Relations between the Republic of the Congo and Germany are untroubled. Most recently, the Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) opened an office in Brazzaville and an honorary consul was appointed in the port city of Pointe-Noire. The country’s per capita income is high for the region, which is why the Republic of the Congo is not a partner of German bilateral development cooperation.

There are regional projects in the sphere of economic cooperation with the Congo, particularly in the fields of climate action, rainforest and environmental protection, as well as biodiversity conservation. After the Amazon, the Congo Basin is home to the world’s second largest expanse of forest, as well as peat bog forests, which are vital to the global climate. Germany is working through organisations such as CAFI (Central African Forest Initiative), COMIFAC (Commission des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale), the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (Partenariat pour les Forêts du Bassin du Congo) and others to protect the tropical rainforests and peat bogs in the region.

There is a low level of economic relations between Germany and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But the Congo is seeking to change that. First and foremost, the tourism sector has potential. The national parks in particular, which are rich in biodiversity, are to play a major role in this.

The Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in the far north of the country receives financial support from the German Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) as part of the Sangha Trinational conservation project (UNESCO natural World Heritage site). The Odzala National Park receives funding within the context of the Legacy Landscape Fund.

German is an optional subject at several grammar schools in Brazzaville. At the University of Brazzaville, German is taught as a subsidiary subject. The Orchestre symphonique des enfants de Brazzaville (OSEB), a children’s orchestra founded in 2018 thanks to an instrument donation, has a firmly established place in the city’s cultural life.