Emergency relief and crisis prevention are becoming increasingly important. The growing number of armed conflicts confronts development cooperation with new challenges. The aim of crisis prevention must come to the fore in the case of all development measures which touch on potential for social conflict. Even after the end of an acute conflict, development cooperation fulfills an important function by securing the smooth transition from survival assistance to reconstruction. It remains the central task of development cooperation to support, in contrast to and complementary to humanitarian assistance, the establishment of long-term sustainable structures which make self-sustained development possible.

The promotion of the private sector has gained even greater importance since the failure of models based on state-run economies. Activities range from support for market reforms to credit programs and advisory services in the informal sector. The trades and small and medium-sized businesses, the pillars of balanced economic development resistant to crises, are central to our activities. Support for small enterprises is a direct contribution to poverty alleviation. Private-sector involvement is being called for more and more in the context of physical infrastructure and the provision of public services.

The economic upturn of the newly industrialized countries (NICs) in Asia and Latin America has shown the type of dynamic development that can be achieved by extending trade and creating incentives for the deployment of private capital. German development cooperation assumes the function of intermediary and catalyst in the economic sector.