Plenary XI: Emerging Leaders Closing Plenary

The projections for United States GDP released by the Federal Reserve on March 17, pointed to a growth rate of 6.5% in 2021, well above December’s 4.2% forecast. Congressional approval of the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion fiscal package and the vaccination march against COVID-19 explain the rise in the estimate. However, it should not be forgotten that growth in 2021 will follow a fall in GDP of 3.5% last year. While the expected unemployment rate at the end of 2021 is now 4 ...

It was an illusion. A dream or wishful thinking—and some fake news. Scientists would develop a vaccine at break-neck speed. It would be available for all, wealthy nations sharing with the poor. But unfortunately the COVID-19 deaths continue to mount. The world is facing a maddening bottleneck, predicted in October 2020 by the Policy Center for the New South on its opinion page, quoting scientists calculations that twelve to fifteen billion vaccine shots were needed, but glass manufa ...

This report is part of a partnership between the Policy Center for the New South and the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center.   New technologies, such as automation, artificial intelligence and industrial robots, are often seen as a real danger for existing jobs and also for future job-creation prospects. There is a perception that they will make work redundant and lead to massive job destruction. However, others believe that automation, like previous technological waves , will incre ...

Tillabéri region of Niger is witnessing unprecedented level of ethnic-based violence. The January 2 massacre caught the national and international actors’ attention, however; the event was preventable. Accessing communities through ethnically charged and other exploitative language has proved to be a game changer for the expansion of violent extremist organizations (VEOs) expansion since 2012. The failure of national and international actors to recognize the seriousness of the situa ...