"UNCTAD" : The world is ahead "Historic transformation" Knowledge drives global trade to $33 trillion

2025/11/19 11:24:08 PM

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DUBAI, 19 November / WAM / Rebecca Greenspan, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), confirmed that the world today stands on the threshold of a “historic turning point” in which the rules of economic competitiveness will be completely reshaped, stressing that knowledge has become the fundamental and new driving force of the global economy.

This came during her participation in a dialogue session within the “Knowledge Summit 2025” activities organized by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation in Dubai, which was titled “The Economics of Knowledge and Global Trade: New Paths for Comprehensive and Sustainable Development.”

In her speech, Greenspan revealed remarkable economic indicators, as global trade recorded a record growth this year, reaching $33 trillion, an increase of $3.7 trillion over last year, noting that this growth is no longer just the usual cyclical growth, but rather has become a growth driven by structural factors directly linked to knowledge and digitalization.

It also reviewed accurate numbers that support this radical transformation, as it explained that services exports recorded a record growth of 9% last year, constituting 62% of total global trade, while the growth of traditional goods trade did not exceed only 2%.

In the context of her analysis of the impact of advanced technology, the Secretary-General of UNCTAD pointed out an important paradox, which is that although trade related to artificial intelligence represents only 15% of the total global demand, it contributed a huge percentage of 40% of the growth of trade this year, which confirms that the “knowledge-intensive” sectors have become the largest and most influential. She said that “digitalization” is reshaping all economic sectors, as traditional physical products, such as cars, have turned into complex systems of Software, data, and services, allowing services to be traded globally at an unprecedented pace.

Greenspan moved on to talk about the development consequences of this new reality, explaining that this global transformation represents a double-edged sword for developing countries. On the one hand, it provides opportunities through services and creative industries that provide alternative development paths that do not require huge infrastructure and rely mainly on skills and communication. However, on the other hand, it carries serious challenges, warning that the digital divide is still very wide, with 2.6 billion people around the world remaining without Internet services, which threatens to perpetuate inequality.

Greenspan concluded her participation by emphasizing that knowledge markets do not arise automatically and are not neutral in nature. Algorithms are what determine priorities and funding systems are what direct the areas supported, stressing that the presence of strong institutions and fair public policies is the only guarantee for disseminating the benefits of knowledge.

She called on the international community to accelerate the arrival of technology to developing countries, strengthen their digital infrastructure, and reform regulatory frameworks to ensure the transfer of technology on fair terms, with the need to link supply to the development demand of peoples and not just to profitable commercial demand.