Participants from more than 50 countries including policy makers, industry experts, academics, and investors are meeting in Kigali to deliberate and devise solutions of sustainable development challenges facing the global community today. Organized by the Rwanda Convention Bureau and the Observer Research Foundation, ORF America, the three day conference is expected to kick off on August 10 through 12. Dubbed the ‘Kigali Global Dialogue’, the platform, officials facilitate the cross pollination of ideas between established and emerging actors and make available solutions, policies and processes gleaned from around the world. This comes at a time when the African continent has intensified efforts to play a central role in shaping emerging development narratives and creating both institutions and ideas for the new global governance architecture. The inaugural edition of the dialogue saw the participation of more than 350 people from 50 countries. “As the decade of action progresses, it is critical to share experiences and solutions and forge new partnerships. Many of our development and economic orthodoxies – especially those propagated by high-income countries – have failed to deliver sustainable and equitable development for most of the world,” reads part of a statement released prior to the conference. According to the officials, new development institutions, financial arrangements, and paradigms are urgently needed and are already emerging. “It is clear that African nations will create and lead new models for development and growth over the coming decades,” the statement added. The success, it added, of these experiences will serve as templates for other parts of the world as they navigate development pathways more responsive to climate constraints and social, environmental, and economic imperatives. Meanwhile, the platform also aims to bring the experiences and stories of African communities, countries, and people to the world. “The platform, therefore, holds the potential to not only influence current norms, institutions, and arrangements but also to define new norms, priorities, and approaches for the decade of action.” According to the agenda, participants will deliberate on various topics including building resilient societies, lessons from the pandemic particularly looking at the losses and inequities exposed in health both within and between countries. Also on the agenda is the subject of climate corollaries as well as digital technologies and innovations in developing countries. “The imperative of reducing emissions is matched by the twin challenge of ensuring that developing and emerging economies have the space to grow. This pillar will explore how efforts to accelerate the decarbonization process can be prioritized while ensuring a just and fair transition process.”
