Saturday Closing Ceremony: Summit of the Future Action Days

Saturday Closing Ceremony: Summit of the Future Action Days

Session at a Glance

Summary

The closing ceremony of the Summit of the Future Action Days focused on shaping a peaceful, sustainable, and digital future for all. Rapporteurs summarized key discussions on achieving peace, sustainability, and digital inclusion globally. Speakers emphasized the importance of multilateralism, local government involvement, and financial reform to address global challenges.

The need for concrete action and financing to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals was a recurring theme. Speakers highlighted the importance of reforming the international financial architecture, addressing debt issues, and increasing funding for developing countries. The role of cities and local governments in implementing global initiatives was emphasized.

Youth engagement and intergenerational approaches were stressed as crucial for building a better future. Discussions covered topics such as climate change, digital technologies, and peace-building. Speakers called for solidarity, trust-building, and collective action to address global issues.

The UN Deputy Secretary-General emphasized the power of inclusive multilateralism and partnerships demonstrated during the summit. She urged continued engagement to implement commitments and hold leaders accountable. The President of Namibia highlighted the importance of civil society participation and youth leadership in shaping the future.

The Prime Minister of Barbados concluded by calling for coordinated action to address global inequities and create a more just world. She emphasized the need for widespread engagement and attitude changes to achieve meaningful progress on issues like climate change, artificial intelligence, and equitable development.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The need for inclusive, multi-stakeholder collaboration and partnerships to address global challenges

– Reforming the international financial architecture to better support sustainable development and climate action

– The importance of youth engagement and intergenerational approaches in shaping the future

– Leveraging digital technologies and AI responsibly to advance the SDGs while managing risks

– Implementing concrete actions and commitments following the Summit of the Future

Overall purpose:

The discussion aimed to summarize the key outcomes and insights from the Summit of the Future Action Days, and look ahead to implementing the Pact for the Future and other commitments to be made at the upcoming Summit.

Tone:

The overall tone was one of urgency and call to action, while also being hopeful and inspiring. Speakers emphasized the critical challenges facing the world but expressed optimism that collaborative, inclusive efforts could drive meaningful change. The tone became more impassioned towards the end, with the final speakers making emotional appeals for unity and decisive action.

Speakers

Speakers:

– Folly Bah Thibault – Moderator/facilitator

– Nudhara Yusuf – Rapporteur for Peaceful Future for All sessions

– Betty Wainaina – Rapporteur for Sustainable Future for All sessions

– Rumman Chowdhury – Rapporteur for Digital Future for All sessions

– Anne Hidalgo – Mayor of Paris, member of UN Secretary General’s Advisory Group on Local and Regional Governments

– Axel van Trotsenburg – Senior Managing Director of the World Bank

– Amina J. Mohammed – UN Deputy Secretary General

– Nangolo Mbumba – President of Namibia

– Mia Mottley – Prime Minister of Barbados

Moderator:

– Folly Bah Thibault – Journalist and news anchor, moderating the discussion

Areas of expertise:

– Nudhara Yusuf – Peace and security

– Betty Wainaina – Sustainable development

– Rumman Chowdhury – Digital technology and AI

– Anne Hidalgo – Local government and urban issues

– Axel van Trotsenburg – International finance and development

– Amina J. Mohammed – International development and UN affairs

– Nangolo Mbumba – African politics and development

– Mia Mottley – Caribbean politics and climate change

Full session report

Revised Summary of the Summit of the Future Action Days Closing Ceremony

The closing ceremony of the Summit of the Future Action Days featured high-level speakers discussing the shaping of a peaceful, sustainable, and digital future for all. Moderated by journalist Folly Bah Thibault, the event included rapporteurs summarizing key outcomes and insights from the summit, followed by perspectives from global leaders on implementing the Pact for the Future and other commitments.

1. Rapporteurs’ Summaries

Nudhara Yusuf, rapporteur for the Peaceful Future for All sessions, highlighted:

– The importance of intergenerational dialogue and rebuilding trust

– Dismantling patriarchal power structures in peace processes

– Countering terrorism through solidarity and cooperation

– Protecting civilians from explosive weapons in populated areas

– Harnessing technology for peace while mitigating risks

Yusuf emphasized, “We stand as the last few generations who can do something about the challenges that we face, and the first few generations that have the opportunity to seize new potentials for impact.”

Betty Wainaina, rapporteur for the Sustainable Future for All sessions, focused on:

– Reforming the international financial architecture

– Strengthening international tax cooperation

– Addressing the debt crisis in developing countries

– Scaling up development and climate financing

Wainaina noted, “Debt servicing is crowding out SDG financing. Speakers stressed the need for global consensus to stem the rising debt crisis, including a systemic multilateral approach.”

Rumman Chowdhury, rapporteur for the Digital Future for All sessions, outlined:

– Reducing the digital divide and ensuring universal access

– Leveraging digital innovations to achieve SDGs

– Developing inclusive AI governance

– Fostering multi-stakeholder partnerships for digital inclusion

Chowdhury emphasized the need to address not only access to digital technology but also the skills and capacities required to use it meaningfully.

2. Global Leaders’ Perspectives

Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, stressed:

– Including local authorities in multilateral efforts

– Providing funding for cities to address climate change and development

– Fostering trust and peaceful coexistence through local initiatives

Hidalgo also highlighted the recent Paris Olympics as an opportunity to showcase sustainable practices and global unity.

Axel van Trotsenburg, Senior Managing Director of the World Bank, focused on:

– Reinvigorating multilateralism through increased funding

– Providing concessional financing for poorest countries

– Incentivizing private sector participation in developing countries

Van Trotsenburg emphasized, “Multilateralism is under threat… Yet many problems, and the mayor just mentioned climate change, you cannot solve alone. It will require international global collaboration if we want to succeed.”

Amina J. Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary General, stressed:

– Implementing new global agreements through inclusive partnerships

– Strengthening intergenerational discourse at national and international levels

– Rebuilding trust in international institutions

Mohammed highlighted the extensive engagement of civil society and youth throughout the summit process and emphasized the power of inclusive multilateralism.

Nangolo Mbumba, President of Namibia, emphasized:

– Recognizing youth as key stakeholders in global decision-making

– Amplifying voices of marginalized groups through youth leadership

– Addressing climate change, human rights, and equitable development

Mbumba stated, “The true measure of our success will be in the effective implementation of the pact for the future, the Global Digital Compact, and the Declaration of Future Generations. These initiatives will be pivotal in advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, called for:

– Reforming financial systems to match development needs

– Ensuring equitable access to new technologies like AI

– Prioritizing education and dialogue over conflict

– Providing basic necessities to all people globally

Mottley addressed current global challenges, including ongoing wars, environmental crises, and economic inequalities. She emphasized, “If we doubted the power of the people we only need to see where that power has made significant changes even in this year that we live in, but what matters now is that there be coordinated action and that we believe and that we sell and share with each other that there is a possibility for a win-win.”

In conclusion, the Summit of the Future Action Days closing ceremony highlighted the urgent need for concrete action and financing to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Speakers emphasized the importance of reforming the international financial architecture, addressing debt issues, and increasing funding for developing countries. The role of cities, local governments, and youth in implementing global initiatives was stressed throughout the discussion. The overall tone was one of urgency and call to action, while also expressing hope that collaborative, inclusive efforts could drive meaningful change in addressing global challenges.

Session Transcript

Folly Bah Thibault: Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the closing ceremony of the Summit of the Future Action Days. I know it’s been an action-packed day for all of us, with thousands of stakeholders engaging in dozens of sessions and side events throughout the day with the primary goal of reimagining how we work together to address the most pressing opportunities and challenges of our time. As we reflect on today’s sessions, we have heard rich, impactful discussions on how we can collectively shape a more peaceful, sustainable and digital future for all. In this closing ceremony today, we will hear the main takeaways from the day’s events and will be joined by leaders who will reflect on the pact of the future and what lies ahead after this summit. The work begins today. But first, it’s my pleasure to introduce the rapporteurs for each of today’s core themes who will summarize the insights and outcomes of their respective sessions. To start us off, let’s hear from Nudhara Yusuf, the rapporteur for the Peaceful Future for All sessions. Nudhara.

