This conference was held on the initiative of the Afrika Verein and the Deutsche Stif tung für Entwicklungsländer. Its aim was to examine the theory and practice of regional planning and external co-operation within the framework of African development.

The Afrika Verein is a German organisation which took over from the Syndikats für Westafrika, which was founded in 1884, and is now one of the most important economic organisations concerned with Africa in the Federal German Republic. It advises merchants, businessmen, and sometimes even the government, and examines market possibilities and business conditions, from the political (i.e. psychological) as well as the legal point of view. The Deutsche Stiftung für Entwicklungsländer is more widely known. It specialises in development problems and its activities cover all the so-called ‘underdeveloped’ countries. Being a government body it originally dealt mainly with Asia and Latin America, but for the past two years, with the emergence of the new African states, it has been enlarging its African department.