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Saudi Arabia Concludes Two Agreements with WEF’s UpLink to Address Environmental Challenges

The officials sign the agreements in Davos. (SPA)
The officials sign the agreements in Davos. (SPA)
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Saudi Arabia Concludes Two Agreements with WEF’s UpLink to Address Environmental Challenges

The officials sign the agreements in Davos. (SPA)
The officials sign the agreements in Davos. (SPA)

Saudi Arabia and the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) innovation platform UpLink signed two agreements to catalyze innovative global solutions to today’s most pressing environmental and sustainability challenges.

Signed on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024 in Davos, the agreements aim to foster innovation ecosystems around early-stage impact entrepreneurs to stimulate investments and support breakthrough solutions that address critical sustainable development challenges, including ocean degradation, biodiversity loss, and the circular carbon economy.

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal al-Ibrahim and WEF President Børge Brende signed the agreements on the sidelines of the Davos 2024 annual meetings. The deals focus on “Catalyzing Innovation for an Ocean Positive Economy” and “Catalyzing Innovation for a Positive Circular Carbon Economy (CCE).”

Ibrahim announced that Saudi Arabia is determined to meet this moment of deepening climate and sustainable development challenges with responsible environmental stewardship and driving transformative investments in breakthrough, innovative, and scalable technological solutions.

He explained that by expanding the collaboration with UpLink, Saudi Arabia is doubling its commitment to supporting climate-positive solutions that can help build a sustainable and resilient resource future.

The Kingdom aims to enhance investments and technical innovations to meet the challenges of sustainable development and support early-stage entrepreneurs. The Ministry of Economy and Planning is working in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, the Saudi Green Initiative, and the WAVE Initiative.

Head of UpLink John Dutton stated that the world is facing a climate crisis that requires urgent and joint action, highlighting the urgency of addressing the climate emergency, and underscoring the importance of rapid, coordinated action.

Innovative solutions from early-stage entrepreneurs are crucial for realizing the Sustainable Development Goals.

Dutton pointed out that UpLink, in partnership with global collaborators, is developing a supportive ecosystem for these entrepreneurs, providing vital resources, exposure, expertise, and funding.

The enhanced partnership between UpLink and Saudi Arabia demonstrates the transformative impact of innovation and collaboration.

The second agreement aims to encourage and support innovations that accelerate the growth of the circular economy and contribute to reducing waste and carbon dioxide emissions to preserve the planet.

The platform also provides an ideal path for many cooperation projects between the public and private sectors, innovators, and investors to find global solutions to environmental challenges that can be applied on broader scales.

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IMF Sees Steady Global Growth

FILED - 24 October 2024, US, Washington: The logo of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is seen on the facade of the conference building on Pennsylvania Street. Photo: Soeren Stache/dpa
FILED - 24 October 2024, US, Washington: The logo of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is seen on the facade of the conference building on Pennsylvania Street. Photo: Soeren Stache/dpa
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IMF Sees Steady Global Growth

FILED - 24 October 2024, US, Washington: The logo of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is seen on the facade of the conference building on Pennsylvania Street. Photo: Soeren Stache/dpa
FILED - 24 October 2024, US, Washington: The logo of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is seen on the facade of the conference building on Pennsylvania Street. Photo: Soeren Stache/dpa

The International Monetary Fund expects the world economy to grow a little faster and inflation to keep falling this year. But it warned that the outlook is clouded by President-elect Donald Trump’s promises to slash US taxes, impose tariffs on foreign goods, ease regulations on businesses and deport millions of immigrants working illegally in the United States.

The Washington-based lending agency expects the world economy to grow 3.3% this year and next, up from 3.2% in 2024. The growth is steady but unimpressive: From 2000 to 2019, the world economy grew faster – an average of 3.7% a year. The sluggish growth reflects the lingering effects of big global shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The IMF is a 191-nation lending organization that works to promote economic growth and financial stability and to reduce global poverty.

Global inflation, which had surged after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global supply chains and caused shortages and higher prices, is forecast to fall from 5.7% in 2024 to 4.2% this year and 3.5% in 2026.

But in a blog post that accompanied the release of the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook report, the fund’s chief economist, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, wrote that the policies Trump has promised to introduce “are likely to push inflation higher in the near term,” The Associated Press reported.

Big tax cuts could overheat the US economy and inflation. Likewise, hefty tariffs on foreign products could at least temporarily push up prices and hurt exporting countries around the world. And mass deportations could cause restaurants, construction companies and other businesses to run short of workers, pushing up their costs and weighing on economic growth.

Gourinchas also wrote that Trump’s plans to slash regulations on business could “boost potential growth in the medium term if they remove red tape and stimulate innovation.’’ But he warned that “excessive deregulation could also weaken financial safeguards and increase financial vulnerabilities, putting the US economy on a dangerous boom-bust path.’’

Trump inherits a strong US economy. The IMF expects US growth to come in at 2.7% this year, a hefty half percentage point upgrade from the 2.2% it had forecast in October.

The American economy — the world's biggest — is proving resilient in the face of high interest rates, engineered by the Federal Reserve to fight inflation. The US is benefiting from a strong job market that gives consumers the confidence and financial wherewithal to keep spending, from strong gains in productivity and from an influx of immigrants that has eased labor shortages.

The US economy’s unexpectedly strong performance stands in sharp contrast to the advanced economies across the Atlantic Ocean. The IMF expects the 20 countries that share the euro currency to collectively grow just 1% this year, up from 0.8% in 2024 but down from the 1.2% it was expecting in October. “Headwinds,” Gourinchas wrote, “include weak momentum, especially in manufacturing, low consumer confidence, and the persistence of a negative energy price shock’’ caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Chinese economy, No. 2 in the world, is forecast to decelerate – from 4.8% last year to 4.6% in 2025 and 4.5% in 2026. A collapse in the Chinese housing market has undermined consumer confidence. If government doesn’t do enough to stimulate the economy with lower interest rates, stepped-up spending or tax cuts, China “is at risk of a debt-deflation stagnation trap,’’ Gourinchas warned, in which falling prices discourage consumers from spending (because they have an incentive to wait to get still better bargains) and make it more expensive for borrowers to repay loans.

The IMF forecasts came out a day after its sister agency, the World Bank, predicted global growth of 2.7% in 2025 and 2026, same as last year and 2023.

The bank, which makes loans and grants to poor countries, warned that the growth wasn’t sufficient to reduce poverty in low-income countries. The IMF’s global growth estimates tend to be higher than the World Bank’s because they give more weight to faster-growing developing countries.