The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) is organizing the Ninth Biannual Conference on Empirical Issues in International Trade and Finance (EIITF) on December 12-13, 2024, at its Kolkata campus themed "Emerging Issues in International Trade Finance and Development."

The global order is undergoing a profound transformation. Starting with the global financial crisis of 2008, the so-called sovereign debt crises, tariff wars, and more recently the pandemic - the entire global economic outlook has altered significantly, creating numerous structural anomalies. The disparity between skills and income is intensifying. Informality is increasingly characterizing the global labor force. Consumption patterns are diversifying yet becoming more erratic. Worldwide, business cycles are being both modified and disrupted, while capital flows are becoming more circumspect, carving specific trajectories in the geography of trade and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Geopolitical tensions, such as those involving Russia and Ukraine, have triggered significant turbulence globally and caused regional humanitarian crises. The escalation in international prices of crude oil and other essential commodities is exacerbating inflationary pressures, thereby disrupting various recovery mechanisms deliberated and formulated on domestic and international platforms.

As the new global economic order has posed challenges for economies to deal with, various advancements and re-arrangements have taken shape. In the economic sphere, the defining feature of the last one and half decades is the rise of the services sector, especially its digital aspect. Rapid breakthrough and progress in the Information & Communication technology followed by the evolution of newer technologies such as AI & rapid automation being used in a new techno-economic era. Growing E-commerce and digital finance have considerably impacted traditional operators and business practices.  These new technological breakthroughs, while providing a cushion to various challenges in recent times, have exposed the global economy, in general and developing countries and LDCs, in particular, to new forms of vulnerabilities.

To address the challenges there is a need to discuss, debate, and decide regulatory frameworks as well as domestic and multilateral policies based on sound observations and theoretical grounds. There are also other vulnerabilities such as environmental degradation hurting the resource pool of production activities. Sustainability has to be the guiding factor in all these aspects.

The EIITF conference, which is taking place at a crucial juncture, aims to spur academic debates on ongoing experiences and future policy issues. The conference would provide a platform for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to come together and bring up new dimensions for the academic community.

I look forward to your active contribution & participation in the  Conference, EIITF 2024. 

Prof. Rakesh Mohan Joshi