By Li Yong | Inter Press Service
VIENNA—World leaders are recognizing the crucial role of industrialization in eliminating absolute poverty and promoting sustainable development. This was especially evident at the recent Group of 20 (G20) Summit in Hangzhou, China, which I attended as a member of the delegation of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The gathering demonstrated the growing consensus on the need for renewed efforts to facilitate inclusive and sustainable industrialization as one of the main drivers of economic growth and structural transformation in Africa, and especially the least developed countries (LDCs).
Before the summit, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (Unido), which I currently head, received a request from the G20 Presidency to take the lead on a report on industrialization in Africa and LDCs.
The paper presented the challenges and opportunities that Africa and LDCs are facing in the process of industrialization, and proposed policy recommendations for the G20 to take actions in the future to extend their support for the continent and the LDCs. It provided a comprehensive framework and underlined the fact that increased investments in infrastructure and industry, access to finance, the transfer of technologies, as well as trade facilitation and capacity-building, can support the transformation needed in this respect.
The report, which benefited from contributions from other international organizations and financial institutions, highlights the important benefits of inclusive and sustainable industrial development. This extends to inclusive and sustainable structural transformation and industrialization for diversifying the economy, creating jobs and building equitable societies, without prejudice to the environment. It also shows the benefits of leveraging trade in intermediate goods, investment, and regional and global value chains.
The report also highlights the new Program for Country Partnership approach, which Unido is currently piloting in Ethiopia, Peru and Senegal, as a model for pursuing inclusive and sustainable industrialization at the country level. This approach brings together actors in a multistakeholder platform to coordinate and optimize the contribution of each other. The objective of such a partnership is to accelerate and deepen the impact of the national industrial development agendas.
The report recommended that the G20 group of leading economies promotes inclusive and sustainable industrialization through various mechanisms, such as knowledge-sharing platforms for peer-to-peer learning, the sharing of best practices, policies, measures and guiding tools, as well as
multistakeholder discussions.
Other recommendations included calls for the G20 to support agriculture and agribusiness development; to deepen, broaden and update the local knowledge base; to encourage industrialization through trade and deeper regional integration; and to promote the new industrial revolution, including the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, 3D printing, nanotechnology and biotechnology, in order to improve productivity.
The summit in Hangzhou demonstrated the commitment of G20 countries to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. These 17 goals, and their associated targets, frame the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with the vision and ambition to both achieve a balance among the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development, and to integrate them into a universal and transformative framework for global cooperation and action.
A communiqué issued by G20 leaders announced a package of policies and actions designed to achieve strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. These include the launch of the G20 Initiative on Supporting Industrialization in Africa and LDCs. The communiqué also emphasized the need to tap into the potential of new sources of growth and to harness the opportunities brought about by innovation, the new industrial revolution and the digital economy.
Li Yong is director general of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.