The conference challenging western ideas on development →

At the Rhodes Forum, disagreement is the goal. The annual dialogue on the Greek island pulls together several hundred business leaders, academics, and the occasional head of state to debate key geopolitical issues that range from whether new institutions are needed to shape the global order, to the ongoing trade war between the United States and China.

There was little disagreement to be had, though, on the issue of sustainable development for the global south — a central topic at this year's forum, which ended Saturday. Participants charted a vision of development fueled by new infrastructure and funded not by World Bank or International Monetary Fund loans, but by less restrictive sources of financing, such as China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Read more.

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