How can the countries of the Sahel region determine their own development – as sovereign nations and on an equal footing with their partners? That was the question at our symposium on October 29, 2022, at the Kurt-Schumacher-Haus in Wedding. The focus was on Mali and Niger.
What it was about
Since 2012, we have held at least one major event every year, usually an AMK Symposium. Our 2020 symposium had already dealt with the Sahel region. Back then, the main question was how to overcome destabilization.
In 2022, a new question came to the fore. The symposium was titled “Peace and Development in the Sahel Region – How Can Independent and Sovereign Development on an Equal Footing Become Possible?”
How the day went
The symposium ran from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and was streamed on Zoom at the same time. Two interpreters provided interpretation between German and French.
Keynote talks were followed by a panel discussion. The speakers came from organizations including the Bonn-based peace and conflict research institute BICC, the Conseil des Maliens de l’Extérieur d’Allemagne (the council of Malians living in Germany), the West African think tank WATHI, and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Niger. In addition, a development economist gave a talk. The Ambassador of the Republic of Mali joined the panel discussion as well.
Peace promotes development
Our trilingual roll-up banner summed up the purpose of the day: “Frieden fördert Entwicklung” in German, “Peace promotes development” in English, and “Paix comme facteur de développement” in French.
Further reading
The results of the symposium are documented in the brochure “Sahel 2030 – Friedlich, stabil und souverän” (Sahel 2030: peaceful, stable, and sovereign). It was published in June 2023.
The symposium was funded by Engagement Global on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and by the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises.