Germany Redefines Development Cooperation with the Global South

A Legacy of Nobel Peace Laureate Willy Brandt

By Ramesh Jaura

This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com

BERLIN | 14 October 2025 (IDN) — More than forty years ago, former German Chancellor Willy Brandt—winner of the 1971 Nobel Peace Prize—warned that prosperity in the North and hardship in the South were two sides of the same coin. As chair of the Independent Commission on International Development Issues, later known as the North–South Commission, he urged the world to face that uncomfortable truth.

Its 1980 report, “North–South: A Programme for Survival,” made a simple but revolutionary case: rich and poor nations would rise or fall together. Peace, Brandt said, was impossible without fairness, and fairness was impossible without cooperation.

That spirit of solidarity shaped decades of development thinking. Today, as the global order tilts once again, Germany is dusting off Brandt’s insight and translating it into the language of the twenty-first century: not charity, but partnership.

A Turning Point in Development Diplomacy

Germany’s introduced global engagement strategy, presented by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), under the leadership of Reem Alabali Radovan, marks a significant policy shift. Ms Radovan represents the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), which entered into a coalition government in May 2025 with the conservative CDU/CSU bloc, led by Friedrich Merz as the Chancellor. SPD leader Lars Klingbeil serves as Vice Chancellor.

The action plan—“Strong Partnerships for a Successful Global Economy“, revealed by Table Media—abandons the traditional donor–recipient mindset. Instead, it treats development cooperation as a two-way street: a means of securing Germany’s own economic resilience while supporting growth in the Global South.

Behind this shift lies a precise calculation. The world’s economic gravity is moving south and east. Countries such as India, Brazil, and Vietnam are no longer passive recipients of aid but are now decisive players in trade, technology, and diplomacy. For Berlin, building common ground with them is not a matter of benevolence but of survival.

From Morality to Mutual Interest

SPD leader Brandt’s call for justice was born of a bipolar world divided by ideology. Today’s divisions—climate change, digital inequality, and fractured supply chains—are less visible but equally destabilising.

Germany’s answer is mutual interest. The Global South provides raw materials, renewable energy, and skilled labour; Germany brings technology, capital, and experience. The BMZ puts it plainly: partnerships must “benefit the people in partner countries as well as Germany and the European economy.”

The vocabulary has changed, but the conviction is familiar: lasting prosperity can’t be built on imbalance.

Economic Diplomacy with a Purpose

At the core of the plan is a more assertive brand of economic diplomacy. Development policy is no longer about writing cheques from afar; it’s about shaping markets together.

Before bilateral talks, the BMZ now consults directly with business associations and individual firms to identify shared goals. Economic cooperation has become a standing agenda item in high-level negotiations, often paired with business forums to convert diplomatic goodwill into deals.

India is serving as a pilot. There, German and Indian companies are co-developing renewable-energy and digital projects—proof that cooperation can be profitable as well as principled.

Levelling the Playing Field

German firms have long complained about losing contracts to Chinese or American competitors backed by heavy state financing. The BMZ, working with its development bank KfW, is tweaking procurement rules to reward quality and sustainability—areas where German engineering excels.

In key partner nations, companies will now be invited to participate in projects from the outset, particularly in energy, infrastructure, and digitalisation. The goal is to blend industrial know-how with development funding to create projects that last.

The BMZ is also coordinating closely with the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) so that trade promotion, aid, and investment guarantees finally align in the same direction—a notable departure from Germany’s traditional bureaucratic silos.

Private Capital, Public Purpose

Public budgets can’t finance the world’s energy transition alone. To bridge the gap, the BMZ is expanding blended finance schemes that use limited public funds to de-risk private investment.

It also leads the SCALED platform, designed to channel institutional capital into sustainable infrastructure. On the European front, Berlin is promoting the EU’s Global Gateway, a € 300 billion initiative aimed at rivalling China’s Belt and Road—but “with transparency and local benefits as its selling points”.

In an era when influence often follows infrastructure, Germany is betting that trust will prove its strongest currency.

Reforming the Rules of the Game

Unlike Washington, Berlin’s development playbook emphasises institutions over icons. It invests in the machinery of governance—tax systems, public finance, and transparent regulation—on the theory that durable growth needs rules, not gifts.

This thinking underpins the G20 Compact with Africa, launched under Germany’s 2017 G20 presidency. By linking reform commitments to investment incentives, the Compact has become a template for attracting capital without surrendering sovereignty. It’s Brandt’s solidarity recast as systems design.

Securing Resources, Sharing Value

The past decade taught Germany a hard lesson about dependence—first on Russian gas, then on Chinese rare earths. Now, the BMZ and BMWE are helping partner countries in Africa and Latin America develop sustainable raw-material value chains.

The new approach insists that extraction alone isn’t enough: processing, refining, and innovation must happen locally. It’s a deliberate departure from the exploitative patterns of the past.

The same logic drives Germany’s green-hydrogen alliances with Namibia, Chile, and Morocco. The partnerships promise jobs and technology transfer for the South, as well as clean energy for Europe—a modern echo of Brandt’s belief in a shared destiny.

Migration as Partnership

Demographics tell their own story. Germany’s ageing population needs skilled workers; the Global South’s young graduates need jobs. The BMZ’s Skilled Workers Alliance aims to meet both needs by harmonising training standards and ensuring fair recruitment.

The hope is to move from ad-hoc migration to genuine labour mobility, where opportunity—not desperation—drives movement.

Reconstruction and Responsibility

Beyond development, the BMZ sees the private sector as a cornerstone of post-conflict reconstruction, especially in Ukraine, Syria, and Gaza.

These efforts go well beyond humanitarian relief. By bringing in German engineering firms, financial institutions, and local partners, the ministry wants to build economies that can stand on their own. It’s the Marshall Plan principle—reborn for a multipolar century.

A Balanced Future

Germany’s new development strategy is both a nod to history and a bet on the future. By merging trade, investment, and sustainability, Berlin is betting that influence in the twenty-first century will belong to those who build together rather than divide.

If it works, Germany may again become what Brandt once hoped it would be: a bridge between North and South, ideals and interests, prosperity and justice.

About the author: Ramesh Jaura is a journalist with 60 years of experience as a freelancer, head of Inter Press Service, and founder-editor of IDN-InDepthNews. His work draws on field reporting and coverage of international conferences and events. [IDN-InDepthNews]

Original link: https://rjaura.substack.com/p/germany-redefines-development-cooperation

https://www.world-view.net/germany-redefines-development-cooperation-with-the-global-south/