November 3-4, 2023, Cornell University
The symposium will explore investment and development finance which is an important area of policy discussions in Africa and other developing areas of the world, as well as those that will give a brief overview of the scale of both Chinese and Middle Eastern investment in Africa. Multifaceted and multidisciplinary analytical approaches that will consider the role of Chinese and Gulf State investments in the development of Africa, especially Africa’s efforts to create a free trade area are welcomed. Furthermore, the symposium will look at the role foreign investment can play in resource mobilization for infrastructure development as well as the links between law, trade, and regional integration.
Friday, 1:00pm Session I: A. Context: Africa, China and Middle East Trade and Investment
China’s Infrastructure Investment in Africa: Do Local Firms Benefit from Interactions with Chinese Firms? (Hong Bo, Professor, Financial Economics, SOAS University of London)
Too Much of a Good Thing: gulf-African Trade Relations in the Age of Competition (Bashar Malkawi, Global Professor of Practice in Law, University of Arizona)
Regulating Digital Foreign Direct Investment for Development in Africa: Interactions between National, Regional and International Rules (Jianzhi Zeng, Associate Research Fellow, Shenzhen University)
The Evolution of Chinese State-Owned Enterprise Investment in Africa (Wendy Leutert, GLP-Ming Z. Mei Chair of Chinese Economics and Trade, Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, Indiana University)
Saturday, 9:30am Session III: Impact of Chinese and Middle East Investment, Infrastructure, Development, and Productivity
The Role of MENA Investments in The Development of Africa: A Rule of Law Perspective (Radwa Elsaman, Adjunct Professor of Law and Visiting Scholar, Cornell Law School / Sustainable International Development Legal Consultant & Rule of Law Advisor Lecturer at the Faculty of Law at Cairo University)
On the Optimal Credit Development and Banks Strategic Behavior with Foreign Capital Flows (François d’Assises Babou BATIONO is Capital and Liquidity Policy Analyst at Autorité des Marches Financiers (Authority for Financial Markets), Canada
12:30pm Session IV: Investment and Impact on Informal Trade and Poverty Reduction
Particular Features of Chinese Foreign Direct Investments in Africa (Jean Kachiga, Professor, Political Science, SUNY Brockport)
How Does Financial Inclusion Affect Sustainable Economic Growth and Sustainable Reduction in Poverty and Income Inequality? (Ayse Demir, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Business and Law, Roehampton University, London)
1:30pm Session V: Chinese and Middle East Investments: Country Case Studies
The Politics and Economics of Kuwaiti Foreign Aid to Senegal (Mara A. Leichtman, Associate Professor, Anthropology, Michigan State University)
Reassessing China’s Investment Relationship with Ghana: In Search of a Non-Exploitation Partnership (Kwame Frimpong, Professor of Law and former Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Botswana
Assessing Variations in Chinese Overseas Capital: The View from Uganda (Robert Wyrod, Associate Professor, Gender, University of Colorado, Boulder)
From Neoliberalism to Populism: Mineworkers, Labor Law Reform, and the Contested Foundations of Neo-Developmentalism in Zambia (Kibrom Teweldebirhan, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law)
From Contractors to Investors? Evolving Engagement of Chinese State Capital in Global Infrastructure Development and the Case of Lekki Port in Nigeria (Hong Zhang, China Public Policy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Ash Center of Harvard Kennedy School