The Future of Investment and Trade Partnership (FIT Partnership) created in 2025[1] is perhaps one of the more dynamic platforms formed in the current conditions of rising protectionism and geopolitical risks. By placing the emphasis on agility and policy quality over the quantity of weight/size it is well positioned to adapt to the rising frequency of shocks and shifts in the global economic landscape. Its members largely include small open economies that have a strong economic policy and governance track-record, with some of the key priorities advanced in the initial stages of the FIT project being supply chain resilience as well as trade openness. The FIT grouping has the advantage of operating on the basis of variable geometry and plurilateralism, meaning that members are free to form various alliances and platforms without the need for attaining consensus from all members. This in turn opens a wide possibility for the FIT bloc to explore a wide array of possible partnerships, with one of the promising formations being a platform for cities, regions and urban centers of member economies.
In fact, within the FIT platform the very boundary between states and cities is at times blurred due to the key role of a city-state such as Singapore, the presence of states that structurally may approximate a city-state (Liechtenstein) and the high weight of capital cities in some of the small economies like Uruguay and Costa Rica. Another dimension in this respect is that for Small Island Developing States (SIDSs) that may well forge closer ties with the FIT Partnership, the share of the capital/largest city in the country’s GDP and population is very high – typically between a third and half of GDP and between 1/3 and 2/3 of the population (Palau and Nauru being among the latter cases). World Bank estimates show that cities generate 80% of global GDP and accounted for 88% of private sector job creation between 2010–2020[2]. At the same time, according to the UN, the urbanization process in the global economy is projected to unfold forcefully in the coming decades, with the share of the global population living in cities rising to 68% by 2050 compared to current levels of 55%[3]. These figures suggest that the urban domain will increasingly become a competitive space in terms of production, innovation and talent mobility.
A glance at the current rankings of cities in terms of the quality of living conditions reveals a strong position of FIT cities not only in their regions and continents, but also globally[4]. In terms of the Mercer’s Quality of Living (Livability) Rankings, FIT cities lead the rankings across almost all regions in which they are present across the globe – Zurich is #1 in Europe and a global leader, Auckland is #1 in Oceania/Pacific, Montevideo is #1 in Latin America, Singapore is #1 in Asia, Dubai/Abu Dhabi are frequently #1 in the Middle East. In Africa, the #1 spot is Port Louis, Mauritius – a country that could also join the FIT platform in the future as a small economy with one of the highest levels of development in the Africa region[5].
Such a positioning of FIT cities on the international arena opens the possibility for establishing platforms for urban centers that could lead in attracting high-skilled labor throughout the global economy as existing research amply shows that living conditions represent a key factor determining the capability of countries to attract talent[6]. In particular, the leading positions of FIT cities in terms of the living conditions create scope for attracting top talent in such industries as financial services and IT – the latter becoming particularly critical in the time of intense race to develop competitive AI capabilities. With FIT cities such as Dubai, Singapore, Geneva, Zurich among the leaders regionally and globally in the rankings of international financial centers (IFCs), there is also scope for FIT economies to launch “safe haven” networks in the financial space. Another important potential segment is start-ups, with FIT cities attracting high-skilled and entrepreneurial talent from across the globe to develop and scale start-up activity.
More broadly, some of the key areas for the operation of the FIT cities network could include smart cities and digital development – such a platform would raise the degree of connectivity across FIT members, while also creating a forum for exchanging best practices in urban management. The leading FIT urban centers could become the focal points of advancing services trade in areas such as tourism, logistics, financial services, IT services, etc – thus addressing one of the core mandates of the FIT platform in the trade sphere. The other key priority for FIT, namely resilient supply chains, would greatly benefit from the co-integration of key logistical hubs such as Singapore and Dubai that occupy leading positions in the global logistical rankings.
In the end, the formation of a FIT urban/regional platform would be very much in line with the bloc’s broader emphasis on agility and smaller, variable formations. From a platform formed by small and medium-sized economies to regions, to urban centers and possibly to companies and SMEs and start-ups – such a Matryoshka-like progression would endow FIT with greater optionality and flexibility that is unrivaled by other competing country groups. In a way, the flexible geometry and the openness of the platform may imply that it is not about size (large or small per se), but the ability to vary the modalities and formats of economic cooperation. This may then be the approach to building a new vanguard of the world economy across various levels of aggregation (from the micro-level of companies to the macro-level of cities, countries and regional blocs), with synergies across these levels sustaining the competitive edge of the broader FIT platform.
[1] https://www.seco.admin.ch/en/fit-partnership-en
[2] https://www.worldbank.org/ext/en/topic/urban-development
[3] https://www.un.org/uk/desa/68-world-population-projected-live-urban-areas-2050-says-un
[4] This has been observed in our earlier publications with respect to the OASES formation (Oriental Republic of Uruguay, Austria, Switzerland, Emirates, Singapore): https://brics-plus-analytics.org/oases-vs-brics-5-a-look-at-the-global-rankings/
[5] www.mercer.com
[6] https://www.sia-partners.com/en/insights/publications/cities-livability-age-global-citizenship
Yaroslav Lissovolik, Founder, BRICS+ Analytics
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