Beginning of German development aid

© BMZ Egon Bahr, long-standing companion, friend and advisor of Willy Brandt, meets as a Minister of Development the Indian Prime Minister Indira Ghandi in New Delhi, 1976

On 15 January 1952 the young Federal Republic of Germany – having barely emerged from the ruins of the Second World War –awards developmental aid for the first time by making a half million German marks available for the „United Nations’ Expanded Assistance Programme for Economic Development of Underdeveloped Countries and Regions“. Within a few years the Federal Republic will become one of the most important donors among Western industrial nations.