Background

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Institute are organizing a book project on the topic “Challenging Global Trade Environment and Private Sector Businesses in Asia and the Pacific” as part of ADB’s Asia Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Monitor (ASM) 2025 Thematic Study.[1] To this end, we call for related high quality unpublished papers.

The book will discuss the various trade impacts of elevated geopolitical risks on private sector businesses, especially micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Higher protectionism and trade tensions continue to amplify risks of supply chain disruptions globally with surging trade costs. Uncertainties in the external trade environment will not only weigh on the prospect of trade growth, but could also threaten global economic stability, with significant, negative repercussions for private sector businesses engaged in international trade, particularly in the case of small exporting firms.

Against this background, ADB and CAREC Institute will host a conference on “Challenging Global Trade Environment and Private Sector Businesses in Asia and the Pacific” on 13 November 2025 in Baku, Azerbaijan. This program is also part of the Launch Seminar of the ASM 2025 on 12–13 November 2025. The objective of the conference is to promote high-quality, frontier research on private sector development. This will include MSME development issues such as impact assessments of global economic uncertainty on the internationalization of MSMEs. The conference will foster knowledge sharing among social scientists, development practitioners, and policymakers.

Authors of selected papers will be invited to present their work at the conference. After review, their papers will be considered for publication in the book “Challenging Global Trade Environment and Private Sector Businesses in Asia and the Pacific” (to be published in February 2026).