The CEEW-GSI India Roundtables: Unpacking the Geopolitics and Macroeconomics of Mid-Century Development Goals

In March, GSI was in New Delhi to cohost a series of roundtables with the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). The high-level, closed-door sessions were cochaired by GSI Fellows Dr Nicolas J.A. Buchoud (Policy & Strategy Fellow, GSI), Helge Sigurd Næss-Schmidt (Advisory and Fellow, CIP Foundation) and Shuva Raha (Fellow and Lead – International Cooperation, CEEW).

These freewheeling conversations between thinkers and experts are part of an ongoing effort to imagine a more secure and sustainable future for the world by the midcentury by acknowledging—and building on—the need for a more equitable and constructive global order that ensures the flourishing of all countries and their people.

 

Framing Mid-Century Development Goals: Investing in Human Flourishing?

The first roundtable on “Framing Mid-Century Development Goals: Investing in Human Flourishing?” argued that the global development agenda should be led and delivered by individual countries, instead of being a top-down, frantic race of metrics. This would allow countries the flexibility to define and prioritize their goals and success parameters based on their values, resources, constraints, and timelines. Reforms to improve quality of public spending and institutions will be a key driver of success, with the mobilization of private savings through a more attractive investment climate.

Deep dives explored whether a new framework is needed for mid-century goals, or if the 2030 SDGs—themselves an improvement over the Millennium Development Goals—could be made more fit for purpose by addressing their deficiencies, especially with the intentional involvement of developing countries.

In this context, multilateral collaboration could productively be anchored in two central and connected tenets. First,  looking beyond geographical configurations such as Global South and Global North and exploiting benefits of cooperation between partners with shared strategic goals. Second,  developing countries will focus on attaining the hard SDGs—such as economic and infrastructure development—which is required to provide domestic public and private funding for the softer SDGs. The role of external funding from international sources, both private and public, is to fit into this framework based on actionable roadmaps backed by accountability, finance, and technology sharing. This will require a more nimble and region-specific bottom-up approach from multilateral institutions.

 

Macroeconomics of Sustainable Development: Breaking Sectoral Silos

The second roundtable on the “Macroeconomics of Sustainable Development: Breaking Sectoral Silos” discussed how EMDEs could achieve sustainable development in the context of developing countries focusing on the hard SGDs to deliver needed economic growth and sources of domestic financing. A key ingredient is to integrate sectoral priorities into national macroeconomic strategies. The Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action was highlighted as a platform to mainstream climate polices into a country’s or a region’s economic strategy.

The clear link between successful strategies to lift economic growth potential and improving the investment climate was stressed.  Developing countries have significant potential for higher growth, and many will benefit from abundant access to low-cost green energy.  Long-term, stable and growth-oriented macro and industrial policies are essential to lower the high cost of capital that is holding back growth.  The practical experiences for Asian countries were discussed in particular. In this context, two points were raised: Current methodologies to measure country risks fail to factor in the progress many developing countries have made to improve their business environment, leading to lower than perceived risks of default. At the same time, the momentum to persist with regulatory reforms to further derisk investments is required, and blended finance mechanisms should be seen as an integral part of this process.

 

Strategic Partnerships to Finance Sustainable Development: Asia’s Emerging Role

The third roundtable, on “Strategic Partnerships to Finance Sustainable Development: Asia’s Emerging Role,” covered the unique character of the region, including the diversity of geographic landscapes, civilizational values, societal and political constructs, demographic behaviours, economic acumen, and the knowledge and skills garnered over millennia. The discussions ranged from present-day dynamics, capabilities, and influence to projected and imagined futures of Asian countries, the region, and the world in these contexts. It was underlined that the economic strategies pursued by countries in the region—inter alia India—would, if successful, significantly change the structure of trade and production not only in the Asian region but on a global scale, given the size and demographics. In this context, countries in the Asian region could also take a role in shaping the future discourse. This links back to the first session about framing the structure of multilateral cooperation based on concepts of shared strategic interests among partners rather than geographical and too rigid constructs.

 

The roundtables featured 30 experts, including Prof. Bambang Brodjonegoro (ADBi), Prof. Tetsushi Sonobe (GRIPS), Prof. Sachin Kumar Sharma (RIS), Pekka Moren (Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action), Dr. Richard Ponzio (Stimson Centre), Dr. Amrita Goldar (ICRIER), Apurv Kumar Mishra (Economic Advisory Council to The Prime Minister of India), Shashvat Singh (India Foundation), Amb. (Dr.) Sanjay Bhattacharyya (Jindal School of International Affairs), and senior diplomats from Kazakhstan, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Switzerland.

The discussions will continue at the Global Solutions Summit in Berlin in June.

This article is a contribution by Helge Sigurd Næss-Schmidt. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Global Solutions Initiative.

Featured image: Photo by Will Goodman on Unsplash.