Think tanks role 

At the first CATTF meeting, China and African scholars offered candid and in-depth dialogue on how to promote construction of peace and security in Africa, how to increase international investment and trade in Africa, how to promote economic development and reduce poverty, and how to promote people-to-people exchanges between China and Africa. What also emerged is the bigger role think tanks can play.

Sall has great expectations on the role think-tank exchanges play in China-Africa relations. According to him, research can increase the knowledge of each other's cultures, history, and politics. Research into how think tanks repackage research for wider dissemination to policymakers, through the media, particularly radio, TV and the new social media, was discussed and needs to be conducted, he said. "This could help in dispelling fears, or even countering the sometimes more or less deliberate missrepresentations, that demagogues of various kinds could be tempted to engage in, as they pursue agendas that are not necessarily aimed at making cooperation and friendship stronger," said Sall.

"Power shifts from the West to the East have already been met with renewed political and military assertiveness on the part of the West. Emerging economies do not always respond to such developments with the necessary strategic coordination. Unless the emerging political groupings organize themselves in a more cohesive fashion, they will not assume the power and influence in the global system which their new status warrants," said Essop Goolam Pahad, former South African cabinet minister and founder of The Thinker magazine.

Pahad said the emergence of BRICS presents both opportunities and risks in global politics, as they [BRICS] need to be carefully evaluated and considered in various strategic planning contexts to achieve selected prioritized objectives. 

"Today, developing countries have come to a crossroad in history. At this stage, independent thinking and knowledge innovation are particularly important," Professor Liu Hongwu told ChinAfrica. He is head of the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University, the the forum organizer.

"So we need to build up a high-end academic platform for Chinese and African scholars and think-tanks, providing intellectual and theoretical support for the development of China and African countries," he added.

Liu commented that the CATTF meeting provided a basic framework for think-tank exchanges and opened a new chapter. He pointed out that the academic level should be improved; an operative mechanism should be formed; and more support should be sought to make the forum a long-lasting platform for all to share and exchange ideas.

Sanusha Naidu, a South African independent analyst, believes exchanges must move beyond rhetoric and research based on platitudes. "I think we have reached a point in Africa-China relations where both sides can feel comfortable to ask the critical and probing questions without necessarily feeling that we are offending the other," Naidu said. "This is what real research outputs and interactions are all about. It also means that research exchanges should be about real issue and difficulties which represents a maturity in collaboration," she added.

According to Liu, as one of the mechanisms under FOCAC, CATTF will be held in China or Africa annually. The second meeting of CATTF is expected to be held in Africa in September 2012.