Rabat Conference Offers Common Vision on Development Priorities for MICs, Says UN Deputy SG

The High-Level Ministerial Conference on Middle-Income Countries (MICs) offers a common vision on the development priorities of this group of countries, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed said on Tuesday in Rabat. Speaking at the opening of the Ministerial Segment of this High-Level Conference, J. Mohammed noted that this meeting is an opportunity to make the voice of middle-income countries heard, by shedding light on their potential and the opportunities they abound. “MICs, which account for almost a third of global GDP, are the main engines of global growth,” she said, adding that each of them faces unique challenges that require innovative solutions. Indeed, traditional measures of success do not effectively capture the diversity of experiences and development contexts in middle-income countries, said the UN official. The nuanced challenges facing these countries call for tailored solutions based on three pillars, she added. The first is development financing in MICs to meet their development needs, said J. Mohammed. Another is the reform of the international financial architecture to enable them to fully express their views and reflect their true economic weight, she added. The third pillar, she said, concerns the integration of measures of progress in sustainable development that go beyond GDP. Held under the theme “Solutions to address development challenges of Middle-Income Countries in a changing world”, this High-Level Ministerial Conference is part of the Kingdom of Morocco’s presidency of the Group of Friends of Middle-Income Countries within the framework of the United Nations, which it has held since 2023, and its continued advocacy of the interests of developing countries, under the far-sighted vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, in favor of an active and solidarity-based multilateralism.