International policy is not one portfolio

She is not Germany's Foreign Minister. The Development Ministry works alongside the Federal Foreign Office and the Defence Ministry. In her first speech as minister she described the three as working in concert.

Federal Foreign Office

Foreign policy

Diplomatic relations, embassies, consular services
Security policy, sanctions, crisis diplomacy
Humanitarian assistance: Germany's emergency aid budget sits with the Foreign Office
Representation at the UN Security Council and in EU foreign affairs

BMZ — her ministry

Development cooperation

Long-term cooperation with partner countries and their institutions
Financial cooperation (KfW) and technical cooperation (GIZ)
Transitional development assistance in crises: resilience, food systems, reconstruction
Germany's shareholder role in the World Bank and regional development banks; contributions to UN funds and programmes

The division of humanitarian and development budgets is described in the Bundestag's reporting on the 2026 and 2027 budget debates (bundestag.de).

Reem Alabali-Radovan in a camel suit shaking hands with a man in a dark suit in front of African Union flags in a wood-panelled office — Fig. 01A meeting in front of African Union flags. Her first visit to the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa as minister took place on 10 December 2025, according to the BMZ. The supplied file does not state the date of this photograph.

The “Dreiklang”

Development as part of security

In her first Bundestag speech as minister, on 14 May 2025, she presented development policy in a “Dreiklang” (a triad) with foreign and defence policy, and linked it to migration: “Entwicklungspolitik ist ein unverzichtbarer Teil deutscher Migrationspolitik” (development policy is an indispensable part of German migration policy).

The framing matters politically. It answers critics who regard development spending as optional, but it also invites another criticism, from development NGOs and the Greens and the Left: that aid becomes an instrument of German security or migration interests rather than of poverty reduction.

When she visited the African Union in December 2025, which the ministry described as the first inaugural visit by a German cabinet member, she called the war in Sudan “die weltweit schwerste menschliche Katastrophe, unterstützt durch Waffen und Gelder externer Akteure” (the world's worst human catastrophe, supported by weapons and money from external actors).

Themes

The international agenda she works on

01Conflict & fragilitySudan, Gaza and the wider Middle East, Ukraine. Development cooperation works in and around conflicts through resilience programmes, support to host countries and early recovery.
02Humanitarian challengesOCHA's 2026 Global Humanitarian Overview counts 239 million people in need. The BMZ funds longer-term measures, while acute relief is led by the Foreign Office. See Humanitarian policy.
03Global inequalityFAO's SOFI 2025 report estimates 673 million people were hungry in 2024. Poverty and food insecurity are concentrated in fragile and low-income countries.
04European cooperationTeam Europe and the EU's Global Gateway combine EU and member-state resources. See Europe & Global South.
05Multilateral institutionsGermany is a major shareholder in the World Bank and contributes to UN agencies, the Global Fund and Gavi. Her 2027 draft budget raises contributions to multilateral development banks to €1.36 billion while cutting UN contributions to €442.7 million.
06Diplomacy of developmentDevelopment ministers meet partner governments, development banks and other donors, at the G20 development ministers' meeting in South Africa in July 2025, at the UN General Assembly, and in donor groups such as the Palestine Donor Group in Brussels in July 2026.

Sources

BMZ, speech of 14 May 2025: bmz.de
BMZ, visit to Addis Ababa, 10 Dec 2025: bmz.de
OCHA, Global Humanitarian Overview 2026: humanitarianaction.info
SOFI 2025 summary: IISD SDG Knowledge Hub
Bundestag hib 655/2026 on the 2027 draft budget: bundestag.de