Africa is changing rapidly. As such it is typical of an age in which much is in flux. In recent years, Africa has quite rightly also increasingly become a focus of global interest. The continent used to seem so distant. Too distant, even! We still know too little about this vast region, about its countries and societies. We therefore used the German G8 and EU Presidencies in 2007 to give Africa the prominent place it deserved on the international agenda.

In dialogue with our A...

Africa, especially sub Sahara Africa, has for the last five decades been trapped in raw material exports and agrarian economies. The continent's weak political systems, questionable institutional frameworks and minimal trade links with global markets have been viewed as contributing factors to its stagnation. The future of African-German relations is pegged on which side Germany will choose to take; to free Africans from shackles of controlled global markets or to join the rest in a predat...

People are quick to associate Africa with poverty, human rights violations, political instability and corruption. This, however, fails to recognise the human and economic potential of the continent. The fact that the African continent is three times as large as Europe and has 924 million inhabitants gives an idea of the importance of Africa in an ever-more interconnected world.

Reciprocal economic ties between Africa and Germany offer a win-win situation for both parties: Germ...

As globalisation continues, the focus of German companies is increasingly falling on Africa. Our aim should be to integrate as many African states as possible into the global economy, while at the same time providing substantial support to the economic development of these countries. The German government's projects in Africa to promote peace, health, education, and sustainable economic growth are important in this respect. But German businesses must also make a contribution and take respo...

There is no doubt that Nigeria has developed an international reputation in the areas of oil and finance. The country's lifestyle is also well-known beyond its borders, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and among its global diaspora, thanks to the low-budget “Nollywood” video productions. However, its cultural scene remains largely cut off from international discourse. Despite a large number of highquality cultural festivals, the lack of stately artistic and educational infrastructure means...

Previously, Africa has been of rather marginal economic, political and academic importance to Germany. For Germany the economic significance of the continent, which was in any case small, increasingly declined from the 1950s onwards. German policy on Africa is largely invisible domestically, and in the mainstream social sciences the continent plays an even smaller role. It is, however, continuously brought into connection with hunger, war and other catastrophes and considered as an interna...

If you ask a foreign tourist what is typically German, they might mention the autobahns, Heidelberg or Munich’s Hofbräuhaus. And many would add that it is also typically German for everything to be regulated and standardised. From plugs to instructions for televisions in hotel rooms, there are standards for everything imaginable. The many thousands of standards also include one (DIN 820) which sets out how a standard is to be written.

No area of life and no product can esca...