In this special issue, the context of Africa-India Relations is with special reference to the political realities at this particular historical juncture, that is, early 21st century. As the Eurozone is undergoing a serious crisis and the USA grapples with economic shrinkage and a high unemployment problem, China and India are experiencing comparatively (though relatively) bigger economic growth rates. The consequences of these conditions are, for India and China, improved investment capacities and influence in Africa, testing their abilities to compete against the established interests of the West, testing their respective capacities against each other, and entrenching their gains to make their presence sustainable over the years. However antagonistic India and China might be towards each other, current economic and political realities forces them, at least at a rhetorical level, to cooperate in ways that ensures that the rest of the world perceives them as altruistic and responsible role players who are committed to development and world peace.
