Demand for oil and other resources to fuel China’s booming domestic economy has seen Chinese interests in Africa accelerating rapidly over the past five years. In recognition of the pivotal role that China now looks set to play in Africa’s future, the African Development Bank, which plays a growing role in development financing on the continent, held its annual board meeting in China. William Wallis, our Africa editor and Patrick Smith, editor of Africa Confidential were at the meeting in Shanghai and interviewed Donald Kaberuka, the AfDB’s president.

Q: Around the world development specialists are talking about the importance of regional development banks. Is there any additional importance in the fact this African Development Bank meeting is taking place in China while in Washington the World Bank and its president have been under exceptional scrutiny, and we have had this spectacle of the Europeans and Americans fighting over the Bank’s direction?