WSIS+20 Forum High-Level Event – ESCAP News

About
Executive Secretary
Speeches
27 May 2024

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to express my appreciation to Ms. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the ITU, for inviting me to this World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+20 Forum High-Level Event.
WSIS+20 marks twenty years of progress as a global multistakeholder platform for enhanced digital cooperation towards an inclusive information and knowledge society.
As we approach the WSIS+20 Review in 2025, I am confident that by working together, we can further strengthen our implementation of WSIS priorities at the regional level.
Today, as digital development is transforming societies and economies at an unprecedented pace, the Asia- Pacific region is emerging as a dynamic innovation hub.
As highlighted by the ESCAP theme study at the 80th session of the Commission in April, while the Asia-Pacific region continues to face strong economic headwinds, it is encouraging to see that broadband connectivity is accelerating, driven by an expanding array of new online devices and pioneering applications.
This provides us with an urgent opportunity to address development challenges across multiple sectors, particularly at a time when progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is alarmingly slow.
Therefore, we need to fully seize this opportunity. I would like to highlight three key action areas:
First, address digital disparities so that no one is left behind. People experience exclusion from the digital space due to various factors, including gender, age, income, education and geographic location.
It is estimated that more than a third of people who have access to broadband Internet are not online. We need to focus on closing this usage gap through large-scale, tailored programmes that address the diversity of barriers.   
Second, bring innovations to scale. A boost in financing is needed to unleash innovation. Incentivizing private sector investments and finding innovative ways to pool such financing with public sources, philanthropic actors and multilateral funding will be needed in the face of the continuing post-pandemic fiscal tightening.
Likewise, support for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, which often drive innovation, should focus on providing stable, predictable policy environments with agile regulatory instruments.  
Third, strengthen digital cooperation to accelerate innovation. I am pleased to inform you that within the overall framework provided by the Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway initiative, ESCAP and the Government of Kazakhstan are organizing the Asia-Pacific Digital Ministerial Conference on Digital Inclusion and Transformation in Astana, Kazakhstan from 3 to 5 September 2024, to commit to a visionary and ambitious blueprint for regional digital cooperation.
I look forward to continuing our close work with ITU and other agencies of the UN family in harnessing the power of digital technologies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Thank you very much.
Subscribe to our biweekly e-mail newsletter.
© United Nations ESCAP

source

About The Author

admin

See author's posts