A side event organized by the International Telecommunication Union in partnership with the United Nations Group on the Information Society (UNGIS – ITU, UNESCO, UNDP, UNCTAD, UN ECA), and the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

5 March 2023, 17:15 – 18:45 AST, Doha time (15:15 – 16:45 CET, Geneva time)
Auditorium 3, Qatar National Convention Centre, Doha, Qatar

ICTs are rapidly transforming societies and economies, with potential to address complex and interconnected development challenges and build a sustainable future for all as envisioned in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. More needs to be done to leverage the development potential of digital technologies.

After around 20 years of engagement from all WSIS stakeholders, the WSIS process remains the leading global platform for multistakeholder collaboration to make ICTs a critical driver of global development.

Highlighting the theme of the WSIS Forum 2023 (13-17 March), this session will focus on how the ICTs and the WSIS Action Lines can help building back better and accelerating the achievement of the SDGs in LDCs, learning from the COVID-19 experience to build an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable societies and economies. It is important to strengthen partnerships and digital cooperation towards achieving goals and targets across the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This session will focus on the strategic ways governments and partners leverage ICTs, raising key challenges and gaps, identifying digital capacities to prioritize based on needs on the ground, and the synergies necessary to support those.

Since its inception, UNGIS has played an important role in the WSIS process, including by forging collaboration and partnerships among UN Chief Executives Board (CEB) members to achieve WSIS objectives. UNGIS is committed to maintain ICT and science and technology issues at the top of the UN agenda and advocating for the implementation of ICT for development solutions in the programmes of CEB members. Drawing on the respective competencies of the different members of the Group, UNGIS is working collectively to implement more coordinated actions, greater coherence and effectiveness in the UN’s overall support to the implementation of the WSIS outcomes.

The WSIS process is built on the framework of the 11 WSIS Action Lines that cover all aspects of ICTs for development. Since 2015, the WSIS process and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are being aligned by stakeholders to integrate ICTs into their approaches in implementing the activities/initiatives to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Panellists:

1. Ms. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
2. Ms. Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
3. Mr. Nikhil Seth, Assistant Secretary-General, Executive Director, The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)
4. Dr. Cosmas Zavazava, PhD, Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
5. Mr. Chris Sharrock, Vice President, UN & International Organizations, Microsoft

Moderator:

Mr. Adel Mohamed Darwish, Director, Regional Office for Arab States, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)