While not a topic deeply focused upon in Arrival, a subtopic of work does come up within the film. With the arrival of the twelve Heptapod ships, each spacecraft travels around the globe and settles into a different region from the others. In regions like the United States, China, Russia, and Iceland (situated in the EU), the response is well-organized and gainful in its communications with the Heptapods aboard. However, in the less-developed regions of the world, there does not exist the same intellectual and technological resources to interact with the Heptapods as there does in the more advanced regions.
This concept of the Digital Divide and Brain Drain is particularly seen within the brief glimpses of the Venezuelan and Sudanese response to the Heptapods; the efforts to connect are extremely lacking and void of any remarkable breakthrough while Dr. Banks and Dr. Donnelly's team manage to decode a sizeable portion of the Heptapod's mission via their technological and personnel advantage. Though not a direct discussion, perhaps the issues encountered in the film would not have occurred if the lesser-developed countries with Heptapod crafts had access to the same resources and intellectal expertise as the larger players; perhaps General Shang would not have felt as inclined to deliver his ultimatum if China was among the minority. Perhaps Russia would have listened to the appeal of the majority and would have elected to collaborate with the other nations rather than follow step with China and General Shang.
Though purely speculation, if the world had addressed these sizeable differences in access to technology and brain power, the issue of global isolationism and the breakdown od diplomatic research in Arrival might never have occurred, and one can only wonder what a true, meaningful dialogue with all twenty four of the Heptapod emissaries might have meant for the human race.