Political relations are good and cooperation with Sao Tome and Principe in international organisations is constructive. There has been a German faculty at the Universidade de São Tomé e Príncipe since 2016. Germans comprise the second largest group of tourists in Sao Tome and Principe, after Portugal. Several of Sao Tome and Principe’s former leaders – including former President Manuel Pinto da Costa – studied in the former GDR and have a strong affinity with Germany.

Bilateral relations are looked after via the German Embassy in Libreville, the capital of Gabon. Furthermore, at the start of 2024, Kerstin Schulze was inducted as the new German Honorary Consul based in Sao Tome.

Agriculture (coffee, cocoa, cotton and palm oil) is the country’s most important economic activity. 37.7 % of the population are subsisting below the breadline, on less than 3.65 US dollars per day. 15.8 % live below the World Bank's extreme poverty line of 2.15 US dollars per day.

90 % of the national budget is financed by international donor assistance (IMF, the World Bank, UNDP, the EU, Portugal, the United States, Brazil, France and the African Development Bank). The country’s most important trading partners are Portugal and Angola.

Economic relations between Germany and Sao Tome and Principe have not developed to any significant extent. There are no German firms based in the country.