President Paul Kagame of Rwanda on Saturday arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for the World Economic Forum special meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth and Energy for Development, according to a statement by the Presidency.
This special meeting seeks to explore on how to drive solutions-oriented action to advance collaboration on critical areas for development and more inclusive global growth.
Panelists will explore the complex, interconnected challenges and geopolitical shocks that are fracturing the global economy and share insights into how comprehensive, action-oriented dialogue could address these challenges, bridge the growing North-South divide, and drive inclusive economic development, a sustainable energy transition and more equitable technological advancements.
Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth and Energy for Development brings together the world’s top academics, politicians, business, youth, and civil society leaders to engage in addressing the most pressing issues on the global agenda.
Inclusive growth
From the exponential improvements in artificial intelligence to the resurgence of industrial policies, recent trends in innovation and economic policy, along with long-term underinvestment in human development, threaten to widen global inequality and to thwart the progress of the past decades in the fight against poverty.
To address these challenges, the meeting explores the implications of these transformative trends for innovation, human capital and entrepreneurship.
The deliberations aim to support a constructive dialogue about key opportunities, which include emerging economic corridors, technology partnerships and the imperative of job-creating growth.
Global Collaboration
Ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, most notably the conflict in Gaza, have implications not only for the region, but the world.
In navigating growing fractures within and between nations, the meeting will aim to foster dialogue between the Global North and South that can help revitalize international collaboration.
The meeting goes beyond just recognizing areas of shared concerns by amplifying humanitarian initiatives where applicable and identifying the partnerships and actions that can help to contain the widening ripple effects of geopolitical instability and build a more resilient global economy.
Action on energy for development
While the world heads towards a potential 2.9°C temperature rise this century, the urgency of the energy transition must also account for the stark disparity in energy access globally.
With population growth outpacing new grid deployment and the affordability of off-grid solutions undermined by inflationary pressures, the number of people without access to energy is not decreasing at the pace needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in developing economies.
The meeting has convened cross-sectoral actors to identify financial, technological and policy solutions aimed at scaling up the use of clean energy solutions while also ensuring
equitable growth.
