Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel visits the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

Eschborn, 3 March 2011. Today, Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Dirk Niebel, visited the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, following an invitation by the Chairman of the Management Board, Bernd Eisenblätter.

Chancellor Merkel used her visit to find out more about GIZ’s work, in particular about a vocational education project in the Palestinian territories where GIZ has been commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development to improve prospects for first-time job seekers, vocational school teachers and young entrepreneurs. Through this project, some 500 teachers and careers advisors have undergone training courses at home and abroad and are now – with an eye to the economy’s needs – helping young people to choose a profession and assisting them with their training and search for work, including their job applications. To date, around 30,000 young people have benefited from the project, either through better vocational training or through the careers advice they were given. ‘A forward-looking development policy goes much further than charitable development aid. It is about investing in the future and finding partnership-based and innovative solutions to global problems. In GIZ we have created an organisation that embodies this aspiration, making it the flagship of German international cooperation,’ said Niebel.

A federally owned company, GIZ started life in 2011, bringing together the long-standing expertise of the Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst (DED) gGmbH (German Development Service), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH (German technical cooperation) and InWEnt – Capacity Building International, Germany. Most of its employees are located in its partner countries. ‘We are delighted to be honoured with this visit. It is certain to be a source of motivation for our staff members who, in some 130 countries across the globe, are supporting people in improving their living conditions,’ said Eisenblätter.The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is owned by the Federal Republic of Germany. Through its operations around the globe, it supports the German Government in the fields of international cooperation for sustainable development and international education. GIZ supports people and societies in shaping their own futures and improving their living conditions.

Contact:

Kathrin Meinertz
Phone: +49 6196 79-4466
E-Mail: presse@giz.de