KfW Bankengruppe and GIZ welcome BMZ’s reform plan

KfW Group and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH welcome the reform plan of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) presented yesterday as a pivotal element in setting the course for international cooperation. KfW Executive Board member Christiane Laibach and Chair of the GIZ Management Board Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel explained: ‘We contribute extensive country knowledge, political analysis skills and partnerships grounded in trust. Our current internal reforms focus on ensuring that we are efficient and effective, so that we can provide the right responses to major geopolitical changes.’

Christiane Laibach, KfW Group Executive Board member responsible for international financing: ‘Our work is led by values and interests. In the future, development cooperation will hone in even more on mutual interests. It will also create new market opportunities for German companies as a result. As a bank, KfW has the right instruments and is further expanding its funding opportunities in line with the BMZ reforms.’

Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel, Chair of the Management Board of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH: ‘The reform plan makes it clear that international cooperation is also security and peace policy. It is values-based for good reasons, it is guided by common interests and thus strengthens Germany’s international reputation as a reliable partner. Whether for reconstruction in Ukraine or Syria – it is precisely in fragile countries like these that is is important to use strong, trust-based partnerships to provide support in the short term and build stable structures in the long term. This is exactly what defines GIZ’s performance capacity, with experience and networks from more than 50 years of international cooperation to draw on. We will expand our cooperation with the private sector systematically in the future.’