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Emerging Economies: The New World Architects
Strategic Alignments are the New Blueprints for Shared Progress
Shuva Raha, Rishabh Kumar Singh and Rudra Sen
May 2025 | International Cooperation
Suggested citation: Shuva Raha, Rishabh Kumar Singh and Rudra Sen. Emerging Economies: The New World Architects. Global Solutions Journal, Issue No. 11 (Berlin: Global Solutions Initiative, May 2025).
Overview
This paper explores the meteoric ascendance of Emerging Economies at the core of seismic disruption of global geoeconomic hard power. Emerging Economies are highly diverse but exude a sense of "dynamism, progress, and opportunity". They share the challenges of balancing rapid growth with sociopolitical realities and financial and resource constraints, including land, water, food, energy and carbon space, and environmental risks. Despite their dramatic differences, Emerging Economies appreciate collaboration, especially on innovations that drive affordable, accessible, and inclusive development at scale. Strategic groupings of varying structures and stakeholders, with one or more Emerging Economies as the nuclei, are the blueprints of this new global architecture. The paper delves into the impact of development in Emerging Economies and developing countries on the way the world lives, works, and interacts.
Key Highlights
- In 2024, the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) accounted for 35% of global GDP, more than the G7’s 30%.
- Asia’s emerging GDP growth is expected to be the highest, projected as 4.8% in 2025, driven by competitive wages, domestic demand, and improved ease of doing business.
- China’s shiny premium goods repertoire; India’s tech stack of services and aspirational consumers; Africa’s fintech revolution; the Middle East’s clean energy and future city forays are enticing the multinational companies and start-ups.
- India is also investing in green infrastructure, for instance, Indian Railways, the fourth largest network in the world, has electrified 97% of its broad-gauge, which carries approximately 23 million passengers daily.
- Emerging Economies are also building their capacity to export locally produced goods and natural resources instead of cheaply squandering their natural wealth. Indonesia has banned nickel ore exports to increase the product’s value and garner trade advantages.
- The G20 Presidencies of Indonesia, India, Brazil, and now South Africa have put Emerging Economies at the center of international decision making. India’s New Delhi Declaration brought the African Union into the G20 with unanimous agreement.
- In the spirit of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” – the world is one family – the newcomers are redefining the rules of engagement on the tenets of mutual respect and shared progress.
“In a major shift towards self-reliance, native and dynamic leaps in policy, finance, technology and social innovations are powering the Emerging Economies from the grassroots to space.”
