02.02.2010
Niebel in Namibia
On 2 February 2010, German Development Minister Dirk Niebel will set out on his second visit to Africa. He will spend three days in Namibia, a country with which, due to historical reasons, Germany has a particularly close partnership. In the capital Windhoek he will have the opportunity to engage in a policy dialogue with top-level government members and also to meet opposition politicians.
The highlight of the visit will be the topping-off ceremony at the Ohorongo Cement Factory in the Otavi region, which is the result of the biggest direct investment in Namibia by a family-run German company (Schwenk Zement KG from Ulm) since Namibia achieved independence in 1990. Ohorongo Cement (PTY) Ltd. will be Namibia’s first cement factory; from 2011 onwards it will produce about 700,000 tonnes of cement a year, half of it for export; it will also create about 300 jobs directly and up to 2,000 indirectly. About half of the total investment of 254 million euros will be co-financed via development banks, in particular the German Investment and Development Company (DEG) and the European Investment Bank.
The main focus of the visit is the topic "sustainable economic development". German development cooperation is involved in supporting the development efforts of the Namibian government, which include improving the business environment in order to enable as many people as possible to play a productive part in economic and social life through work and income. Because, it must be said, even 20 years after Namibia gained independence from South Africa, there is still a huge divide between rich and poor; the unemployment rate of 38 per cent is extremely high. The German Minister will visit individual Namibian-German cooperation projects, including a microfinance project that in 2008 alone provided 6,000 customers with micro credits, 92 per cent of whom were women. More than 40,000 people are benefiting either directly or indirectly from the economic activities made possible by the loans.
Minister Niebel will be accompanied on his visit by Mr Werner Simmling, who is a member of the German Federal Parliament, and by Mr Bruno Wenn, who is the spokesman of the Board of Managers of the DEG, and also by representatives from German industry and the media.