The Senegalese philosopher and academic Felwine Sarr once said that a society must take time to think about “what type of society and what kind of social coexistence is worth striving for”.

He makes this point as he talks about the relationship between Africa and Europe, about how the two continents perceive each other.

And, looking to us Europeans, he says: “It’s not up to you to decide where our dreams will take us, or how we should see and interpret the world.”

Deciding for yourself where your dreams will take you.

Although it takes a lot of imagination to get a sense of what will one day stand where today we see these piles of sand, cement mixers and bricks, a place is being built around this decades-old baobab tree that enables precisely this – a place to gather and think about the types of coexistence and partnerships that we want, and how we can develop them.

And what city could be more suitable than Dakar, this young, dynamic metropolis that not only at night resounds with Afrobeats and Mbalax, that hosts Africa’s largest art biennale, and that fashion weeks, film-makers and hip hop artists call home.

A city that has given rise to universities, laboratories and a start-up culture with companies like Afyasense – a firm that uses Artificial Intelligence

to spot malaria pathogens in blood samples.

It’s the capital of a country with an average population age of 19, where you can sense the power of youth on every corner.

People that want education – and participation. People that we need for the shared future of which we dream.

That’s why it’s a good thing that we are expanding the Goethe-Institut right here. Last year, we made a decision to realign our global network of these institutes, because our world has undergone such rapid change in recent years. For example, autocrats around the world are with ever greater brutality seeking to gain power and influence. They move borders and repress their own citizens.

They attempt to create a new normal of breaking the rules.

At the same time, we are seeing a shift in the geopolitical balance. Already today, this continent, the African continent, is characterised by growth and innovation.

Every month, 1.7 million people enter the job market. In 2050, every fourth person on the planet will be African.

This is a tremendous opportunity for all of us. In keeping with the times, we want to invest in our partnerships in a stronger and more focused way than we’ve done in the past – here in Senegal and throughout the region, in West Africa, and across this dynamic continent.

That makes this Goethe-Institut in Dakar a place where we do not simply put some German culture on display and then say, “look at the great things we’re doing in Germany”.

Quite the contrary. This should be a place of mutual exchange, where we are poised to listen to one another and learn from one another – in order to create new forms of cooperation.

That is the approach we as the German Government are taking with this institute, and with our reform.

It is also the approach we are taking in our foreign policy right now.

We want to create true partnerships – the kind in which everyone decides for themselves, as Felwine Sarr would say, where their dreams will take them, in line with their own interests.

But also the kind of partnership in which you take an interest in your partner’s interests.

The precondition for this is that you listen. That you must try and understand the position of your partner – especially when your views differ. That you must include their views in your thinking.

This is unfortunately not self-understood in our current climate of polarisation and an increasing tendency to see everything in black and white.

For decades, countries on my continent in particular thought they knew very well “what’s good for our neighbouring continent”.

Of course, the consequences of this approach can still be seen.

Two years ago, at the Climate Change Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, we were developing the idea of setting up a Loss and Damage fund to help particularly vulnerable states mitigate the effects of the climate crisis.

This is an idea that has long been discussed among vulnerable states in particular. We in Germany also campaigned for this, and together with other industrialised countries, we tabled a respective proposal.

So I thought “what we’ve put forward is actually pretty good” and then didn’t quite know what to make of it when reservations were expressed, especially by the same low-GDP countries we have engaged with in development cooperation and climate policy discussions for many years now.

Then, one of my colleagues from a West African country told me, “I do trust you personally. But do you know how often industrialised countries have made us promises that they’ve then never kept?”

Those are the moments – maybe also being of a younger generation – that make you think: we cannot change what lies behind us. But we have to be able, in an awareness of the wounds of the past, to jointly build new trust going forward. That is why I value not only conversations held in a spirit of trust at large international conferences, but also having institutes and places where people can get together and think about their dreams.

Because we know that prejudices held against Europeans in particular – the so-called Western countries – that these do not just disappear; they are even instrumentalised, especially in the current climate of polarisation.

All of a sudden, jointly developed ideas like that of a fund to help mitigate climate-related damage in the poorest countries ultimately give rise to a debate pitting “North against South”, or “the West against the rest”.

Despite the fact that we European countries have an absolute shared interest in this area, in that we need to do everything in our power to contain the climate crisis and also everything we can to make sure that those who are suffering the most also receive the most support.

That is why, in my view, it is so important these days to forge new alliances. Alliances that of course take our own interests into account, but that also see one’s partners’ interests – leading us to the conclusion that we actually share the same values, regardless of the continent we live on.

That is also why, especially for countries like mine, we must be prepared to take the first step. So when, for example, we went to the Dubai Climate Change Conference the following year, we right at the start of the negotiations said that we will not wait and see what others do, but instead make an immediate payment of 100 million dollars into the fund.

For precisely the same reason, we are working on bilateral agreements such as the Just Energy Transition Partnership, which we are jointly implementing here in Senegal.

And we do this not as an act of charity, but because we, too, benefit when countries are better equipped to mitigate against climate damage.

