Rethinking the (European) Foundations of Sub-Saharan African Economic Integration: A Political Economy Essay

OECD Development Center Working Paper No. 293 Before the global economic crisis, Africa experienced a decade long surge in cross-border investment and growth. On the occasion of a lecture at Renmin University, Beijing in China on 25 August 2010, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma pointed out, referring to the OECD Perspectives on Global Development 2010, that a decade ago OECD countries were his country’s largest trading partners. ‚Last year,‛ Zuma contrasted, ‚China became South Africa’s largest trading partner.‛