Is it only January? Though we've just begun 2011, the world has already witnessed some pretty dramaticevents, from the popular uprising in Tunisia on January 14 that sent ripples into several neighboringcountries, to the continued WikiLeaks fall-out, a polarizing state visit of China to the United States,claims of an intensifying emerging vs. emerged market "currency war", and yesterday's deadly terrorattack at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport.
Many are wondering what the future holds for this world where economies are shifting, powerdynamics are in flux, and the youth in many nations are so dramatically demonstrating their desire for anew reality based on stability, innovation and economic growth. The scale of today's protests in Egypt,and the speed at which they erupted, shows us that these changes are happening faster and faster -sometimes overnight - and that this is no time for our global leadership to passively observe how ourworld is shifting.
I'm in Riyadh this week at the fifth annual Global Competitiveness Forum and have been struck bythe contrasting social and economic realities you find across the Arab world and the broader circleof emerging markets. While the recent unrest in Tunisia has drawn attention to some of the greatchallenges this region is facing, it has distracted us from another important truth: that a large part ofthis region is strongly and steadfastly committed to growth, and recognizes innovation, change andcollaboration as the key to boosting their standing in the world economy.
As Edmund Phelps, my friend and colleague at Columbia University's Center for Capitalism and Societywrote in the Financial Times yesterday, one of the fundamental causes of the unrest in Tunisia is a longhistory of stifled entrepreneurism and innovation. Over the past three days, it's been heartening to seethat that trend is not consistent across this region.
GCF is a gathering of the top minds from across the Middle East and the world, focused on finding newapproaches to global sustainable competitiveness. Over the past three days, I have had the chance tohear dozens of business leaders, policy makers, and academics come here to share ideas and draw newinsights about what it takes to up the global competitiveness of emerging markets.
The face of today's global competitiveness is changing by the minute. Saudi Arabia, the host countryof GCF 2011, has itself has made a remarkable transformation over the past 5 years: in 2005, it ranked67th in the world in terms of foreign direct investment; in 2010, its ranking increased to 11th in the world,with roughly US$ 150 billion in FDI.
This echoes what I saw last month in Brazil, which is currently one of the most dynamic and fastestgrowing economies in the world. There I saw an enormous level of investment and innovation in publicinfrastructure and mining, paving the way for sustained macroeconomic growth.
These are remarkable signs that today's centers of growth and influence look very different thanthey did fifty, ten or even five years ago. Jim O'Neill, the Goldman Sachs economist that coinedthe term "BRIC" in 2001 as a grouping of the four fastest-growing economies - Brazil, Russia, India,and China - was spot-on at the time in singling out these four as the powerhouses among emergingeconomies. But now we've entered a new decade, and we're starting to see more players join this club.
Last month, the original BRIC nations officially admitted South Africa into their grouping. I'm convincedthat the stronger forces in the global economy for the coming years fall along an axis that runs fromBrazil to China, crossing through Africa, the Middle East, and Gulf countries.
From one corner of the world to another, and even between neighboring countries, there are greatdisparities in the degree to which national economies are embracing and encouraging economic growth.So many countries are "getting it right," and have important insights to share - insights that may helpto avoid difficult consequences such as the ones we're seeing in Tunisia. For me, this underscores theimportance of events like the Global Competitiveness Forum, and all the other platforms we create tobring leaders together to share their perspectives and foster open dialogue. Given the rapid pace atwhich these changes are happening, there's no time to just think. The world won't wait for anyone; thetime to come together and act is now.
Now more than ever, the winners are the doers.