ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the historical basis for the present cooperation between Asia and Africa. It presents an overview of various political and economic initiatives already taken to strengthen Afro-Asian ties. The chapter provides an analysis of the political economy of rising Asian interest in Africa. It addresses the reasons why Africa is seemingly retrogressing and offers solutions that could aid Africa to fully maximize the benefits of the rising Asian interest. Africans and Asians both have a history of migration, interaction, and cultural sharing. They share a history of European colonization, decolonization, and independence as well as neocolonization and dependency. At present, the identified goals of the Asia-Africa partnership—such as political solidarity, economic cooperation, and sociocultural collaboration—are far from being realized, as Africa continues to retrogress under the burden of corruption, poverty, bad governance, and an unfavorable balance of trade.
