The World Government Summit (WGS) 2022 was launched yesterday under the slogan “Shaping Future Governments” at the historic conclusion of “Expo 2020 Dubai”, which is the largest gathering of its kind for leaders, ministers, minds, specialists, and the most important international agenda in terms of discussing human hopes and aspirations.
The summit attracted record participation and comes in light of the changes after the Corona pandemic, and constitutes a global forum that reflects the exceptional position of the UAE.
More than 4,000 personalities, including heads of state and government, heads of international and regional organizations, elite experts, future forecasters, entrepreneurs, and leaders of the private sector, participated in the summit.
It was also attended by the Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in order to explore opportunities for the future of governments, design pathways, and innovate solutions that serve humanity.
Al Gergawi: The digital economy has doubled 8 times in the last two years
In his opening speech, the Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the World Government Summit Foundation, Muhammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, affirmed that the summit aims to bridge the distance between governments and the future by anticipating the most important economic, scientific, technical and political developments.
Preparing for the future makes governments part of creating and translating a vision, mission, and direction.
He pointed out that what happened in the past ten years in terms of scientific, economic, social, and technical developments exceeded what happened in total the past one hundred years ago, and what happened in the last two years exceeded developments in the ten years that preceded them, and the next period will be much faster.
He added, “The digital economy has multiplied 8 times in the last two years, reaching $4 trillion, distance education has doubled 11 times in the last two years, telemedicine has increased by 154 percent, and its market size will reach $400 billion over the five years.”
The number of devices connected to the Internet will double from 26 billion devices by the end of the last decade to fifty billion devices in just two years.”
He stressed that the summit seeks to clarify the picture, highlight opportunities, and reveal the challenges that the future holds in the issues of energy security, the future of climate change, government development, the new revolution in cryptocurrencies, and the role of central banks.
Georgieva: IMF will not suspend Russia’s membership
Economy Middle East reviews some of yesterday’s sessions. During the activities of the first day, and in the presence of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, a key session entitled “Dialogue with the Director-General of the International Monetary Fund”, the Director-General of the Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, spoke about the most prominent global developments, including the crisis between Russia and Ukraine, the recovery from “COVID-19″, and the debts of poor countries.
Georgieva said that the economic consequences of the crisis between Russia and Ukraine will extend to different parts of the world still recovering from the effects of the pandemic, and revealed that the International Monetary Fund, from day 1, established a crisis room that allows it to act quickly on developments, noting that the Fund ” He will not suspend Russia’s membership,” saying: “This is a big decision that will not be taken at the current stage… There is a need for continued dialogue in order to end the war.”
She said that with the start of the recovery from COVID 19, hopes were pinned on increasing growth and controlling inflation, but what is happening is the exact opposite, as global growth is declining due to the Ukrainian crisis, noting that the Fund is adjusting its policies according to variables, after what last October witnessed with interruptions in supply chains. The bank advised caution in the monetary terms of lending.
In response to a question about whether the debts of poor countries should be written off, Georgieva replied: “For some countries, a deep restructuring must be done, but other countries may need to redefine the characteristics of the debt and prolong the repayment period, and the priority now is to identify the countries that have risks.”
Accelerating the global economic recovery
The summit also witnessed an extensive discussion on “accelerating the global economic recovery,” during which the former Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Roberto Azevedo, considered that “the situation has now improved compared to the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, but the world must reformulate the economic map, in terms of internal resources, and relations with suppliers, and so on, especially with price pressures. We may need at least two years to recover from the current situation.”
Central banks and the future of digital currencies
Two sessions were held on “Central Banks and the Future of Digital Currencies” and “Challenges in the Decentralized Finance Space,” in which the participants stressed the need to find compromise solutions that allow the growth of digital currencies despite the existing restrictions in terms of legal structures that have not yet kept pace with the speed of technological development, stressing that cryptocurrencies are an ideal way to tackle crime by virtue of being able to track their trading.
Greater integration..technology and governments
Arvind Krishna, Chairman and CEO of IBM, a global giant specializing in technology industries, stressed in a session entitled “Towards greater integration… Technology and Governments” the need for governments to use advanced technology and fourth-generation solutions to develop their businesses, expecting that the contribution of AI in the global economy will reach $10 trillion over the next decade.
