The African International Economic Law Network (AfIELN) was established in 2008 to provide a forum for research and exchange of ideas on International Economic Law (IEL). The Network’s establishment followed the Society of International Economic Law’s goal of promoting and facilitating coordination, collaboration, networking and debates on IEL, and the need to institute African leadership and ownership within the global network.

In mapping out the patterns of IEL in the world, the Africa chapter came to life, sustained by the great foresight of the founders. In line with the Network’s objective, the founders were committed to making scholarship available for African scholars, students, practitioners and policy experts, and in keeping with this, several initiatives to make IEL knowledge exchange accessible took place. Through a close partnership with Afronomicslaw.org, AfIELN has been part of the push to provide topical academic material through the blog’s open-access forum.