Summits with Africa are in fashion: in August, President Obama hosted America’s first; in April, the European Union staged the fourth EU-Africa summit in Brussels; the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – held one in Durban in March last year; and in June 2013 Japan hosted its five-yearly conference on African development in Yokohama. Next year will see the sixth China-Africa summit. South America, South Korea and Turkey, which have all held summits with African leaders in recent years, have pledged return matches in Africa.
Such is the profusion that African leaders are reviewing whether they can spend so much of their time cruising from summit to summit given their domestic priorities, the bi-annual African Union summits and the regular African regional meetings that demand their attendance.
Africa’s choice of partners
Mineral rich with untapped markets, this is the continent the world is now courting
