Partner Spotlight: Germany

ADB and Germany have been partners for almost 60 years. A founding member of ADB, Germany is among the largest contributors to ADB sovereign projects. In total, Germany has contributed $7.1 billion to projects and technical assistance and $161.6 million to ADB-managed trust funds.

In 2023 alone, Germany, through the KfW, committed $284.5 million in project-specific cofinancing with ADB and $7.6 million to the ADB-managed Clean Energy Fund. Moreover, ADB's Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program supported 142 transactions valued at $58.1 million with banks domiciled in Germany and supported 3,155 German exports and/or imports valued at $315.9 million.  

Germany’s new Asia strategy, launched in December 2023 by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, outlines the potential areas for future collaboration with ADB. This issue of the Partnership Newsletter features highlights of ADB and Germany’s financing partnership and Germany’s Strategy for Asia in the coming years.  

View: Germany’s Partner Profile from the Partnership Report 2023 

Cofinancing Commitments 

The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the KfW, and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit manage Germany’s official development assistance. 

ADB and the KfW signed a third amendment to the ADB–KfW Cofinancing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in October 2022, extending the MOU until 2025 and increasing the cofinancing target by another $2 billion. The original MOU, which targeted $2 billion in joint cofinancing, was first signed in July 2014 and later amended in September 2017 and November 2019 for an additional $4 billion. 

Germany’s cofinancing commitments in the last five years, from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2023, comprised the following:  

Sovereign: 16 projects, cofinancing of $3.15 billion  

» Loans: $3.12 billion for 12 projects  

» Grants: $26.83 million for 2 projects  

» Technical assistance: $3.64 million for 3 projects  

Nonsovereign: $5.49 billion for 35 projects 

From: Asian Development Bank and Germany: Fact Sheet 

Germany-Financed Trust Funds 

As the climate bank for the Asia and Pacific region, ADB harnesses trust funds to scale up climate action, mobilize private financing, and accelerate private sector participation in development. Germany is a partner in these ADB-managed trust funds.  

Asia-Pacific Climate Finance Fund. This supports the development of financial risk management products that can help unlock capital for climate investments and improve resilience to climate change impacts. Contributions: $33 million 

Cities Development Initiative for Asia Trust Fund. This aims to assist secondary cities in preparing bankable and sustainable infrastructure projects, linking them with funding sources, and strengthening their capacities to develop and implement high-priority investments. Contributions: $14.4 million  

Clean Energy Fund. This aims to improve energy security in developing member countries and decrease the rate of climate change through increased use of clean energy. Contributions: $140.7 million 

Energy Transition Mechanism Partnership Trust Fund. This mobilizes resources for the Energy Transition Mechanism, which aims to catalyze public and private capital to accelerate the transition from carbon-intensive coal-based power plants to clean energy in ADB developing member countries. Contributions: $140.7 million 

Projects

Kazakhstan: Cutting Emissions with Green Housing Finance 

Homes in Kazakhstan are turning green as the country adopts green technologies, more sustainable green construction, and green mortgage finance mechanisms. ADB, Germany, and Luxembourg are supporting Kazakhstan direct its national development goals toward greener housing growth. 

Indonesia: Expanding Financial Inclusion through Digital Innovations 

ADB and Germany, through KfW, are helping Indonesia expand financial inclusion through digital innovations that ensure that small businesses, women, youth, and those living in rural areas are more fully included in the formal banking system. 

 Ensuring a Better Life along the River 

Rural life in Pingjiang County in the People’s Republic of China will soon be safer, more secure, and less challenging. ADB and the KfW are supporting initiatives to improve life in the countryside while ensuring ecological balance and promoting green development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. 

Germany’s Asia Strategy 

The “German Development Policy with Asia: Innovative-Social-Feminist" sets out the cornerstones of Germany’s development cooperation with Asia, which can be summed up in three words: innovative, social, and feminist. 

Germany will be innovative in supporting partner countries in Asia in their transition to green and sustainable economies; social, in supporting the creation of socially just economies; and feminist, in ensuring that all people can equally participate in society.  

The strategy focuses on five guiding principles:  

• gender equality for just and strong societies 
• giving a social and inclusive dimension to climate-compatible development 
• technical and vocational education and training in green industries of the future – decent, fair, and innovative
• harnessing the opportunities of social protection as an investment in the stability and future of Asian societies 
• preserving biodiversity and ecosystems, and preventing resource conflicts 

These guiding principles align with ADB’s Strategy 20230 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

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ADB Partnerships: News, Views, and Progress in Asia and the Pacific provides monthly updates on ADB's strategic partnerships that work toward achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific.