As Africa produces the kind of economic growth that is the envy of many countries and speeds along the road toward urbanization and mass consumerism, its lack of one particular resource threatens the whole project.
Li Fengting gets excited when he talks about Africa. "Every time I hop on a plane to Africa, I am always brimming with anticipation and excitement. It's just like coming home because I know everything and everyone there," says the 50-year-old, who often jokes that he goes to Africa more than he visits his hometown in Shandong province, less than a two-hour flight from Shanghai.
Africa's freshwater reserves account for 10 percent of the world's total, and the world's second-largest freshwater lake, Victoria, lies on the continent. However, the distribution of rainfall across the continent, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, is far from uniform, for reasons such as global warming, desertification, falling lake and river levels, and reduced rainfall.
Omar Bongo, former president of Gabon, once said, "(Francophone) Africa without France is like a car without a driver. But France without Africa is like a car without petrol."
With 43 deaths and 94 injuries, the May 22 bomb attack in Urumqi has not only claimed the highest number of lives in a single attack in China, but also proven that terrorists are changing their modus operandi.
Richard Attias is an eternal optimist and someone who believes that Chinese entrepreneurs will play a big role in the transformation of Africa.
Hu Jieguo: vice-chairman of the China-Africa Business Council and president of West-Africa Golden Gate Group:
Industrialization is perhaps the most potent force that can help Africa sustain or improve its current growth levels. With its carefully developed backward and forward linkages, industrialization has the ability to diversify economies and reduce exposure to external shocks.
Over the last decade, Africa has transformed into a prime business destination. Economic growth, strong foreign direct investment and the increasing ease of doing business have raised the attractiveness of the continent among other emerging economies.
Following a decade of economic expansion, Africa is now going digital. Only 16 percent of the continent's 1 billion people are online, but that share is increasing rapidly as more mobile networks are built and prices of Internet-capable devices continue to fall.
By 2030, nearly half of the world's economies - many of them in Africa, and the majority in sub-Saharan Africa - could be driven by their resource riches. It is vital for the economic prospects of these countries that they do better than many have done in translating this sub-soil wealth into long-term prosperity.
In Africa, it is Chinese businesspeople who sign multimillion-dollar deals, top politicians who sign major cooperation agreements, and people who embody China's most famous thinker who act as cultural ambassadors.
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