Dragon and Lions

This thesis aim is to shed light on a relevant phenomenon that it is characterizing our current economy. This trend is the South – South investment, which sees a shift of foreign direct investments’ destinations. Traditionally the path of these investments occurred from developed countries to developing countries, while nowadays it can be observed that emerging countries such as China, Brazil and India, are addressing the majority of their investments in neighboring and faraway countries, which are underdeveloped. In the wake of lately rapid changes in the world economy our attention cannot be far from China rise and development. The thesis wants then to present the phenomenon of South – South investment through the operations of China, country that after the liberalization of its market has grown more and more and country that is one of the first nations in the rank for foreign direct investments. As the China’s Year of Africa in 2006 supports the concept of South-South foreign direct investment, China-Africa relations should be a subject of unprecedented attention. The thesis analyses the causes and consequences of China – Africa relations, giving also concrete examples.