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Cape Town – There needs to be a “new global deal” where economies start adopting new technologies which can liberate the world from many of its social ills, said Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies on Wednesday.
Speaking to Fin24 on the sidelines of the 27th World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa, taking place in Durban from 3 to 5 May, Davies said the .
This year’s Africa leg of the WEF is themed Achieving Inclusive Growth through Responsive and Responsible Leadership and will see more than 1 000 participants, including business and government leaders, academia and NGOs from across the world.
Davies said it’s important to understand that the WEF is not a multinational body, neither do any decisions emanate from it.
“However, I myself have picked up from the WEF a much greater understanding than I would have picked up elsewhere about the developments called the fourth industrial revolution – what the opportunities are – what the risks are – and why we need inclusivity in our growth processes.”
In Africa specifically, Davies is of the view that inclusive growth will come about if developmental integration and higher levels of industrialisation are promoted.
“I think also globally we need to move from insipid levels of growth. Growth may be higher this year due to higher commodity prices, but ultimately we’re at the whim of cycles – and we will probably never see a return to levels seen at the commodity supercycle,” he said.
He also spoke about the need for a new global deal where new technologies are adopted against social backgrounds which liberate people from spending large amount of hours at work, whereas other people do not find jobs at all.
“We need to move towards a world where there are perhaps shorter working hours and guaranteed incomes. And I think a lot of that will come from a new global deal,” Davies said.
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