Middle-income countries key to future development

• With Globalisation being the engine of emerging economies’(Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Mexico, Colombia etc.) growth, trade has increased exponentially, but the performance of these economies has slowed down in the last couple of years (since 2011).
• About 1,500 covert protectionist measures’ have been introduced by G20 members since 2008 and amid stagnant wages, high unemployment, and anaemic growth, support for globalisation has been on the decline in advanced economies.
• Also there has been threat to sustainability across the globe – Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are now 46% higher than they were in 1990, and the International Energy Agency estimates that existing policies will result in long-term warming of between 3.6°C (38.5°F) and 5.3°C well into the zone where catastrophic climate tipping points could be triggered, potentially wiping out progress made on poverty reduction over the past 15 years.
• Yet, decisive action(s) have not been taken to halt these trends due to frequent disagreements and concerns about competitiveness.
• Efforts to formulate new international development targets to succeed the millennium development goals (MDGs) when they expire in 2015 are emerging as a key indicator of what the future holds.
• Countries across the globe have agreed at 2013 U.N. general assembly that the post-2015 goals should be universal, targeting not only the 1 billion people living in absolute poverty, but all 7 billion of the world’s inhabitants.
• But the reality is that, the new development agenda calls for important role of ‘middle-income’ countries, since they form the majority of the population and also they are much ‘less reliant’ on foreign assistance than they were when the MDGs were agreed upon. Of course, middle-income countries still face huge development challenges (with majority of poor people, illiteracy, health issues among others)
• If global world is thinking of eliminating poverty by 2030 (the probable headline target of the post-2015 goals), limiting global warming to 2°C, or move to more sustainable and inclusive globalisation, then there is a strong urge for a new global partnership with middle-income countries fully on board.