The World Trade Organization Chairs Programme (WCP)-Rwanda and the African Centre
of Excellence in Data Science (ACE-DS) at University of Rwanda, College of Business
and Economics are organising an international research conference on Trade and
Development.
The WCP-Rwanda aims to strengthen knowledge and understanding of the trading system
among academics, citizens and policy makers in Rwanda by stimulating not only teaching
and outreach activities but also research in the areas of international trade. It offers the
opportunities to build talents and get policy oriented research results and outreach
activities to engage the stakeholders. In particular, it looks forward to conducting research
that is relevant to inform about how to boost Rwanda’s regional trade integration with
additional focus on trade policy and multilateral trade-related issues.
African Centre of Excellence in Data Science (ACE-DS) is one of 24 African Centres of
Excellence (ACE) in ACE II Project. Main objective of ACE-DS is to deliver quality post-
graduate education and build collaborative research capacity in data science. Data science
is an emerging field that involves multidisciplinary research across applied statistics,
economics, business, computer science and engineering. The applications of data science
are at the heart of the big data revolution that is currently shaping how data is becoming a
valuable commodity, a source of intellectual property and a means of achieving sustainable
economic growth. The Centre addresses development challenges in Rwanda and the region
by training data scientists and creating a research hub attracting international expertise and
practitioners; and stimulating collaboration between academics, partners and stakeholders.
The venue, dates and objectives of the conference
The conference will be held at the University of Rwanda, in Kigali from 5 th to 6 th
December 2024. The main objective of the conference is to create a space for presentation
of current research findings in the field of trade and development. The conference will be
also a space for networking between academics, policy makers, industry practitioners and
other stakeholders, aiming at long-term sharing of knowledge and discussions of highly
current issues about trade and development.