The increasing role of large developing countries in global trade, finance, investment and governance, coupled with their rapid economic growth, has stimulated debate on the implications for Africa’s development. The Economic Development in Africa Report 2010 examines recent trends in the economic relationships of Africa with other developing countries and the new forms of partnership that are animating those relationships.

The report discusses the variety of institutional arrangements that are guiding and encouraging these new economic relationships.It provides up-to-date information on African trade with other developing countries outside Africa, as well as on official financial flows and foreign direct investment into Africa from those countries. Finally, it assesses important policy issues that arise from the new relationships in each of these areas.

The report places the new relationships and multiplying partnerships within the context of South–South cooperation. It argues that South–South cooperation opens new opportunities for Africa, and the main challenge facing African countries is how to harness these new relationships more effectively to further their long-term development goals. There is a need for policies at the national level to ensure that Africa–South cooperation does not replicate the current pattern of economic relations with the rest of the world, in which Africa exports commodities and imports manufactures. In this regard, African countries and their developing country partners should manage their growing and evolving relationships in a manner that supports and enhances technological progress, capital accumulation and structural transformation in the region.

The report also stresses the need to broaden the country and sectoral focus of cooperation with the South to ensure that the gains are better distributed across countries. Furthermore, it argues that South– South cooperation should be seen as a complement rather than a substitute for relations with traditional partners, and that the latter can make South– South cooperation work for Africa by strengthening support for triangular cooperation as well as through better dialogue with developing country partners.