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Germany and Bolivia: Bilateral relations
Bolivia and Germany enjoy good bilateral relations, with regular dialogue taking place.
In 2021, bilateral trade between Germany and Bolivia was worth just under 290 million euro, with Bolivian exports to Germany totalling 170 million euro and imports from Germany 120 million euro. Bolivia’s main exports to Germany are mineral resources (lead, tin and silver ores), agricultural produce (nuts, coffee, soya products, quinoa and millet) and leather and textile goods. Its main imports from Germany are machinery, chemical and pharmaceutical products, household appliances, vehicles and vehicle parts, electrical goods and measurement and control technology. The German-Bolivian Chamber of Industry and Commerce was set up in 1955.
Development cooperation with Bolivia focuses on three priority areas: drinking water supply and sanitation, rural development and the environment, and energy, with a focus on renewable energies and energy efficiency. Environmental and climate protection, support for civil society, gender equality and vocational training are important cross‑cutting issues. Helping Bolivia implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is the leitmotif of bilateral development cooperation, which marked its sixtieth anniversary in 2022.
Cultural relations between Germany and Bolivia date back to the first major wave of German traders and craftspeople who migrated to Bolivia in the mid‑nineteenth century. The German Cultural Centre (Centro Cultural Alemán) is over a century old and the German schools in La Paz and Santa Cruz are 100 and 87 years old respectively. In 2019, the Goethe-Institut celebrated the sixty-fifth anniversary of its work in Bolivia.