Dates : 07th-08th June 2023

Venue : Lemigo Hotel, Kigali-, Rwanda

Theme : Boosting Economic resilience to economic shocks

1. Introduction

Beyond gloomy short-term perspectives, the world economy is undergoing several fundamental changes affecting the longer term : geopolitical tensions ; rising interest rates, supply-chains vulnerabilities ; the acceleration of the digital economy ; increasing risk of global pandemics ; increases in energy, transport, and food prices ; deepening of environmental regulations and climate change concerns ; and the ensuing production relocations and changing international trade flows. In addition, most countries have seen rising income inequality in the past decade, and many are facing risks of rising poverty due to some of these developments. According to the World Banks’s 19th edition of the Rwanda Economic Update Rwanda’s GDP growth is projected at 6% for 2022, after having reached 11% in 2021.

Rwanda’s Vision 2050 sets out the country’s long-term development objectives : moving toward zero poverty and becoming an upper-middle income country by 2035, and high-income country by 2050, achieving this through high savings and investment and structural transformation to a knowledge-based economy. To achieve this Vision’s targets, Rwanda needs to transform the structure of its economy to respond to current challenges imposed by technological progress and climate change.

Furthermore, Rwanda has to overcome the limits of its small domestic market and landlocked position and find its place in global and regional value chains. Productive capacity development will play a pivotal role in achieving the economic and social objectives of Rwanda because it can foster structural transformation, diversification, and employment generation (UNCTAD 2022).

2. About the 9th Economic Research Conference

The Economic Policy Research Network and partners are organizing a 9th Research Conference under the following theme : “Boosting Economic resilience to economic shocks”.
This theme is subdivided into the following sub-themes to which Papers should be aligned :
• Regional integration and trade
• Agriculture development and food security
• Tax policy
• Enhancing productive capacities
• Green economy and climate change resilience
• Inclusive growth and poverty reduction
• Human capital development
This high-level interactive 2-days research conference is expected to convene more than 200 participants from Rwanda and abroad, including researchers, senior policymakers, representatives of the development partners, civil society, private sector and the media. During the conference, research papers and reports related to conference sub-themes will be presented and discussed. Policy recommendations will be formulated and share with concerned institutors as a contribution towards boosting Rwanda’s economic resilience during the current socio-economic shocks.

3. Venue and Dates

The 9th Annual Research Conference is scheduled at Lemigo Hotel on 07th-08th June 2023.

GUIDELINES
4. Call for papers

EPRN Rwanda encourages researchers to submit research papers related to one or more of the sub-themes above, which, once accepted, will be presented in the conference and published thereafter. Papers must be original, in English and submitted in Word or PDF format to : info@eprnrwanda.org and conference2023@eprnrwanda.org and copy to ed@eprnrwanda.org. A researcher may submit more than one Paper ; and a team of researchers may submit a joint Paper.

5. Key Dates

• Deadline for Paper submission : 05th May 2023 (by 5 pm CAT)
• Notification of acceptance of the Pap by the selection committee : 19th May 2023
• 9th EPRN Research Conference : 07th-08th June 2023

For more information, contact us through : conference2023@eprnrwanda.org and copy to info@eprnrwanda.org or Phone number (office) : +250788357648. You may also visit our website : www.eprnrwanda.org.

Done at Kigali, March 10th, 2023

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