Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan called for the support and resources needed for developing countries to fully benefit from shifts transforming the world economy.
© Shutterstock/Joa Souza | Employees on a vehicle assembly line in the city of Camaçari in the state of Bahia, Brazil.
UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan on 18 November urged G20 leaders to boost support for the Global South, emphasizing developing countries’ growing role in driving the world economy.
“In the next five years, world GDP will grow by $55 trillion, 70% of which will come from the Global South,” Ms. Grynspan said, noting that this equals the size of the global economy two decades ago when the G20 was founded. Read her full speech.
The G20, a bloc of the world’s 20 largest economies, have convened in Rio de Janeiro for a two-day summit to address global challenges, including climate change, as negotiations continue at the 29th UN climate conference (COP29).
Seizing clean tech opportunities for industrialization in the Global South
Ms. Grynspan stressed that developing countries need the right support and resources to fully benefit from the seismic shifts transforming the world economy, such as the energy transition. She noted that, within a decade, the global market for clean technologies is expected to reach the size of today’s market for crude oil.
“This could industrialize the South at a scale and speed we have never seen before,” she said but warned that realizing this potential requires the right policies and support. Ms. Grynspan called for pro-renewable trade policies, debt relieve – world public debt hit a record $97 trillion in 2023 – and massive investments in sustainable sectors in developing economies.
Choosing multilateralism in a multipolar world
Speaking at the summit’s session on global governance reform, The UN Trade and Development chief also called for more inclusive global governance structures that reflect today’s geopolitical and economic realities. “Multipolarity is not a choice. It’s a fact,” she said. “What is a choice is multilateralism.”
Ms. Grynspan urged leaders to act on commitments to multilateralism made at September’s Summit of the Future, where nations adopted the Pact of the Future. “Today, in this summit, we must continue making that choice. Tomorrow, we must act on that choice”.
