Global South leaders: 'It’s time for the Global North to walk the talk and collaborate'

The World Economic Forum's Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth and Energy for Development in Saudi Arabia united over 1,000 leaders from developed and developing markets to find solutions to immediate crises while laying the groundwork for creating a more sustainable, resilient world.

The Meeting saw a distinctive focus on the 'Global South' across the three major themes: revitalizing global collaboration; a compact for inclusive growth; and catalyzing action on energy for development.

From Saudi Arabia's Minister of Economy and Planning emphasizing the urgency of collaboration to Rwanda's President advocating to bridge North-South divides, the discussions underscored the complex dynamics shaping development.

Here's a recap encapsulating key voices and perspectives from the Meeting:

International collaboration featured high on the agenda at the Meeting, and HE Faisal Alibrahim, Minister of Economy and Planning in Saudi Arabia, said it has ‘never been more important than it is today.’

"We are working to ensure that progress for one part of the world does not come at the expense of another. Eight years into Vision 2030, we have demonstrated our willingness to lead the way towards a model of transformative growth that is innovative, inclusive and sustainable," he says.

Speaking at the opening press conference, the Minister also discussed the importance of ensuring a ‘stable Middle East for a stable and prosperous world and for us to revive global economic growth.’

To stay on course for net zero, an extra $2.5 trillion is required for the developing world’s energy transition. That will only happen if the private and public sectors work together, says Egyptian minister Rania Al-Mashat.

She highlights the financing gap relating to the green transition and says the Global South will ultimately require a ‘culture change’.

"Energy is key for everyday life and livelihood. And sometimes, change in culture is what is most important", she says.

"Everybody's used to their regular cars, not to electric cars. Everybody is used to that electricity is being generated either through coal or through fossil fuels, through gas rather than renewables... But that requires an investment on people's side. It also requires incentives that the government can give people who would move towards clean sources of electricity or energy. So it's a cultural change."

International trade and globalization are the main drivers of inclusive economic growth, said Hala H. ElSaid Younes, the Minister of Planning and Economic Development in Egypt.

She participated in a session titled ‘What Homeland Economics Means for Trade’ and highlighted the rising inequality in the ‘distribution of technology’ between developing and developed nations.

“What the developing and middle-income countries need is more transfer of technology, more FDI (foreign direct investment), more capacity building for their people to become resilient and agile to external shocks,” she says.

The minister also focused on the spillover effects of the war in Gaza and tensions in the Red Sea, which have led to soaring food and energy prices locally.

The raising interest rates has also made access to capital costly, she says, leaving middle-income countries with limited fiscal space to support the vulnerable. These factors have led to Egypt adopting the ‘structural reform agenda’ to ensure macroeconomic stability alongside investment in the labour force, infrastructure, and green manufacturing.

M.U.M. Ali Sabry, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Sri Lanka, represented the ‘Global South perspective’ at the session titled ‘North to South, East to West: Rebuilding Trust’.

He went on to add: “Peace and stability is very important, as a result of which, the economies or the GDPs have grown eight times despite the challenges.

"So we, as members of the Global South, would like and request the Global North and the players who have so much of power… don't close the channels of diplomacy. Open channels of communication.”

Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, echoed similar sentiments at the Meeting’s Opening Plenary session and said, ‘The North-South divide is a very real issue that needs to be addressed with urgency’.

He emphasized the vast resources, geographical location, and its people as factors of advantage. But to narrow the divide, he says, requires 'being reasonable, honest, upfront and fighting for what's right'.

The African continent is rich in renewable energy sources. It’s often referred to as the “Sun continent” because it receives more hours of bright sunlight than any other continent and has 60% of the world’s solar resources.

This is in addition to sizeable, additional potential for hydropower and wind energy. In terms of geothermal power generation, it’s set to overtake Europe by 2030.

