Policy Rationale and Strategic Shift
On October 18, 2025, the Sub-Saharan Africa Initiative of German Business (SAFRI) called for a decisive policy change in Berlin, arguing that Africa must be treated as a strategic partner—not merely an aid recipient—if Germany is to secure reliable access to critical raw materials. SAFRI’s position paper, presented ahead of Chancellor Scholz’s visit to Nairobi, urged the German government to embed mineral cooperation at the center of its new Africa Strategy, emphasizing resources such as lithium, copper, cobalt, and rare earth elements vital to Europe’s green-energy transition.
Economic Context and Industrial Strategy
The statement reflected a growing consensus among German industry leaders that the country’s traditional development-aid model no longer matches today’s geopolitical reality. SAFRI advocates a pivot toward investment-driven engagement, promoting joint ventures, offtake agreements, and technology transfer as instruments of balanced growth. Germany, which currently imports more than 70 percent of its critical minerals from China, faces increasing pressure from its industrial base to diversify supply chains and strengthen partnerships with resource-rich African economies.
European Outlook and Global Positioning
Analysts interpret SAFRI’s appeal as part of a broader European effort to close the strategic gap with China and the United States in Africa’s minerals sector. The initiative underscores that Africa’s resource wealth must translate into industrial development within the continent, not merely serve as raw-material exports to the Global North. For Germany, that means investing in processing plants, green-hydrogen infrastructure, and logistics corridors under the EU’s Global Gateway program. If implemented, the “Africa Shift” could redefine Berlin’s role—from donor to strategic industrial partner—in securing the minerals driving the world’s clean-energy transition.