Codrin Arsene

Codrin Arsene is a Romanian blogger living in the United States who specializes in African politics. He hosts one of the very few African Politics blogs on the web that is updated on a regular basis. His interests are generally related to the consequences of Chinese Investment in East Africa, a topic often under-researched by professors, journalists or bloggers. African Politics Portal was ranked #2nd in the list and A Romanian in Africa, #96 According to Midventures.com Arsene's blog, www.african-politics.com, gathers an average of 4000 unique visitors a month.

He graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in Political Science and International Studies (both with honors).

He is currently a guest contributor for Foreign Policy Romania where he pitches articles on African Affairs or US Politics. According to the short biographical section published at the end of the articles for FP Romania, Codrin Arsene is currently a masters student at University of Chicago.

Codrin Arsene is also a correspondent for Viata Libera, a Romanian daily newspaper published in the South East Region of Romania, in Galați County. According to Viata Libera] he has been collaborating with the newspaper since 2003 (age 16).

Between December 2007 and July 2008, he hosted a political radio show on RadioLynx.ro, a Romanian online radio station, with Antonio Momoc, a well known Romanian historian and mass-media specialist. Throughout the months he was employed as a political correspondent, he kept a political op-ed blog (in Romanian) on the Radiolynx.ro blog section. He wrote extensively on foreign affairs, mainly the relationship between Romania and the European Union and the United States of America.

Romanian News Agency Hotnews.ro depicts Codrin Arsene as a world traveler who has visited 64 countries by the age of 21.

In an interview given to the Capital weekly magazine [a Romanian version of The Economist] on November 26, 2008, Codrin Arsene suggested that the Romanian administration should find ways to engage African countries in trade agreements as this would be beneficial to both parts. He declared that:

In the last eight years [that correspond to the previous two administrations], we have completely ignored the fact that Africa has so much to offer Romania in terms of trade opportunities. Truth is, Africa can give us more than we can imagine. Countries like Angola, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and, more recently, Ghana, have massive oil resources that come at a very low cost.[...] But since we [Romanians] barely know where Africa is on the map, this huge opportunity goes unexplored. Moreover, Africa should certainly be included in Romania's foreign affairs strategy especially as the tensions between the Romanian president and his Russian homologue are mounting [n.r. which, in practice, has led to increased prices for imports from Russia]. But since Romania has no coherent plan regarding the way it could engage African countries in bilateral agreements in the next 20 years we are in clear disadvantage since other countries have already established long term partnerships with most African states. [translation from Romanian]

In 2009, Mr. Arsene was the keynote speaker at the Yale Youth Forum on China Africa Relations where he delivered a lecture titled "The Most Unequal Equals: Historical and Present Trends of the Sino-Tanzanian Friendship".