Report on the International Conference on Emerging Economies, Trade and Markets
The International Conference on Emerging Economies, Trade and Markets took place at DES IMDR on 10 th and 11 th March 2023. It was an interdisciplinary conference that was aimed towards an understanding of major opportunities and challenges global economies particularly in key priority sectors. In the past two days, serious deliberations were held on issues around global trade mechanisms and networks and its linkages to development and emerging market mechanisms that provide transformative solutions including potential game changers in business and industry, and analyse current social, technological, environmental and management issues that govern societal change.
Day 1 of the conference began with the traditional Saraswati Vandana followed by the Director Dr Shikha Jain’s welcome address. This was followed by IMDR Chairman CS Mahesh Athawale’s address in which he emphasized on the significance of such conferences and the importance of noting the points made by speakers irrespective of whether we agreed with them or not.
The keynote address was made by Mr Sagar Kulkarni from Canada. He spoke about the current developments in the field of trade followed by the current state of the market in Canada. He also spoke about the importance of investing and also highlighted a few sectors in which profits could be made. As an immigrant in Canada, he shared his experiences from his days a young expat to the modern opportunities and challenges of immigration in developing economies.
Guest Speaker for Session 1 was Dr Dian from Indonesia who spoke extensively about opportunities and challenges in social media marketing. She focused on the need for social network analysis and how it helps in framing strategies for effective communication within and between networks.
Guest Speker for Session 2 was Dr Sumona Poonphon from Thailand who gave detailed insights on the sustainable development goals and how Thailand was fighting the battle against climate change. Her vast experience of dealing with sustainable development was well appreciated by the students.
This was followed by paper presentations. IMDR received more than 40 different papers for the conference in diverse areas and these had to be split in multiple tracks. About 10 presentations were made on Day 1.
Day 2 began with the Panel discussion which consisted of Mr Lalit Pachpande, Mr Bhushan Kulkarni, Mr Mohashish Rathod and Mr Joy Aich. Mr Lalit Panchpande also was the moderator for the session who began with his experience of importing speciality chemicals from abroad and the challenges that occurred due to the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war. He said that MNCs would have to adopt by the policies taken by the country in which their company is headquartered. Mr Kulkarni said that war affected software development from Poland for a brief period that had a significant impact on his organization. He also spoke about the importance of digital currency and how the pandemic was pivotal in the spread of digital transactions in our country. Mr Rathod spoke healthcare developments and how alternative pharma is still not in a position to dominate the market governed by Allopathy. He also said that sanctions need to be seen with a two-way perspective and businessmen need to find their way if these sanctions affect them adversely. My Joy Aich spoke about the developments in the automobile industry. He gave his reasons as to why he believed that green hydrogen still has a long way to go before it becomes a part of every day vehicles. These points had a deep impact on the students
This was followed by paper presentations. The speaker for the valedictory session was Mr Amr Sadik from Egypt who gave interesting insights on the changing values in the society. He advocated social change and advised people to adapt themselves to the dynamics of the modern world.
The conference received widespread appreciation from all participants, international guests and students.





