High-Level Plenary Session “Building Bridges: Unlocking the Full Potential of Global South through Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships”
Description
As the world is at the midpoint of implementing the 2030 Agenda, the Global South holds vast potential for determining the success of the sustainable future goals. The contribution of the Global South to world GDP has gained speed — from about 19% in 1990 to around 42% in 2024, and potentially will reach over 50% before the end of the decade. Citing 2022 data from UNCTAD, South-South trade accounts for an increasing share of global trade. It has risen from 17% in 2005 to 28% in 2021, experiencing a notable increase of approximately 50% from 2019. This pattern underscores the heightened involvement of South-South partnership. Increasing Global South role in international investment also shows where FDI from developing nations grew from around USD 110 billion in 2005 to $381 billion in 2017. Multinational companies based in emerging economies are playing an increasing role in foreign projects (UNCTAD, 2017). They have also become the centre of gravity for energy transition in the future, considering the increasingly concentrated population growth in developing countries (UNCTAD, 2022).
However, these potential facades come with persistent challenges, among many sustainable development challenges and vulnerabilities are volatile economic growth, an overreliance on commodity production and exports, weak productive capacities, lack of structural transformation, pervasive infrastructure deficits, insufficient domestic resource mobilization amidst limited financing for development, weak export competitiveness, continued vulnerability to economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters, gender inequality, growing youth unemployment, weak human capacities, rural–urban disparities and a need to strengthen developmental governance and capacities of the public and private sectors. Moreover, the global economy is increasingly burdened by systemic issues including divergent growth patterns, deepening inequalities, growing market concentration, and mounting debt burdens. Citing the United Nations, income inequality between countries has considerably improved in the last 25 years. However, the gap between countries is still apparent. The UN's SDGs Report 2023 has also noted that the Covid-19 has caused the largest increase between- country inequality in three decades according to World Bank estimates. Inequalities are arising in the realm of access to newer technologies, including online and mobile connectivity. The economic impact of the pandemic on a large part of the world was devastating, the external shocks included sharp contractions in real exports, lower export prices, and reduced remittances and tourism.
Challenges to economic recovery are also exacerbated by disruption of global supply chains, re- and onshoring, and the rebound of stifling protectionist measures and the global erosion of trust in the global institutions. In the midst of decreasing global trust to multilateralism, the time is ripe to rethink the role of international organizations and global muti-stakeholder partnership, and the shape of international practices that ensure equitable growth across nations. As outlined in the Declaration on the Right to Development, we carry the primary responsibility for the creation of international conditions favorable to the realization of the right to developments, as well as co-operating in eliminating obstacles to development. This implies that collaboration should be at the heart of sustainable development goals achievement. The discussion will delve into multi stakeholder partnership solutions as a bridge builder, whether between North-South or South-South, to unlock the full potential of the Global South.
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