Last updated in December 2009
Political relations
Relations with the Federal Republic of Germany are basically good. The Central African Republic would like to see the German Embassy – closed in 1997 for budgetary reasons – re-opened. At present, the German Embassy in Yaoundé (Cameroon) has a liaison office in the capital Bangui. Germany’s support for the difficult process of democratization and conflict resolution in the Central African Republic is generally appreciated. Germany’s bilateral development cooperation activities over the past decades have been a major factor contributing to our excellent reputation there.
Economic relations and development cooperation
Germany’s development aid commitments to the Central African Republic between the latter’s independence in 1960 and the end of 1995 totalled approximately EUR 200 million. The last commitment within the framework of Technical Cooperation was made in 1998/1999 and amounted to EUR 10 million. In the year 2000, as a consequence of the restructuring of development cooperation to focus on a smaller group of about 70 partner countries, the German Government decided to refrain from entering into any new commitments for development cooperation projects in the Central African Republic and to simply complete the projects that are currently in the implementation phase.
With the remaining funds, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) is continuing the Dzanga-Sangha forest and nature conservation project in the conflict-free south-west of the country until 2009. In addition, one advisor remains seconded to the Central African Republic’s Ministry of the Environment, Water, Forests, Hunting and Fisheries and one to the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC). Support is being provided for a youth centre in Bangui that is making an important contribution to combating HIV/AIDS. At regional level, the Federal Government continues to support development cooperation projects that also benefit the Central African Republic. For example, Germany provided EUR 10 million in funding to support the first phase of Central Africa’s HIV/AIDS prevention programme (PPSAC) and EUR 23 million for the period 2009-2012 to support a CEMAC HIV/AIDS prevention programme.
In the Boguila region, the German government is providing funding to support a project to improve the health-care system which is being conducted by Doctors Without Borders (EUR 400,000 in 2008 and EUR 600,000 in 2009).
In addition, the German government is involved in humanitarian-aid projects conducted by the UN’s World Food Programme, the International Committee of the Red Cross and various non-governmental organizations.
In 2009, Germany cancelled EUR 780,000 of the Central African Republic’s debts under the HIPC debt rescheduling initiative. Trade relations between Germany and the Central African Republic are insignificant, both imports and exports being worth less than EUR 1 million.
Cultural relations
There are no German schools or cultural institutions in the Central African Republic. German is the second foreign language taught in secondary schools.
