Lesotho's King Letsie III welcomed German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at his royal palace on Saturday at the end of a three-country, four-day tour of Africa that started in Nigeria.

Steinmeier's visit is the first by a German president to the small mountainous country, which is entirely surrounded by South Africa.

Why is Steinmeier visiting?

The trip — off the back of discussions in South Africa with President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday — follows an invitation extended by Lesotho's monarch during a visit to Berlin last year.

Steinmeier promised at the time that he would stop by when he was in the area again.

"I feel honored to be the first Federal President to visit your wonderful country," Steinmeier wrote in the royal guest book.

With a population of 2.3 million, Lesotho has an unemployment rate of more than 30%. Trade with Germany is in the single-digit million range, with little in the way of natural resources that would be important for German industry.

"Anyone who looks around here can see how important it is for us to look after this country," Steinmeier noted on the trip.

Specifically, Germany is involved in a water management project in the country, as well as vocational training for young people.

Small complication en-route

Because the runway at the airport in Lesotho's capital, Maseru, was too short for the Airbus A350 that brought Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Africa, an alternative aircraft had to be found.

As a result, he and his delegation had to board a chartered Boeing 737 in Johannesburg for the hour-long flight to Maseru.

Lesotho is heavily dependent on its large neighbor South Africa. For decades, many Lesotho residents have had to look for work in South Africa, with many of those jobs in mining.

Lesotho's own economy is based on agriculture and the export of textiles, diamonds and water.

This article was written using material from the DPA news agency