Sven Grimm is Head of Research Programme on ‘Inter- and Transnational Cooperation’ at the German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) in Bonn, Germany, and Extraordinary Professor of Stellenbosch University, South Africa. He is a political scientist with a strong interest in South-South cooperation, focusing particularly on external partners’ cooperation with African states. He has published widely on both the European Union and on China’s external relations (with Africa) and was director of the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, between 2010 and 2014.