Visit by ECFA delegation to Belgrade
July 2, 2023Meeting of ECFA’s Economic Committee
July 5, 2023On July 5, 2023, Ambassador Dr. Ezzat Saad presented a paper entitled “Development Challenges in a Changing Global Environment,” at the forum organized by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and the Network of think tanks on “Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development, under the slogan “Combating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Development Goals.” Ambassador Saad indicated that it is no secret that today’s world faces enormous and unprecedented challenges and threats at all levels. Within a few years, the world witnessed a state of international competition, on the commercial and geopolitical levels, the repercussions of which led to an increase in already existing fears related to the issues of disarmament, terrorism, extremism, climate change, scarcity of resources, as well as the gap between developed and developing countries, and increasing rates of poverty, social marginalization, and forced displacement, worsening asylum and migration, increasing organized crime, and disparities in access to basic economic and social benefits around the world.
There is also no doubt that the current global international environment, which is based on competition among major powers as previously mentioned, constitutes a major obstacle to any sustainable growth that would allow fighting poverty in many regions. The Covid-19 pandemic has also exacerbated this competition and multiplied the protectionist pressures in the global economy, at the expense of global and regional economic integration, and the right of countries to choose sustainable growth models that are compatible with their value system and interests.
In this context, it is in no way possible for any country to work alone to confront such complex and intertwined repercussions. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen cooperation among international units at all levels and in all fields in order for these crises to be overcome, in a manner that achieves security, stability and prosperity for the international community. Perhaps among the most prominent global initiatives that have been put forward to achieve this, and which must be supported, are: the Global Development Initiative (GDI), which was proposed by His Excellency Chinese President Xi Jinping at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2021.
As for the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron to formulate “A New Global Financing Pact”, the summit of which Paris hosted on June 22 and 23, 2023, it is still too early to judge the extent to which developing countries will benefit from it to confront the effects of climate change and combat poverty.