The 1989 collapse of the Berlin Wall, signalling the end of the Cold War and bringing those on the side of the wall into the global economy, ushered in an era of enhanced globalisation that Thomas Friedman described in his book The World is Flat.

The ECN in Dubai continued its series of CEO roundtables this week with a session on the regional talent landscape.

Consumer activity is a significant driver of South Africa’s GDP. Last year, in particular, restrictions to control and contain the spread of Covid-19 and the knock-on effects to employment and retail sales were stark.

How seriously should businesses take Saudi Arabia’s threats to exclude non-KSA-headquartered foreign companies from doing business with its state entities?

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At one of our recent CxO lunches we discussed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and what its implementation will mean for businesses operating in the region. Opinions were quite divided. Some noted that RCEP does not really achieve a lot and is more of a geopolitical win for China, while others praised the positive impact it will have in deepening regional value chains and cutting administrative costs.

One of the biggest risks we see for the recovery of the global economy is the slow pace of vaccine distribution. The longer it takes to control the pandemic and inoculate the population across all countries, the more likely it is for new and stronger variants of the virus to emerge. This could render the current vaccines efforts ineffective and lead to additional restrictive measures, more state support and higher indebtedness.

I have been conducting some research on demographics, and here is a chart that should raise concerns among, and even scare, Chinese policymakers due to its implications for the country’s development process.

China’s efforts to advance environmental sustainability have been making the headlines owing to President Xi Jinping’s pledge for carbon emissions to peak by 2030, and carbon neutrality to be achieved by 2060.