Introduction

Abstract

This book is the outcome of an International Conference held in Nairobi in March 2014 that was jointly organised by the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and the Indian Ocean Research Group (IORG), an Observer to IORA. The Conference was sponsored through the Indian Ocean Rim Academic Group (IORAG) and involved academics, diplomats, politicians, bureaucrats, business people, NGOs and others from Africa, from around the Indian Ocean Rim and from elsewhere. It is hoped that it will be the first of many such Conferences and Dialogues designed specifically to describe, discuss, explain and evaluate Indian Ocean Maritime Africa`s changing geo-economic and geopolitical linkages to other Indian Ocean Rim states.