Siemens affirms its strong commitment to Africa with agreements and projects on electrification, industrialization, mobility and vocational training

"It is impressive to see how many African economies are accelerating and gaining ground. With the right approach and the right partner, they can develop their full potential. Siemens is capable of, and committed to, supporting Africa's economic development – with sustainable solutions and comprehensive projects. With this, we create real and lasting value – in Africa, for Africa. The agreements signed today with our African partners are an important step towards this goal," said Joe Kaeser, President and Chief Executive Officer of Siemens AG.

The pan-African industrial group Eranove, together with the EPC TSK Group, signed an MoU with Siemens in the presence of Faure Gnassingbé, President of the Republic of Togo, to successfully develop the country's first gas-fired combined cycle power plant, named Kékéli Efficient Power, in Lomé, Togo. Eranove, TSK and Siemens are committed to taking a substantial step forward toward an environmentally friendly and financially accessible baseload energy production, thus addressing the needs of the Republic of Togo. Gas-fired combined cycle power plants are the most efficient thermal power plants in the world. The Kékéli project is an impressive example of how using Siemens technologies contributes to providing access to affordable power in the countries of West and Central Africa. With a capacity of 65 MW, the gas-fired combined cycle power plant will be able to cover 30 percent of the domestic demand for electricity in Togo. Due to its flexibility, the unit will contribute to the stabilization of the power grid in Togo and allow easier integration of renewables into the grid.

The partners are also committed to ensuring the long-term maintenance of the power plant in order to provide reliable energy to the Togolese people. They will also engage in the development of local competencies in management, operations and maintenance, ensuring that, over time, the project company is fully staffed by Togolese citizens.

Following the successful completion of projects for stabilizing and extending the power supply for more than 40 million people in Egypt, within the record time of less than 28 months and with the participation of Siemens, the groundwork has been laid for modernizing existing factories and building up new ones across industry sectors to boost the economy and increase the export orientation of local businesses.

As part of ongoing support for Egypt Vision 2030, which identifies industrialization as a central pillar of the country's economic transformation strategy, the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt, represented by the Minister of Trade and Industry and the Minister of Education and Technical Education, has signed an MoU with Siemens on collaboration in select fields and on co-developing a multi-year plan to improve the competitiveness of Egyptian industry. This would be achieved by developing and expanding world-class digitization and automation solutions and by upskilling Egypt's industrial workforce. This MoU seeks to achieve progress in several areas including, but not limited to, industrialization and industrial zones, automation and digitalization, education and training, energy saving, safety solutions and environmental protection.

Siemens will work with the Egyptian ministries to promote industrialization and the development of industrial zones across several discrete and process industries. Siemens will contribute specific expertise and industrial know-how to help Egyptian industry improve competitiveness. The government will enhance the environment in these sectors through regulatory support. Recognizing the need to ensure a skilled workforce as part of this industrialization vision, the agreement looks to upgrade existing education and training approaches via training assets and additional certified industrial training instructors. As a first step, Siemens will build up a team of up to 100 local software developers, leading to the creation of new direct and indirect jobs in the country.

Volkswagen (VW), together with Siemens, the German Development Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), and other German partner companies, is collaborating on a mobility project (Moving Rwanda) for the City of Kigali in Rwanda, where the use of electric vehicles will also be available to local residents. For cities to be smart, new and sustainable transport models, such as electric car sharing initiatives, will be required. Vehicle sharing in a specific area offers access to a car without the burden of ownership. In addition, the usage of e cars for such a service helps the urban environment to become even more ecologically sustainable. On the occasion of today's Compact with Africa Summit, Moving Rwanda was presented to the political leaders of the African "Compact" nations as an efficient and forward-looking solution to the challenges of individual urban transport in rapidly growing African cities.

In line with the Rwanda Green Transport initiative, Volkswagen envisions assembling electric cars and plans to start a pilot phase for these operations in 2019. The vehicles that will be introduced are expected to boost green transportation in Rwanda in addition to reducing traffic congestion. The project consists of a VW production facility for vehicle assembly as well as the infrastructure required for electric mobility to satisfy the requirements of the grid and the needs of users. Implementation activities for a pilot project are currently scheduled to start early in 2019.

With all three projects, Siemens and its partners want to drive energy, infrastructure and digitalization development in Africa and support the countries in their industrialization efforts. Under these agreements, Siemens and its partners will develop solutions in the area of power supply, transportation, industry and vocational training.