00:01What brought you to Nairobi and what are you expecting for your visit here?
00:05Kenya is an important partner country for development cooperation.
00:10We have a long-standing relationship which we want to strengthen,
00:15especially the economic cooperation.
00:18Kenya is the biggest economy in East Africa
00:22and we see a lot of potential when it comes to German investment,
00:27especially when it comes to healthcare
00:29and also Kenya is a strategic partner for us when it comes to multilateralism.
00:36So there is a lot of common interest and this is why it was important to me,
00:41even though we are in a difficult time also in the region,
00:45to come here and strengthen our relationship.
00:48You've already said that there are many crises around the world,
00:51not just in the region, but in Iran, Ukraine, Gaza.
00:55So how important is Germany's relationship to Africa at the moment?
01:01Of course, we are also as German government dealing with the crises going on right now
01:07and as a development minister, for me it's important to show our partners in the regions
01:14that we are a reliable partner and that even though we are facing all these crises,
01:20we put a lot of focus also on our partnerships, especially when it comes to African countries.
01:27We are also, of course, looking at the implications of, for example, the war in Iran,
01:33the blockade of the street on Hormuz for the region, which there is a huge implication.
01:39And this is why I'm also here to talk about that.
01:42You came here partly to meet leaders, to meet health experts as well.
01:47Now the global health landscape is changing a lot because the US pulled out of WHO,
01:52they've also cut a lot of aid.
01:55Germany has also cut aid, but are you hoping to fill part of that gap
01:59and are you taking a stronger role in international institutions?
02:01The cuts from the US government, especially in the global health sector, are very painful.
02:09And we can see them looking at multilateral funds like Gavi and the instrument for vaccines
02:19and the Global Fund, which is combating malaria and HIV and tuberculosis.
02:25And we cannot fill the gap alone.
02:29But at the same time, I said we did a reform.
02:33I did a strategic reform on German development cooperation.
02:37And looking at what the United States are doing, I said we will put a big focus on global health.
02:45Even though we cannot fill in the gap, we will not pull out of global health.
02:51And this is why I'm also here, the World Health Summit, the regional conference of the World Health Summit is
02:58in Nairobi.
02:59And I think we want to strengthen also the German-African partnership when it comes to economy in the health
03:09sector.
03:10And we are seeing, especially in Kenya, we are already seeing very good steps of German pharma companies like Merck,
03:19for example,
03:20who are working here together in producing vaccines or producing medicines with Kenyan companies,
03:27universal for combating special diseases.
03:32So we are seeing important steps taking place and we want to strengthen that in the future.
03:38And talking specifically about Kenya, you've already met President Ruto.
03:42What do you hope for the general relationship between Kenya and Germany in terms of development?
03:48And you also spoke about the focus on economic cooperation.
03:52So maybe you can talk about that.
03:54As I said, Kenya is the biggest economy in East Africa.
03:58And we are also shifting our partnership more to economic cooperation, which is based on win-win, which is based
04:08on common interest.
04:09I spoke to President Ruto about that.
04:12We want to see where we have common interests in German companies coming here and providing also good jobs.
04:20This is very important to us.
04:23So it's not only about economic cooperation in general, but it's about also creating good, decent jobs,
04:30about providing vocational training, which is going very well in Kenya.
04:35And there is some hurdles.
04:37We want to tackle them, especially when it comes to reaching rural areas of Kenya.
04:43And we want to work together on that.
04:45We will have a German-Kenyan business dialogue in June in Berlin.
04:50And I'm looking forward to strengthening that relationship.
04:53We have 120 German companies in Kenya, and I think it can be way more.
04:58Part of the critique of development aid or development cooperation has always been that it is ineffective,
05:06that the countries are basically standing still, stagnating.
05:09Do you think this new strategy of more economic cooperation will help address this?
05:14First of all, let me say that, especially in Kenya, we can see that development cooperation works, and it worked.
05:21We see an increase in life expectancy.
05:26We see a decrease of child death at birth.
05:30We see a high literacy.
05:31It is at 80%.
05:3393% of energy in Kenya is from renewables.
05:39We invested in that, especially as German development cooperation, as a ministry.
05:44So we are seeing very, very good outcomes.
05:47Of course, there is way more to tackle.
05:49And I think now, as Kenya is becoming also a middle-income country, and it's becoming more of that in
05:58the future,
05:59we need to shift more towards economic cooperation.
06:03But, of course, we're still working on development, especially when it comes to the youth,
06:09when it comes to energy, climate, issues of health.
06:13We are still invested there.
06:15We are still a reliable partner.
06:16But we're looking more for an approach which sees common interest and win-win for both sides.
06:23Looking at Kenya in particular, and looking at the growth you've just mentioned,
06:28or the steps that have been taken that you've just mentioned,
06:31do you have examples of, or do you have an example of a project of work that has worked over
06:39the past few years?
06:40I will look at examples today in Nairobi, especially when it comes to vocational training.
06:48So we have schools, they provide vocational training for young Kenyans who can learn and work here in Kenya.
06:58They can get good qualifications for work in Kenya, but they can also learn German.
07:06And with their qualifications, they could potentially come to Germany.
07:10So I think especially in that field of migration, when it comes to young Kenyans who want to come and
07:18work in Germany,
07:19we are seeing good approaches there, and we also want to strengthen that in the future.
07:24So let's take a look at it, it's for sure.
07:25And withwohl semua Teresa quickly.
07:28This weekend Fast and hunt is almost four months ago.
07:28Now, what's the first time than Keith Ol patroman.
07:28We call him a big mosquito for chicken and IQ is almost five months ago.
07:28So I got burned down here for his shoulder.
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