The increasing role of largedeveloping countries inglobal trade, finance,investment and governance,coupled with their rapideconomic growth, hasstimulated debate on the implicationsfor Africa’s development. The EconomicDevelopment in Africa Report 2010examines recent trends in theeconomic relationships of Africa withother developing countries and thenew forms of partnership that areanimating those relationships.
The report discusses the variety ofinstitutional arrangements that areguiding and encouraging these neweconomic relationships.It providesup-to-date information on Africantrade with other developing countriesoutside Africa, as well as on officialfinancial flows and foreign directinvestment into Africa from thosecountries. Finally, it assesses importantpolicy issues that arise from the newrelationships in each of these areas.
The report places the new relationshipsand multiplying partnershipswithin the context of South–Southcooperation. It argues that South–Southcooperation opens new opportunitiesfor Africa, and the main challengefacing African countries is how toharness these new relationships moreeffectively to further their long-termdevelopment goals. There is a needfor policies at the national level toensure that Africa–South cooperationdoes not replicate the current patternof economic relations with therest of the world, in which Africaexports commodities and importsmanufactures. In this regard, Africancountries and their developingcountry partners should manage theirgrowing and evolving relationshipsin a manner that supports andenhances technological progress,capital accumulation and structuraltransformation in the region.
The report also stresses the need tobroaden the country and sectoralfocus of cooperation with theSouth to ensure that the gains arebetter distributed across countries.Furthermore, it argues that South–South cooperation should be seen as acomplement rather than a substitutefor relations with traditional partners,and that the latter can make South–South cooperation work for Africa bystrengthening support for triangularcooperation as well as through betterdialogue with developing countrypartners.