Because the only way for us to successfully tackle the climate crisis is by doing so together, and because we are thereby making another key investment – in trust.

Trust that we also want to use to succeed in other areas of the negotiations. That’s what this is about. Another small building block is what we’re doing right here:

By acknowledging that countries have different views of the world, we can also manage to talk about what unites us.

And looking at the crises that surround us, I think one thing comes to the fore: we have a common interest in living in a world that is not governed by the law of the strong, but by rules that make us all safer. Because, in the end, that’s what all people want, no matter where they live. They want security for their lives and for their families’ lives.

That is what the Charter of the United Nations guarantees to every country in the world.

These days, we see autocrats increasingly strive for legislative power and influence, and consciously trying to break the laws that are in place – through military violence or economic pressure.

Among other things, they try to instrumentalise the wounds which Europe has left in the world, especially here in Africa – by referring time and again to Europe’s colonial history and then styling themselves as supposed champions of anti-colonialism.

It goes without saying it’s grotesque when a country like Russia does that – at the same time it is waging an imperial war.

But in Germany, in the so-called West, we must also ask ourselves: why does this message strike a chord?

That happens among other things because it’s based on a perception which really does exist in many countries, namely that “the Europeans have never confronted their role as colonisers.” Others say, “to this day, Europe is only interested in creating dependencies, not in enabling participation.”

Especially a younger generation can find this to be unjust. But we must address these views head-on, so that they do not gain traction.

We must address them in our thinking, and especially in our actions.

That is why we, the German Government, have finally begun with the restitution of cultural objects that were wrongfully acquired during the colonial period – handing over, for example, the Benin bronzes to Nigeria, artefacts to Namibia and spears to the Kaurna people in Australia.

These may seem like small acts. But every time that objects are handed over, you can tell that these are not simply “cultural objects” that are being given back, but rather a part of a country’s or a population group’s identity.

An honest effort to learn from our history and to draw the right conclusions from mistakes of the past.

That is what is needed in this day and age. It’s quite simple, actually.

And that’s why we are also working to amplify African voices as we work together to solve global problems.

Of course it is unjust that the international order was established at a time when many of today’s countries did not even exist.

As a result, in the present day, these countries, despite being independent states now, cannot play the role they deserve.

This is why African states are right to claim a larger role in international forums. In the G20, the African Union – along with the EU – is now a permanent member, in particular thanks to an initiative of Senegal that we in the German Government supported from the outset.

Also long overdue are a permanent seat for Africa on the UN Security Council, as well as more say in the International Monetary Fund and a stronger role in the World Bank.

The Federal Republic of Germany is working to this end.

Not least because we know that having a say leads to other negotiations, as well.

This is something else we are thinking about intensively right now in Europe and also in Germany. During the last century, our trade and agricultural agreements strongly reflected our own economic interests, as opposed to letting both sides have a say.

So we are currently re-examining the agreements we have concluded as the European Union, for example on the Amazon region in Latin America, raw materials partnerships, and agreements related to value-creation at the local level.

It is therefore fitting that here in Senegal, too, the new government has just announced it will publish the details of fisheries agreements, because of course this also applies to the agreements between our two countries.

Because we know, both in Europe and here, that failing to create value at the local level not only harms people in the particular region, but also increases migration pressure.

This is why a transparent discussion about this is so important. I’d like to emphasise that this isn’t an act of charity.

This is in our tangible security interests as this is the only way for us to strengthen our common rules, because otherwise no solutions for the 21st century will be found and stable peace will not be possible for either Africa or Europe anywhere in the world in the long term.

That’s why we’re also saying very clearly that we have a strong interest in peace, security and prosperity in West Africa.

Because people’s security is important to us, yes. But also because we want to have a stable neighbouring continent.

Because we need each other.

All of us still have the images from recent months here in Senegal in our minds.

Many, many young people, also in Germany, saw what was happening on the streets of Dakar, Touba and Pikine. There were lots of young people and also other generations on the streets sporting T-Shirts emblazoned with Aar Sunu Election – protect our election.

Placards proclaiming “Free Senegal”.

Protest songs on YouTube and TikTok.

In short, what Felwine Sarr said: people who want to decide themselves where their dreams take them.

Our democracies are being challenged around the world. It was therefore no coincidence that these videos were also shared and watched in Europe, because they have given hope to democracies that are being challenged also in Europe right now.

After all, democracy in Senegal has shown how strong it is. It has shown that the transition to a new government was possible and that people take to the streets for this cause.

And this is important at these times when democracies are less resilient in many countries and regions than we had all hoped.

You have seen this here, especially in your neighbouring region, with military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and the Niger.

And we have seen what happens when, in such unstable times, other actors challenge democracies from without, when Russian mercenaries commit terrible crimes in Mali, when people are driven into the arms of terrorists by exploiting the fact that they lack economic prospects.

This is why we’re taking action also in the security sector.

This is why we’re strengthening our cooperation with the African Union and ECOWAS in particular in order to listen, look and sound out the way forward in these countries together.

