German development aid to Nam will not decrease

THE German government will not reduce development aid to Namibia despite the global financial crisis experienced over the past 18 months, a top official said yesterday.

Dr Peter Ammon, who is State Secretary in the German Foreign Ministry, said the Cabinet in Berlin had recently decided to increase its development assistance to emerging countries.
‘Later this year in August Germany and Namibia will again hold bilateral talks for the next two-year term of development assistance,’ Ammon told reporters at a press briefing.
‘Namibia receives the highest development support from Germany due to the special and historic ties between our two countries.’
Since Independence, Namibia has received over N$5 billion in economic and development assistance from Germany.
Ammon was in Namibia on a two-day visit, which coincided with the centenary celebrations of the Deutsche Höhere Privatschule (DHPS), which turns 100 years old this year.
The State Secretary, who works under Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a presidential candidate in the German elections in September, met with officials from Namibia’s Foreign Ministry, the National Planning Commission and the Trade Ministry.
Asked about the progress of negotiations between ACP countries and the European Union (EU) on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), Ammon said talks are being held at Swakopmund this week.
‘Germany is a member of the EU and will thus not speak individually on the EPAs, but our Namibian counterparts asked us during my visit to influence the EU position positively so that it is fair and positive (for Namibia),’ Ammon said.
Senior trade officials are discussing unresolved negotiation issues between member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the EU over the EPAs, which are aimed at liberalising trade with Europe.
An interim agreement was initialled in December 2007 between most of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, including Namibia, for duty- and quota-free access to the EU for their goods.
However, some reciprocity is expected in return, such as most favoured nation (MFN) status for goods exported from EU countries to ACP states.
Namibia for instance is expected to reduce import tariffs over time for EU imports and must give up the infant industry protection status on locally produced products like its world-famous beer, local pasta and long-life milk. Namibia is concerned that cheaper goods from Europe will destroy its fledgling manufacturing base.
Added to the complex talks is the EU demand to free up investment and services flows with Europe. This could mean the European banks could enter the SADC region but regulations of individual SADC countries would not apply to such banks, which could upset the banking and financial sector in the region.
The Swakopmund talks were set to end late yesterday and will be followed by a meeting of SADC ministers soon. Namibia mainly exports grapes, meat, fish and beer to the EU.