China invests, India trades, and the Gulf States build. And what does Germany do? It often just watches.

As the global competition for Africa's markets and raw materials escalates, German policy continues to lack strategic clarity. There is a lot at stake: Economic opportunities, geopolitical influence, and long-term partnerships.

Something needs to change, German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil said. At a G20 meeting of finance ministers in the South African city of Durban, he emphasized that partners in the global south share an interest in stable trade relations and respect for human rights. The task was to strengthen the economic relationship between Germany and South Africa — as well as that between Europe and Africa as a whole.

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A few days earlier, the Sub-Saharan Africa Initiative of German Business (SAFRI) called for a strategic reorientation. The so-called "Africa turnaround" was long overdue, it said. How realistic is this wish for renewal? And what is standing in the way?

Trade data paints a sobering picture: German exports to the region have been stagnant for more than a decade. In 2014, they were valued at €13.3 billion ($15.6 billion), 10 years later, only €14.2 billion in German exports was traded. Accounting for inflation, the growth rate is virtually zero.

Africa has no lack of economic dynamism. Countries such as Tanzania, Ivory Coast or Senegal have been recording robust growth rates for years. Demand for infrastructure, consumer goods and energy is rising across the continent, also fueled by rapid population growth. A........

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