The ABICUS Grouping | Australia Britain India Canada United States

The ABICUS Grouping

Australia   Britain   India   Canada   United States

The five biggest English speaking countries in the world by GDP: United Kingdom, India, Canada, United States of America and Australia, together account for approximately 1/4^th of the global population and have a share of 1/3^rd of the global economy.

	India	United Kingdom	Canada	US	Australia
GDP	$2.182 trillion (7th)	$2.849 trillion (5th)	$1.462 trillion (10th)	$18.124 trillion (1st)	$1.223trillion (13th)
Global population (2015)	1,276,267,000 17.36%[1]	64,928,787 0.8%	35,749,600 0.4%	320,090,857 4.3%	24,062,000 0.32%
Total area	3,287,263km2 (7th)	242,495km2 (78th)	9,984,670km2 (2nd)	9,857,306km2 (3rd)	7,692,024km2 (6th)
Water (%)	9.6	1.34	8.92	7.1
Gini (2013)	33.9	31.6	33.7	40.8	33.6

Table 1: Country Profile

Given the core values shared by these nations, it should be possible to accelerate the coordination between these nations on issues impacting global economy and security that could possibly result in accelerated growth, improved security and better climate management for the world.

The nations are undergoing an extreme transformation from an economic, social, national security, internal security and climate perspective. This transformation is being further accelerated with rapidly evolving technology.

The key issues that urgently require coordination, could be the following:

1.    Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs)

Ongoing and future mega-regional agreements will significantly influence in shaping the future of global trade architecture and existing RTAs by incorporating a potent mix of bilateralism, plurilateralism and regionalism. ABICUS has the potential to play a key role in the opportunities generated by individual RTAs in deepening and broadening global economic integration, particularly through involvement of small and less developed economies which are not part of mega-regional agreements.

2.    4^th Industrial Revolution driven by Extreme Automation

Extreme Automation is what is driving the 4th Industrial Revolution. Extreme Automation will drive tectonic shifts in the international job market, leading to sudden massive job destruction, with very little time to retrain the existing labour market for the required higher level skills. The maturing of fundamental technologies related to Extreme Automation in the next 5 years - cognitive, IOT, driverless vehicles and robotic process automation operating in an environment of pervasive compute and pervasive communication infrastructure, will be the single most defining moment for this century. This impending revolution provides a tremendous opportunity for ABICUS ‘Knowledge Economies’ to understand and address the key challenges globally and locally, related to Extreme Automation.

3.    Asymmetric Warfare

As globalization intensifies - aided by technology, an increasingly wired society and the fourth industrial revolution, security of citizens and shared interests of ABICUS stands exposed to higher degrees of risk. The Global Risk Report (2016)[2] by the World Economic Forum (WEF) suggests that “chronic and resurgent violence, conflicts, and economic and social volatility will remain prominent features of the current and future reality.” Key threat drivers and ‘increasing’ amplifiers of asymmetric warfare - geo-strategic interests, climate change, demographics, energy and governance, will shape a complex interplay in future conflicts. Given the above scenarios, advanced models of collaboration among ABICUS to strengthen technological innovation and international security will offer significant opportunities to understand and deal with incidents of future asymmetric warfare.

4.    Energy recalibration

For ensuring the sustainable development and increasing energy efficiency, these 5 countries are taking multiple initiatives for increasing their dependence on smarter solutions and using alternative sources of energy. Driven by technologies, the countries are evolving their energy mix away from coal and oil, thus securing overall economic and climate security. Moreover, the tropical countries appear to be well poised to benefit from the Tropical Advantage due to the economically feasible exploitation of solar energy, to the extent that solar energy could be costing almost nothing, once the equipment is fully depreciated.

5.    Trans-national transportation

Promotion of trans-national transportation networks has a significant impact on the citizens and economies of these 5 nations. A trans-national transportation network centered on the ‘shared interests’ of ABICUS is a key element for future competitiveness and employment, as also for ensuring sustainable transport, including through major technological projects. Transport infrastructures (national & trans-national), unlike other sectors, are dependent on public funding, essentially from national budgets and hence mandate the agreement and cooperation of individual countries. Additionally, it is imperative that innovation is embedded in the quest to attract private investment to large-scale trans-national infrastructure projects.

6.    Urban transport

The countries are working to build reliable, intelligent and sustainable public transport systems for increasing citizen mobility and accessibility. The smart cities of tomorrow are a network of interconnected systems, including employment, health care, retail/entertainment, public services, residences, energy distribution, and not least, transportation. Electric vehicles (EVs), in particular, represent one of the most promising pathways for ABICUS to unlock innovation and create new advanced industries that spur job growth and enhance future economic prosperity.

7.    Rapid Job destruction

Current trends reveal that the pace at which the jobs are being destroyed is more than the pace at which the jobs are being created.

Way forward

Given the commonalities between the 5 nations and their combined ability to drive change in the world, it would be valuable to start a 5 nation dialogue on the issues outlined above. Given the geographic positioning, where the 5 nations are laid out over four major landmasses, spread across the globe, the cooperation would provide the axis of stability and growth that is required for the world. The grouping may evolve into opting in South Africa, as the South African economy grows.

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[1]Global population: 7.349 billion

[2] http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GRR/WEF_GRR16.pdf