To boost its export sales, South African wine makers are promoting higher-priced products in European markets. Wine exports fell to 422.7 million litres last year from 525.6 million litres in 2013, according to the Wines of South Africa, the association representing all producers of wine who export their products.  Exports in 2015 are predicted to be on a par with …

Political and business leaders from Germany and Africa will converge on Hamburg on 25-26 April for the 10th German-African Energy Forum. The annual event offers a platform for players in the energy sector for interaction and networking. The Forum features discussions on current topics, projects and opportunities for markets for renewable and conventional energy in Africa. Ministers from nine African …

Deutschlandstiftung Integration is promoting an open Germany with its campaign #AuchichbinDeutschland (literally: I am Germany too). The initiative aims to show that many people are not seen as Germans because they look “different” or have “unusual names” – although they were born and grew up in Germany. The campaign uses testimonials, in which people talk about everyday racism and their …

Cameroonian political scientist and author Achille Mbembe has received the prestigious “Geschwister Scholl-Preis” 2015 for the German edition of his latest book ‘Critique de la raison nègre’. His book reflects the history of globalisation and deals with capitalism, colonialism and racism. One of the central conclusions is that capitalism does not only move goods around the world but also humans, …

German President Joachim Gauck’s visit to Nigeria in February to intensify bilateral relations between both nations especially in economic and security matters, according to analysts. The 4-day tour from 8-13 February, which took Gauck to the federal capital Abuja and the economic hub Lagos, saw the German president meeting political and business leaders to discuss areas of common interests. In …

The 4th World Coffee Conference will take place in Addis Ababa on 6-11 March 2016. The event, organised by Ethiopia’s Ministry of Trade in collaboration with the International Coffee Organisation (ICO), will bring together more than 1,200 participants drawn from the member countries of the global body. The conference will also host the 116th annual conference of the international coffee …

International equipment manufacturers meet Nigerian companies The new government of President Muhammadu Buhari has announced as one of its key policy agendas the promotion of manufacturing in Africa’s most populous country. The major instrument the administration is employing to achieve its professed aim is the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), which is facilitating investment and growth within the sector.  In …

You are active in a project with connection to Africa, either in Germany or in an African country? Would you like to present your work to a great audience? And at the same time have the chance to win a flight ticket to Africa? Then you are perfectly right at the Bridgebuilder’s Fair 2016!  The Bridgebuilder’s Fair takes place every …

[Glitterbeat GB 007] With their third album, Tamikrest consolidate their “Tuareg rock” style. Band leader Ousmana Ag Mossa grew up listening to rap, metal and Western pop music and since their first album in 2008, he and his seven-strong guitar outfit deliver a rock’n’roll package that finds audiences even outside the world music scene that has adopted the older and …

 Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, Maria Böhmer, recently met the female Ambassadors from Africa in Berlin to discuss topical foreign policy issues. The get-together at Villa Borsig initially focused on the growing threat posed by terrorist organisations such as the Islamic State, Boko Haram and Al Shabab, as well as flight and migration, the role of women …

The 50th anniversary of the International Tourism Bourse (ITB) Berlin will be held from Wednesday to Sunday, 9 to 13 March, on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds ICC. When it was first launched in 1966, the event hosted only nine exhibitors from five countries and was attended by only 250 trade visitors. ITB quickly became the world’s leading travel trade show. …

The inspiring story of painstaking negotiations, compromise and convictionHoucine Abassi, head of Tunisia’s General Labour Union (Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail or UGTT), is regarded as the Father of the National Dialogue in Tunisia. After the revolution following the overthrow of the Ben Ali dictatorship in January 2011, a power tussle among competing political and cultural forces ensued. The wrangling led …

Humanitas Afrika has launched a creative initiative to promote positive Africa in the Czech Republic. Around Africa in a Month is a current affairs programme and a platform of constructive dialogue held on the last Friday of every month to discuss serious issues that touch on the development of the African continent and showcase the various contributions that the African …

Dayan Kodua’s book “My Black Skin. Schwarz. Erfolgreich. Deutsch” shows that Black success stories abound in all walks of life in Germany. Melanie Scheuenstuhl reviews the pictorial band of 25 personalities – politicians, designers, physicians, artists, chefs, lawyers, policemen and bus drivers, who tell their very personal stories. In the process of growing up, many of us turned to other …

Before Western Union started offering money transfer services to Africa in 1995, the first company to do so, it used to take weeks if not months to find somebody travelling home to take the envelope along. And the brave ones among us who hid money in mails were often unlucky after post office workers in Africa discovered that letters from …

BOOK  Medicinal plants and traditional medical practices in Sierra Leone have much to offer the rest of the world. Dr Cyrus MacFoy, professor, researcher and consultant, highlights more than 200 plants used to cure more than 100 diseases and illnesses in this information guide. He provides the plants’ locations, their botanical and local names, their English common names, and the …

Virginia Wangare Greiner’s life’s journey prepared her for the prominent role she now plays in the debate on integration in Germany. She married a German expatriate, whom she met while he was working in her native Kenya, in 1978 at the early age of 18. The couple later moved to Germany in 1986, a development that challenged the young woman. …

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Association of Black People in Germany (Initiative Schwarze Deutsche or ISD), the first and the most important group formed by the African Diaspora in this country for the improvement of their political and socio-economic status, Femi Awoniyi looks at Black people in today’s German society. Blacks in the German society have …