Africa-Asia Business Forum

The Africa-Asia Business Forum (AABF), a series of intense face-to-face negotiations between selected African and Asian firms, aims at identifying business partners to enter into various types of deals such as joint ventures, franchising, licensing, technology transfer etc. Its ultimate objective is to attract investment into Africa and to increase trade between Africa and Asia. The concept of AABF was formulated as a direct outcome of the Second Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD II), which recognized the significance of increased trade and investment between sub-Saharan Africa and Asia and the mutually beneficial learning process of the two regions.

According to statistical data by the World Bank, a TICAD co-organizer, African exports to Asia, while still small, grew significantly during the past 12 years. Of Africa’s total export earnings estimated at about US$134 billion per year (2001–2003 average), 15 percent come from sales to Asia. The rate of increase in export values to Asia -- about 10 percent per year -- has been higher than the comparable rates for the European Union or the United States.
Over the same period, Asia’s developing economies have significantly increased their imports from African countries. In fact, Asia’s imports from Africa outpaced its imports from other regions except from Asia. Economies such as India, China, and Taiwan (China) have considerably increased the overall volume of their African imports.

The TICAD Initiative presents important opportunities to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Achieving the MDGs hinges on a global partnership by which the industrialized nations of the world have pledged to assist developing countries that undertake sound economic and political reforms in a wide range of areas, including with trade and technology. Given the prospects for achieving the MDGs in Africa, it is widely argued that strategic alliances would benefit African and Asian businesses as African leaders and development partners explore ways and means to achieve the MDGs.

Two AABF meetings were held between TICAD II and TICAD III  - AABF I in 1999 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, drawing 230 African and Asian businesspeople, and AABF II in 2001 in Durban, South Africa, drawing about equal number of African and Asian businesspeople. AABF III, which was held in 2004 in Dakar, Senegal, drew about 121 participants from 14 African countries and 26 participants from six Asian countries. AABF IV was held in 2007 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, drawing 168 business people from 16 African countries and 44 participants from 7 Asian countries. AABF V was held in June 2009 in Kampala, Uganda, focusing on tourism and tourism-related sectors, and bringing together a total of 349 participants representing public and private sector as well as civil society and international organizations.