Call for papers NOW OPEN !
FDL/SIIS 2025 Shanghai Workshop
In November 2024, THE FINANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT LAB AND THE SHANGHAI INSTITUTES FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES(SIIS) held a high-level workshop in Shanghai titled “Common Solutions for Global Sustainable Development Finance: Perspectives and Case Studies.”
This event offered an excellent opportunity for senior experts from universities, think tanks, governments, and the private sector worldwide to exchange views on development finance in a fragmented landscape.
To enhance understanding and encourage discussions on the challenges, opportunities, and collaborative solutions in global sustainable development finance, the organizers are calling for evidence-based research papers on various topics (listed below).
Contributors will be invited to join the second conference in China, expected to take place in early December 2025 (exact dates will be announced), at the organizers' expense.
Attending the conference provides a distinctive chance to engage and collaborate with more than 40 leading researchers, experts, and practitioners from China, OECD nations, the Global South, and global financial institutions. The conversations will center around case studies of particular countries and essential themes in sustainable development finance.
In addition, selected papers will be published by the organizers in a collective volume. Authors are free to develop them further into academic papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Background
The global economic landscape has undergone significant shifts. According to the World Bank's International Debt Statistics 2024, high interest rates have reversed years of net financial inflows to developing countries. Consequently, numerous low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) now face substantial net outflows due to refinancing pressures, resulting in severe liquidity problems that current official safety nets are unable to resolve.
In 2023, the global public debt-to-GDP ratio hit 93.8%, marking a 9.1% increase from pre-COVID-19 levels. The ongoing fourth wave of debt accumulation is significantly impacting LMICs, raising urgent concerns about the potential for a debt crisis. By 2025, the Finance in Commons Summit (FiCS) and the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) will be crucial in promoting finance for sustainable growth and development. The rapidly changing geopolitical landscape may accelerate fragmentation, presenting both challenges and opportunities for developing countries.
Key Themes for Discussion
We welcome abstract submissions that explore the following themes and questions:
Theme I: How can we improve growth prospects in developing countries amidst a shifting macroeconomic and trade landscape?
- The macroeconomic policies of G20 economies and their spillover effects on developing countries.
- Managing liquidity issues: IMF, currency swaps, and other global financial safety nets.
- Mitigating the negative impacts of major power competition and the excessive securitization of international trade on developing countries.
Theme II: How can growth be financed during times of crisis?
- Financing options: should it be in the local currency, USD or RMB for bilateral and MDB arrangements? What is the role of currency swaps?
- Projects versus budget lending: are they substitutes or complements? (based on specific country case studies.)
- Coordination and effectiveness of official development financing: aid competition, internal and external collaboration between OECD and non-OECD countries, evolution of OECD rules on official development finance, aid ownership, and their effectiveness.
- Role of MDBs: assessment of the MDB reform agenda and the way forward; evolution of the MDB system; and assessment of AIIB and NDB at their 10th anniversaries.
Theme III: How can debt vulnerabilities be reduced?
- Improving Debt Sustainability Analyses (DSA): How can progress be achieved?
- Tackling debt treatment complexities:
- - Comparison of treatment: differing interpretations and perspectives.
- - The role of new flows and new liquidity during times of debt distress.
- - Implementation challenges: coordination between internal and external stakeholders (perspectives of bilateral creditors, MDBs, and the private sector, based on specific country case studies).
Theme IV: Innovative Financing and Investment Models: Rethinking Debt and FDI
- Can debt-for-equity or debt-for-climate swaps be structured as a win-win solution?
- New lending and growth strategies: comparing and coordinating BRI, PGII, Global gateway, etc.
- How can FDI and the private sector be mobilized?
Submission Guidelines
We invite papers from various disciplines that offer theoretical insights, policy recommendations, or case studies relevant to these themes. Proposals for policy papers that are not strictly academic are also welcomed.
Submissions should clearly articulate the research question, methodology, and potential contributions to the workshop discussions.
Financial support may be available upon application. International co-authorship based on shared interests is likewise encouraged.
- Submission Deadline: March 15, 2025
- Notification of Acceptance: March 30, 2025
- Workshop Date: Early December, 2025 (Dates to be announced)
- Location: Shanghai, China
Submission Process
Please send your extended abstracts (500–800 words) to guiliu@findevlab.org with the subject line: “2025 Shanghai Workshop Submission”.
Travel and accommodation will be covered by the organizers.
We look forward to your valuable contribution to this critical conversation in sustainable development finance.