Germany’s Steinmeier kicks off three-country Africa trip in Egypt

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier set off on a nearly week-long trip to Africa on Saturday, arriving in Cairo in the afternoon on a journey that will include stops in Egypt, Ghana and Angola. No German head of state has ever visited Angola before him.

Steinmeier last visited the African continent in December 2024.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi had invited the German president to attend the official opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum. This museum has been built within sight of the Pyramids of Giza.

The archaeological museum exhibits more than 100,000 objects from the Pharaonic, Greek and Roman antiquity. For the first time, the complete burial equipment of the boy king Tutankhamun will be on display, including his golden death mask.

Steinmeier was accompanied by his wife Elke Büdenbender at the museum opening.

Talks on Middle East issues

Steinmeier intends to use the opportunity in Cairo for bilateral talks with al-Sissi and other visiting world leaders.

Immediately after his arrival in Cairo, Steinmeier met Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

The discussions with both leaders were expected mainly to focus on the situation in the Middle East following the fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas.

According to the Office of the Federal President in Berlin, with the subsequent visits to Ghana and Angola, Steinmeier aims to acknowledge the regional commitment of both states to stability and peace in West Africa.

The political partnership with them is to be strengthened, and cooperation in the fields of economy, science and culture is to be expanded, it said.

Both Ghana and Angola are political heavyweights in their region and could also hold their own economically in the current turbulent global economic situation, the presidential office added.

Close development cooperation with Accra

Politically, Ghana is a stable democracy and therefore a haven of peace in West Africa. There has been close development cooperation between Germany and Ghana for decades.

Steinmeier already visited Ghana as president in 2017, but Angola has never before been visited by a German head of state.

Angola is also seen as an important political and economic partner in Berlin. The country currently holds the chairmanship of the African Union (AU), the most important association of African states with 55 members.

Angola is rich in resources

Angola is the world’s fourth largest diamond producer and has large, barely tapped deposits of critical raw materials that are also needed by the German economy. Angola is an oil-rich country, with 90% of its exports being crude oil.

Germany also mainly sources oil and gas from this country of some 38 million people.

Steinmeier is accompanied on his trip by a business delegation.