Ministry Working approach

When the Federal Republic provides a developing country with a soft loan, when German experts advise the government of a country on poverty alleviation or when a private German organisation promotes small farmers' cooperatives in an African country, these are all approaches involving direct development cooperation between Germany and its partners.

The European Union (EU) and its 27 member states are together responsible for about 46 per cent of international development cooperation, so that, combined, they are the world's largest donor. As the world’s largest single market, the EU is also an important trading partner for many developing countries and has a major influence on the world trade regime.

The EU combines financial, economic and political influence and has manifold historical and cultural relations with most developing countries. This makes it one of the key players in international development policy.

Broad membership, political neutrality, capital and know-how – these are the things that make international organisations important players for development cooperation. They offer forums for discussing development policy principles or developing international standards for economic, social and environmental policies. Multilateral institutions play a leading role in the implementation and coordination of development cooperation in partner countries.

Triangular cooperation is a jointly planned, financed and implemented development project by a beneficiary developing country, a main partner and a supporting partner.

Germany will only be able to achieve its development objectives and meet its international commitments if it has the broad-based support of German society. In order to foster the active involvement of German civil society, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) supports development information and education work