By Janet A. Sesay

Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (MoPED) has signed an agreement with   Germany running into €137m the equivalent of approximately Le200 trillion in Sierra Leone’s currency.

The signing ceremony which took place last Tuesday at MoPED will enhance economic development, employment, social protection, population policy among others.

Nine million Euros will go into the school feeding project, a move that shows government’s commitment to quality education in Sierra Leone.

The agreement stands as a testimony to bilateral negotiation on development cooperation marking the revival of a thirty-two year break in dialogue.

New areas such as vocational training, agriculture, health, and decentralised approaches will be considered in the bilateral agreement.

The agreement will be flexible as it will also look at renewable energy and other areas as implementation starts in the near future.

Over the years, Germany has shown interest in having several partners including Sierra Leone, a country which recognises democratic principles.

Speaking after the signing ceremony, Christoph Rauh, Africa Director of the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany Embassy said it was worthwhile to have the negotiation resumed as a basis for cooperation in the next two years.

“This is a new start for the bilateral cooperation with Sierra Leone,” Rauh said adding that the German Embassy, in the past, worked on the basis of review but now opens the door for a regular bilateral dialogue about development cooperation programmes.

The dialogue, he went on, was meant to support the people of Sierra Leone, and a solid basis for continuation of the cooperation.

Rauh also noted that Sierra Leone had an agreement on 18^th October, 2023, a move he saw as a good pace for continuing the national dialogue, stabilise the country and opens doors for investors.

In her address, Minister of Planning, Kenyeh Barlay appreciated the German Embassy for going into such an agreement with Sierra Leone Government.

For a long time, the Minister said, they had realised that the bilateral relationship between Sierra Leone and Germany began 30 years back, and expressed hope that it would be strengthened this time.

“Owing to this protocol we have just signed, the German Embassy will continue in the trend of aligning their development intervention in the national agenda,” the minister expressed hope.

 She also briefed the embassy on the ‘Big Five’ agenda on human capital development, youth employment and revamp of the public sector architecture, technology and innovation and comfortable that the German Embassy was committed to supporting the development agenda.

Over the past two days, the minister went on, they had deliberated on a draft protocol that had been acceptable to all in the areas of sustainable economic development, training, employment, health, social protection, population, global and regional programmes among others.

She also stated that they discussed on regional and global peace through its commitment to regional bodies and Sierra Leone for two years as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

“In this regard, we are look forward to working closely with Germany on global food security and international order,” the minister appealed.

She also commended line ministries for outlining their priorities and waited patiently for the resolution of several issues within the protocol.