TWC Group Chairman Thilan Wijesinghe addressed global policymakers and experts at the ORF Cape Town Dialogue held in Cape Town, South Africa, recently. The event, co-hosted by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and the Thabo Mbeki Foundation (TMF), served as a critical platform to address challenges in the Global South, including the future of the blue economy. ORF – a globally renowned think tank based in India, has evolved over the past 30 years from primarily looking inward and engaging with local reforms to gradually forging global partnerships. ORF today plays a fundamental role in building the political and policy consensus that enables the Global South to engage with the world.

At the conference, Thilan provided insights into how to bridge the gap between high-level policy discourse and operational strategies, focusing on inclusive frameworks that protect coastal communities while enabling economic growth. Highlighting real-world examples and advocating for practical solutions, Thilan emphasized the importance of aligning investments with community resilience and environmental sustainability to meet the growing demand for transformative leadership in addressing climate and development challenges.

Thilan advocated for the implementation of global initiatives such as the G20’s Oceans20 and the importance of gender-sensitive policies, reskilling opportunities for women, and multilateral cooperation to drive meaningful and equitable change in the sector.“As a financial and PPP practitioner, I see a growing necessity for finance ministries of the Global South to up their game in designing projects that tap into the climate financing market, whether through blue bonds, debt-for-nature swaps or other instruments. Countries such as Belize and Ecuador have shown us what is possible, reducing their debt loads significantly through such mechanisms,”

Wijesinghe added,Successful implementation requires bringing together governments, private sector, financiers, and a robust Public-Private Partnership (PPP) unit that generates project designs that unlock the full potential of climate financing for sustainable, community-driven development across the Global South.”