From the 17th to the 30th of June, the Bavarian Office for Africa, represented by Mekdelawit Yeshitila, Head of the Bavarian Office for Africa, and Petros Mulugeta, Project Manager, had meetings with various partners in Bavaria. Throughout these engagements with Bavarian stakeholders, the office focused on creating new and deepening existing connections, thereby advocating for even closer collaborations between Bavaria and Africa. The Africa Office began this visit by visiting colleagues at the Bavarian State Chancellery, and the iconic Bavarian State Chancellery building which is a blend of classic and modern architecture.
One of the visit’s highlights was the meeting with the Bavarian Minister for European and International Affairs, Eric Beißwenger, at the Africa Forum 2024. The Minister expressed the importance of the Bavarian-African Cooperation and inquired further about the African office’s work on the continent. The Forum was an event organized by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce that focused on integrating German and African businesses. The various Chamber representatives of Bavaria in Africa provided insights into the emerging African markets, and the African office also introduced Ethiopia as a quickly growing economy that provides ample opportunities to international investors. Special Economic Zones, low costs for electricity and policies geared towards incentivizing e-mobility, agri-mechanization, and an economy that is increasingly opening up to foreign investment, make the country an attractive destination. This could also be seen in multiple meetings the office conducted with businesses who were interested in expanding their operations to Ethiopia.
The office’s focus across development, scientific, and cultural cooperation areas also meant engaging with a wide array of its partners in Bavaria, also in research and development. One of the notable partners of the office, BayFor, and the African Office discussed the possibility of working together more closely to organize events geared at improving capacity and collaboration between researchers in the two continents. On a similar note, the office also visited and had discussions with the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences, and the Hydrogen Center Bavaria for further exchange about Bavaria’s work with African partners to improve applied science universities and create blue and green hydrogen projects on the African continent respectively.
The African Office has safely returned to Addis Ababa and is looking forward to further work on and implementing the various collaboration ideas that have been developed during their visit to Bavaria.