It was positive news for us that Senegal is to assume a key role as a mediator so that the people in the Sahel do not lose hope for a life in security. And I talked today to Foreign Minister Yassine Fall and the President about the fact that Germany is supporting these efforts, because it’s in our shared interest that our rules, which make all of us more secure, are upheld.

And I talked just as frankly about what’s challenging us in these turbulent times in Europe, where we’re seeing that democracy is never to be taken for granted and that, all of a sudden, there’s a war of aggression on our continent once again.

Where we’re witnessing that people in Germany and Europe are so unsettled in these times that they’re allowing themselves to be taken in by fake news, by hatred and hate speech, that they’re turning their backs on politics because they feel that the easier answers could be better – or that the state or government doesn’t make a difference in their lives.

The most important thing, not only internationally but also in our societies, is trust.

Together, we must also strengthen this trust in politics, politicians and our democracy, because otherwise extremists from within and without will capitalise on this.

This is why cooperation is so important for us as democrats.

In order to show one another that added value is provided by democracies working together because they can offer answers, in Africa and in Europe.

Because they get people on board and yield results together. This is about learning from and with each other.

We saw this during the pandemic, when things didn’t go well at the beginning - and now we finally have vaccine production in Africa.

But this is also the case for the many supposedly smaller things that are actually a pretty big deal at the end of the day.

For example, the Bundestag Committee on Legal Affairs visited you in Senegal last year in order to find out more about the law on parity.

A law that’s highly controversial also in Germany, but which is a reality here.

The law stipulates that at least half of the candidates for parliamentary elections must be female. In Germany, on the other hand, only a third of the Members of the German Bundestag are women.

That’s why listening to each other and learning from one another is so important for us as well.

After all, it doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about female doctors in Germany, female economists here in Senegal or female engineers in Chile.

If women don’t enjoy the same rights and equal participation, then societies are not only less stable but have, in concrete terms, a weaker economy.

This shows that values and interests are not a contradiction in terms. They’re two sides of the same coin.

President Faye said the following in his inaugural speech: “The Senegalese people have committed to building a sovereign, just and prosperous Senegal – in a progressing Africa”.

We want to support this path.

The best way to do this is by making offers of cooperation from which both sides stand to benefit.

I became acquainted with the principle of “gagnant-gagnant” today,

which sounds much more elegant in French.

This refers to things that improve people’s lives in our countries. Such as the Bus Rapid Transit system that many members of my delegation and myself travelled on today.

This is Africa’s first electric rapid bus system.

We have supported this system as the European Union within the framework of the Global Gateway initiative. We have seen how people in Dakar not only get to work more quickly thanks to this and how the buses help to reduce CO2 emissions and therefore contain the climate crisis, but we have also seen that European and Senegalese companies working together is a win-win situation.

I firmly believe that not only here, with regard to this new building, and not only with regard to this bus system, there are so many other economic sectors that we can benefit still more from.

This is why a business delegation from Germany is accompanying me on this trip.

Ndiarka Mbodji is also among them. Ndiarka is a Senegalese entrepreneur who advises international investors on investing in green energy in Senegal, and also beyond, with her start-up from Berlin.

Because we have seen that none of these good political ideas can come to fruition if we have a financial system that’s not really prepared for them.

And also because you can sense how difficult it is, and not just here in Africa, to raise money for local projects constructing solar panels or wind turbines.

But then there’s also the fact that the debt burden of countries in Africa in particular is hitting home much harder.

Interest rates on loans are often four times higher than they are in Europe.

And in a situation in which 30 percent of all households in Senegal still have no access to electricity, I can understand it when people say: what’s the point of all these projects if we can’t do anything about financing?

That’s precisely why we need to bring these aspects together: the climate, financing and the transition – we have also seen this in Germany. Phasing out coal sounds nice and easy. What this means for jobs, what this means for the regions with respect to implementation, however, is a major challenge, especially in democracies where we need majorities, where we hold elections every few years. That’s why, when we talk about transformation and transition, I appreciate that there’s a debate here in Senegal about what should happen to the gas deposits off the country’s coast in the future.

I’m aware that this is a difficult consideration because, on the one hand, other countries have made a profit from fossil fuels for decades and fossil fuel power plants always spell jobs.

On the other hand, we have seen that if we don’t work together to drive this transition forwards quickly, then all of us will suffer. This means we have a shared interest in an energy supply that helps to contain the climate crisis.Because otherwise the climate crisis will also eat up Senegal’s coastal areas. And we will work at the same time to ensure that the transition is just.

For us, this means not only promoting the expansion of renewable energies through the Just Energy Transition Partnership, as we have done in South Africa, but also doing our part together to ensure that workers employed on offshore oil rigs for decades receive further training and are able to find jobs in the solar sector going forward.

It means that we tackle the major issue of financing together so that the World Bank and regional development banks facilitate more green projects in countries that are badly hit by the climate crisis and that perhaps don’t have a triple A-rating like we do.

Because this is also our common interest. Because this makes all of us more secure.

If we listen instead of lecturing.

If we look for common interests instead of demanding declarations of support.

That’s what this new Goethe-Institut building in Dakar stands for.

So that we not only decide where our dreams take us, but also so that we shape our future together.