The idea for The Africa Institute (AI), as a center for African and African Diaspora studies dates as far back as 1976, when Sharjah (UAE) hosted the first “Symposium on African and Arab Relations,” to which 45 African and Arab thinkers were invited to participate. Among the major recommendation of the 1976’s symposium, which was organized under the patronage of His Highness Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah, was the establishment of an institute for African and Arab Relations charged with the study and documentation of such historical linkages, to be located in Sharjah, UAE. The Symposium also announced the setting up of the Documentation and Data Collection Centre for Arab-African Relations in Sharjah, and an annual meeting to discuss Arab-African relations, and a proposed Arab-African Fund. Consequently, the Government of the Emirate of Sharjah, UAE, has decided to pursue the goal of strengthening Afro-Arab relations through the establishment of The Africa Institute, which has been decreed in June 6, 2018.