Conference Reports

Conference Report – The 2nd China-Africa Think Tanks Forum

Date: 12-13 October 2012
Venue: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Brief conference report from the 2nd China-Africa Think Tanks Forum (CATTF II) which was held in Bishoftu, Ethiopia, October 12-13, 2012. The forum was hosted by the Institute of African Studies of Zhejiang Normal University and the Institute for Peace and Security Studies of Addis Ababa University under the theme of “Chinese and African Common Interests: Current Issues and Future Perspectives in Governance, Peace and Security”. CCS Director Sven Grimm, Research Fellow Ross Anthony, and Research Analyst Yejoo Kim attended the forum. Continue Reading

CCS Conference Report: “Greening China-Africa relations”

21 May 2012

Points taken from a workshop in Stellenbosch, 17-18 May 2012. The workshop discussed progress and challenges with regard to incorporating environmentally-friendly practice into Chinese and African development and in China-Africa cooperation. Participants included researchers from various disciplines from China and African states as well as Chinese and African NGOs. The workshop was hosted by the CCS and the Chinese Embassy to South Africa, meant to provide space for academic discussion and to provide input for the upcoming FOCAC V meeting in Beijing. The points provided here as a summary are observations by CCS Director Dr Sven Grimm; they might not reflect the consensus of all participants.  Continue Reading

Chinese Ambassador to South Africa, H.E. TIAN Xuejun addressed the opening session of the workshop. His remarks are available on the website of the Embassy of the Peoples’ Republic of China in Pretoria.

Meeting Summary: The Transparency of Chinese Aid – Chatham House, London

14 September 2011

This is a summary of an event held on 23 September at Chatham House, during the launch of CCS/PWYF report Transparency of Chinese Aid: An analysis of the published information on Chinese external financial flows.

Following China’s release of its first foreign aid report earlier this year, the panel discussed whether this marks a change of direction, and looked at the opportunities for integrating Chinese aid information with that of other donors.

On the panel: Karin Christiansen – Director, Publish What You Fund,  Sven Grimm – Report author and CCS Director, Chris Alden – Reader in International Relations, LSE, and Chair: Alex Vines – Director of Regional & Security Studies, Chatham House

Download the meeting summary [here].

China-Africa Relations and Public Diplomacy – Conference in Stellenbosch on 15-16 August 2011

The joint conference on public diplomacy organised by the Centre for Chinese Studies, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Duke University took place in Stellenbosch on 15 and 16 August 2011. The topic, public diplomacy, was positioned in a changing landscape of international relations. The conference, attended by numerous Chinese academics and researchers from Southern Africa, discussed the facts and perceptions for Sino-African relations in economics, societal and in the cultural realm.

The conference was attended by His Excellency, the Chinese Ambassador to South Africa, Zhong Jianhua, and China‘s eminent person on Africa, Ambassador Liu Guijin.

For more on the conference, you can view the report [here].

Conference Report: EDC 2020 Event – Shaping Europe’s Global Role – 10th February 2011

Dr Sven Grimm (r) at the EDC2020 Conference, February 2011

Image: EDC 2020

The final conference of the European Development Cooperation to 2020 project (EDC 2020) took place in Brussels on 10 February 2011. The conference examined challenges for European development cooperation.

In this context, lead researchers from the EDC 2020 project presented the results of three years of research on three game changers for European Development Cooperation:  New actors, Energy security, democracy & development and  Climate change in a session chaired by CCS Director, Dr. Sven Grimm.

For more details, please see the EDC conference report.

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