But its overall capacity still remains heavily underutilized and leads to an energy access gap, impacting socio-economic and human development continent-wide. Amani Abou-Zeid, the Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalization at the African Union Commission focused on the stark reality we see today:

During a session on the ‘Rise of Green Molecules,’ she spoke about advancing investments and developing local value chains to become a catalyst for development. “We need to intensify the work in developing the technologies to make them more affordable and adapted to local needs,” she says.

Speaking in a session on fintech, Muhammad Aurangzeb, the Minister for Finance and Revenue in Pakistan, talked about the importance of accelerating the digital journey by placing people and processes at the centre. “If you have a broken process and you go ahead and automate it, that doesn’t work,” he says. Here’s how he’s thinking about it within the context of his country, which still heavily relies on cash:

He went on to add, "We have two important pillars: the national identification being supported by NADRA and a real-time payment system called RAAST. These are two important pillars through which we can actually start moving towards documenting the economy through digital solutions… it’s a huge priority for us as we go forward."

Paula Ingabire, Rwanda's Minister of Information Communication Technology and Innovation, remains optimistic about the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI).

In a session titled ‘AI, Productivity, Work: Can We Have it All?’, she spoke about the two main benefits it can have for the African continent, but particularly for her country of Rwanda.

"One of the benefits that we have is that we don't have legacy infrastructure and systems. So if we're able to be laser-focused on how we deploy AI solutions for the societal problems we're trying to solve, then we gain the benefits, but also, we're able to leapfrog when it comes to technological development," she says.

"The second thing that excites me about AI is its up-levelling effect on the workforce, particularly for least-skilled professionals… they stand to benefit the most from generative AI. What is challenging, though, is to think about the wage gap that will persist."

She highlighted, through an example, over 100,000 community health workers who provide door-to-door primary healthcare services in Rwanda and benefit from a large language model that connects them to wide-ranging information as they respond.

Overall, an economic impact assessment, she says, shows ‘AI can contribute about 6% to our GDP growth’, with particular use cases in agriculture since 70% of the population is involved in the sector. But addressing risks around digital divide and inclusivity must take priority, she added.

In a discussion on reigniting growth globally, Tengku Zafrul Bin Tengku Abdul Aziz, the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry in Malaysia, offered a regional perspective on ensuring sustained growth.

The Association of South East Asian Nations (or Asean) has been a ‘net beneficiary’ in the last few years, he says.

The region is also witnessing the benefits of a recent trend around ‘friend-shoring’, which refers to the rerouting of supply chains to countries perceived as politically and economically safe or low-risk, to avoid disruption to the flow of business. “ASEAN being neutral in many of its positions has been attractive for many institutions and companies to relook at strengthening their supply chain… growth has been around 4 to 5%, and it’s expected to continue that trend.”

However, he reinforced the need for inclusive growth and deepening integration within the economies of ASEAN.

Uncertainty is here to stay, according to Mohamad Al-Ississ, Jordan’s Minister of Finance. He was speaking at a discussion on the broader outlook for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which faces a range of complexities, from conflict to shipping disruptions.

Jordan has been resilient ‘against all odds’, he says, but one crucial aspect remains:

Bahrain’s Minister of Sustainable Development, Noor Ali Alkhulaif, appeared at a session on overcoming challenges and advancing economic gender parity. While current progress on the issue remains fragmented, she says her country remains on the ‘right trajectory’.

About 75% of the task force that dealt with COVID-19 comprised of women, she added, while highlighting legislations and public-private partnerships that are furthering change.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Nigerian President, reflected on the tough measures taken to recalibrate his economy, particularly the removal of the decades-long subsidy on petroleum products. “There is no doubt it was a necessary action for my country not to go bankrupt,” he said.

“There is a parallel arrangement to really cushion the effect of the subsidy removal on the country's vulnerable population... Luckily, we have a very vibrant, youthful population that is committed to growth,” he added.

As part of his remarks on the ‘Opening Plenary: A New Vision for Global Development’, he emphasized: