DLG and GIZ step up their cooperation

Cooperation agreement signed

Berlin. The Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft e.V. – aka German Agricultural Society – and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) are stepping up their cooperation. DLG President Carl-Albrecht Bartmer and GIZ Management Board Member Cornelia Richter signed a corresponding cooperation agreement on 15 October in Berlin. Its purpose: to continue fostering the advancement of the agribusiness and food industry in Germany and around the world.

‘More than 25 years ago, we shared in the success of setting up working groups for progressive farmers in Turkey’, said DLG President Carl-Albrecht Bartmer with regard to the long-standing cooperation between the two organisations. ‘These working groups have since evolved into a motor for progress and entrepreneurship in Turkey’s agricultural sector. Following on from this model example, we are now set to engage in even closer cooperation.’

According to GIZ Management Board Member Cornelia Richter, the advantages of this cooperation alliance are plain to see. ‘Both organisations are engaged in a thematic field that is of national as well as global importance – today more than ever.’

DLG and GIZ can look back on many joint events and conferences that have successfully shaped dialogue and development in international agricultural policy as well as in the agri-food sector. Moreover, on behalf of Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), GIZ has continually worked with DLG since the 1970s on the international journal ‘Rural 21’ which is circulated in more than 150 countries.

This cooperation agreement gives both companies a basis on which to build new forms of cooperation. Both sides complement each other in terms of their competence, contacts and networks: GIZ gets better access to practitioners’ agri-food know-how while DLG is able to raise its international profile by taking part in GIZ events and projects in threshold and developing countries.

The German Agricultural Society (DLG) is an agribusiness and food industry organisation with an international outreach. Its mandate is to promote technical and scientific progress. The DLG is an expert organisation, politically independent and open to everyone. With its projects and activities, the DLG sets standards and provides impetus for progress.

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a federal enterprise with worldwide operations. We support the German Government in the fields of international cooperation for sustainable development and international education. Through our work we assist people and societies in shaping their own future and improving living conditions.