Germany continues to be a reliable partner for Malawi and will provide continued support in the priority areas of education, health, and decentralization. This is the outcome of the Malawian-German government negotiations, which were concluded in Lilongwe today.
The two countries' program of cooperation focuses on improved teacher training and alternative education programs. In this way, an even larger number of children is given access to good primary education. Malawian-German cooperation is also aimed at improving basic health services for the people. An increased number of births attended by doctors and midwives, in particular, will help to further reduce maternal mortality. Moreover, Germany supports Malawi in implementing its national poverty reduction strategy.
Thanks to good governance, the promotion of cooperation between parliament and civil society, and active efforts to fight corruption, Malawi's development over the past few years has been good. What is more, Malawi has seen impressive economic growth (some six to eight per cent per annum) recently and has turned from a recipient of international food aid into an exporter of food to the region.
Germany's commitments for 2009 and 2010, a total of 64 million euros, mean that the volume of its bilateral development cooperation with Malawi has been doubled compared to 2007. In this way, Germany is meeting its international commitment to double its resources for bilateral cooperation with Africa and delivering on its promise to give special support to developing countries with good governance.