Africa

Japan played a diplomatic blinder in Dakar in May, collecting not just a sackful of goodwill but solid sub-Saharan support for two of its key international priorities –...

It began with ‘China is a developing country’ and ended by shedding some – but not much – light on Beijing’s global aid programmes. In April, China’s State...

New Delhi’s not so secret competition with Beijing is heating up ahead of the second India-Africa Forum in Addis Ababa on 24-25 May. India’s diplomats are adopting Beijing’s...

Singapore is widening its net in Africa. The city-state’s trade with sub-Saharan Africa reached US$8.4 billion in 2009 and it punches above its weight in financial terms. Geographically...

A month after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated its northeast coast, Japan faces a humanitarian tragedy, a drawn-out nuclear crisis and an expensive reconstruction. In the tightly...

The World Bank’s African team dispatched a delegation to Tokyo in mid-March to boost its Japanese personnel, as part of Bank President Robert Zoellick’s ongoing reform of the institution. Some...

Africa’s second railway boom is under way. The first was driven by Europe’s colonial powers, who needed to tranport ore, tea, coffee and other goods from the interior to the...

Energy is at the centre of South Korea’s strategic agenda and the Seoul government wants to improve the country’s position in the African energy market. To that end, Seoul dispatched...

A formal study group at the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development is exploring ways to take lessons from China’s development path and apply them to the fight...