Stand-Alone Posts

The Ninth Biennial Global Conference of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL) will take place on 9-11 July 2025 in Taipei (Taiwan), in collaboration with National Taiwan University (NTU). SIEL’s Ninth Biennial Global Conference will be in person and address the pressures of escalating geopolitical tensions, environmental challenges, unbridled economic nationalism, profound digital transformations, and growing inequalities are reshaping not just economies, but societies globally.

The African Sovereign Debt Justice Network, (AfSDJN), is a coalition of citizens, scholars, civil society actors and church groups committed to exposing the adverse impact of unsustainable levels of African sovereign debt on the lives of ordinary citizens. Convened by Afronomicslaw.org with the support of Open Society for Southern Africa, (OSISA), the AfSDJN's activities are tailored around addressing the threats that sovereign debt poses for economic development, social cohesion and human rights in Africa. It advocates for debt cancellation, rescheduling and restructuring as well as increasing the accountability and responsibility of lenders and African governments about how sovereign debt is procured, spent and repaid.

Interested scholars and practitooners are invited to submit an abstract of about 400 words, in English, French, Portuguese or Arabic, by 25th June 2024 at the latest, at the following email address AfCFTA.HAQAA@obreal.org.

The African Sovereign Debt Justice Network, (AfSDJN), is a coalition of citizens, scholars, civil society actors and church groups committed to exposing the adverse impact of unsustainable levels of African sovereign debt on the lives of ordinary citizens. Convened by Afronomicslaw.org with the support of Open Society for Southern Africa, (OSISA), the AfSDJN's activities are tailored around addressing the threats that sovereign debt poses for economic development, social cohesion and human rights in Africa. It advocates for debt cancellation, rescheduling and restructuring as well as increasing the accountability and responsibility of lenders and African governments about how sovereign debt is procured, spent and repaid.

The inclusion of Fintech in the Protocol on Digital Trade and the requirement to develop the Fintech Annex represent a significant milestone for Fintech on the continent. Documents like the Fintech Annex take time to develop and are not revised as frequently as domestic frameworks. Therefore, it is crucial that stakeholders involved in negotiating the Fintech Annex strive to produce a document that will stand the test of time and facilitate measurable results. This piece has attempted to highlight some key considerations for developing the Fintech Annex. However, what has been covered is merely the tip of the iceberg. There are many other issues to consider. Experts and scholars in the field of Fintech are encouraged to urgently publish on this topic to support the efforts of the actual negotiators of the Fintech Annex.

In the pecking order of cabinet ministries, Trade and Industry tends to come close to the bottom. What is more, is that Trade and Industry Ministries typically get allocations of less than 1 percent of national budgets. No wonder, then, that ecosystems don’t exist that would facilitate production and trade of high-value, transformative products with high impact in the broader economy. Yet, the rhetoric about export-led development is ceaseless. This is certainly the case in practically all African countries.

The African Sovereign Debt Justice Network, (AfSDJN), is a coalition of citizens, scholars, civil society actors and church groups committed to exposing the adverse impact of unsustainable levels of African sovereign debt on the lives of ordinary citizens. Convened by Afronomicslaw.org with the support of Open Society for Southern Africa, (OSISA), the AfSDJN's activities are tailored around addressing the threats that sovereign debt poses for economic development, social cohesion and human rights in Africa. It advocates for debt cancellation, rescheduling and restructuring as well as increasing the accountability and responsibility of lenders and African governments about how sovereign debt is procured, spent and repaid.