. Enelamah, Minister of Industry, Trade &#038; Investment of Nigeria, who will be presenting at the event. &ldquo;Nigeria is Africa&rsquo;s largest economy, one of its most stable democracies and boasts a business-friendly climate. And whether it is construction, manufacturing or technology, German companies carry a legacy of innovation and know-how that can deliver tremendous value for both sides.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Already confirmed as speakers for the Germany-Africa Business Forum include Charles Huber, MP and Member of the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development, Republic of Germany; Okechukwu E. Enelamah, Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade &#038; Investment of Nigeria; H.E. Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea; and Carole Kariuki, CEO of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>For more information, please visit www.GermanyAfrica.com.<\/p>\n<p> <i>Distributed by APO on behalf of Germany-Africa Business Forum.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><strong>Media Contact:<\/strong><br \/> Kathryn Mechie<br \/> +27 71 138 2253<br \/> K.Mechie@AfricaBranding.com<\/p>\n<div class=\"well well-sm\"><b>Media files<\/b><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/thumb\/0f4110bd6927084\/200\/70\" alt=\"Germany-Africa Business Forum\"\/><br \/>Download logo<\/p>\n<p><b>Multimedia content<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Image: Charles Huber, MP and Member of the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development, Republic of Germany<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><small><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/press\/germany-and-african-countries-seek-to-strengthen-trade-and-investment-ties-at-first-ever-germanyafrica-business-forum?lang=en\">APO &#8211; Africa-Newsroom: latest news releases related to Africa<\/a><\/small><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Germany and African Countries Seek to Strengthen Trade and Investment Ties at First Ever Germany-Africa Business Forum: Africa is a priority for German government in 2017 as it holds G20 presidency There is much consensus for building trade relations; Africa is world&rsquo;s fastest growing region and German companies need to find new markets This year, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[18545,3050,2345,6311,3944,866,850,23491,2728,5014,11492,5507,1304],"class_list":{"0":"post-85623","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-africa-news-2","7":"tag-business","8":"tag-african","9":"tag-countries","10":"tag-ever","11":"tag-first","12":"tag-forum","13":"tag-germany","14":"tag-germanyafrica","15":"tag-investment","16":"tag-seek","17":"tag-strengthen","18":"tag-ties","19":"tag-trade","20":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}