Xi, Africa, and the BRICS Summit: Latest Data on China and Africa

Xi Jinping is heading to Africa with stops in Senegal, Rwanda, South Africa and Mauritius. In South Africa, Xi will also attend the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit.

• SAIS-CARI Research Associate Janet Eom shares her analysis of this trip along with the latest Africa-China research from SAIS-CARI for her debut Expert Voices article on Axios.
• SAIS-CARI Director Deborah Brautigam weighs in at the Washington Post: "Xi Jinping is Visiting Africa This Week. Here's Why China is Such a Popular Development Partner."

Continued Support to SAIS-CARI from Carnegie Corporation of New York

We are pleased to announce that SAIS-CARI has received a generous new two-year grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. Under the leadership of Prof. Deborah Bräutigam, CARI’s director, this continued funding will allow us to keep producing cutting-edge research on China's role in Africa and reinforce our position as a go-to reference on related issues.

We appreciate Carnegie Corporation of New York for its past support and ongoing partnership, and look forward to this continued collaboration.

Call for Proposals: SAIS IDEV/CARI Student Practicum

With generous funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the China Africa Research Initiative at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS-CARI) is sponsoring one student practicum group in the International Development Program (IDEV) to do a practicum on a China-Africa related topic in the 2018-2019 academic year. We are currently seeking practicum clients, with an application deadline of July 25th, 2018.

Please click below for more information about previous practicum projects and presentations as well as the IDEV practicum in general.

If you have ideas for a practicum project on China-Africa (i.e. NOT a research project, but a proposal that would involve something more applied: an evaluation, design, survey, strategic plan, etc.), please contact us directly at sais-cari@jhu.edu.

Working Paper 16 and Policy Brief 22: The risks and rewards of Resource-for-Infrastructure deals: Lessons from the Congo's Sicomines Agreement

These papers by David G. Landry explore the Sicomines agreement and highlight the role risk has played from its inception a decade ago until now. This case reveals how, while simple on the surface, Resource-for-Infrastructure (RFI) deals carry significant risks for their signatories because of the long time horizon through which they operate. This has led the Sicomines agreement to experience many hurdles, both on the infrastructure delivery and resource extraction fronts. These papers employ financial modeling techniques to highlight the pitfalls of attempting to identify a “winner” in such ventures until they reach their conclusion. As these papers demonstrate through the Sicomines case, the expected benefits of RFI deals can change swiftly and unpredictably. Download Working Paper (PDF) and Policy Brief (PDF) »