premise: Africa is reaping the fruits of a new "Silk Road" to the fast-growing Asian economies, notably through a sharp rise in trade and investments by China and India, a new study by the World Bank has found.
  According to the study, "Africa's Silk Road: China and India's New Economic Frontier," 27 percent of African exports are sold in Asia, up from 14 percent in 2000 or three times the amount in 1990.
  Europe, Africa's leading trade partner since the early independence days, has lost ground with a 50 percent fall between 2000 and 2005 in the share of African exports to European Union members, said a report of the study released here on Monday.
  Approximately 47 percent of Africa's exports to Asia comprise oil and natural gas, which represent 12 percent of Africa's overall exports to the world. The leading non-oil mineral and metal products include gold, silver, platinum, iron, aluminum, iron ore, copper, and pearls.
   What caused Africa to reap the fruits of a new "Silk Road"?
hypothesis: a sharp rise in trade and investments by China and India