The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is highly engaged in enabling developing countries to take part in international trade: Since the year 2000 a number of bilateral projects have been designed in order to facilitate trade and to support developing countries in this regard. German Assistance reached app 28 Mrd USD in 2016. The responsibility for the implementation of the development activities lies mainly within two German bodies: The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) and the Physikalische-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB).

In line with the five Aid for Trade (AfT) categories defined by the WTO, German development cooperation follows the endeavour of being holistic and comprehensive. Trade aspects are understood to be an incremental part of every country´s path towards economic development. They should therefore be included into the partner country’s design of its national development strategy or relevant sector strategies.

We therefore encourage countries interested in receiving support to contact the German Embassies in their respective countries. Information can be found here: https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/aussenpolitik/laenderinformationen