Nudhara Yusuf : Thank you all so very much. When I last had the pleasure of meeting so many of you at the UN Civil Society Conference in Nairobi, we left the closing ceremony saying we would show people what civil society has to offer to a process, not just what we expect from a process. It’s been a long journey, both in these halls but also in the world outside, but it is moving to see that that energy has continued throughout. the year, so thank you for being here and for representing. The Action Day on Peaceful Futures for All drew on the core principles of trust, solidarity, and universality highlighted in A New Agenda for Peace, and it galvanized strong support for these principles. The first session of the day, the Intergenerational Dialogue for Peace, focused on the search for peace in the more complex and divided world of today. The elders, two former presidents, and two young peacebuilders reflected together on the courage and perseverance it takes to rebuild trust, engage in dialogue and diplomacy to build peace. They spoke to the difficult work of repairing communal wounds from the past and rebuilding trust while also protecting the planet. In a second session, we explored how patriarchal power structures affect the lives of people, how war amplifies and feeds on them. We discussed how to dismantle these oppressive structures and the role of women and men as leaders in this effort, and, get this, about how football can be a tool to achieve it. We were inspired by the poetry To Break the Old Patterns. I am sure many of you were moved to tears as I was. In the third session, a call to action for a future free from terrorism highlighted the need for solidarity, common understanding and cooperative approach to countering terrorism. It reinforced the commitment to universal norms in countering terrorism, acknowledging that the evolving threat requires consistent application of international law and established norms, not selective enforcement. Youth and diverse actors were recognized as vital to achieving a future free from terrorism through leadership, innovation and fostering global cooperation. Following this session, we walked for peace across the United Nations premises along a route that highlights the artwork that represents peace, solidarity and global solidarity. global unity. Inspired by the walk, we discussed protection of civilians impacted by the use of explosive weapons in urban settings. In a moving session, we heard stories of resilience, messages urging an end of multigenerational trauma, the calls for action to, one, implementation of the political declaration on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, two, leave no one behind and address rights of persons with disabilities impacted by armed conflict, and three, commit political will and funding to eliminate these threats to civilians forever. The final session, Imagining Peace in a Digital World, explored scenarios for peace and security in 2045, defined by transformative factors like advancing technology, climate change, and the future of multilateralism. The session unpacked how technologies can be harnessed for good while mitigating risks for a peaceful digital future. A call to action was presented, too, to recommit to multilateralism through the United Nations, to resolve disputes peacefully, to develop governance frameworks that are fit for purpose in a changing world, to uphold disarmament commitments, to prevent conflict and reduce human suffering, to strengthen multi-stakeholder partnerships, to tackle future risks. We stand as the last few generations who can do something about the challenges that we face, and the first few generations that have the opportunity to seize new potentials for impact. So, we, the people of the United Nations, let’s do this. Thank you.

Folly Bah Thibault: Thank you, Nudhara. Thank you very much, Nudhara, for summarizing the discussions on how we can achieve a peaceful future for all. They were, indeed, very insightful discussions throughout the day here today. We’ll now hear from Betty Wainaina. the rapporteur for a sustainable future for all sessions, Betty.

Betty Wainaina: Thank you very much. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted to report on the session on a sustainable future for all. The message echoed by speakers throughout the day was clear, the SDGs are off track, the clock is ticking, and realising a sustainable future for all hinges on us achieving the SDGs. Financing remains a key bottleneck for the achievement of SDGs, but we have options. Swift action on reforming the international financial architecture, addressing debt and getting taxation right can set us on the right track. Let me highlight some of the concrete outcomes across the five thematic blocks of the day. In the first session on sustainable development in time of global transformation, in their dialogue, the most honourable Andrew Holness of Jamaica and Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed stressed that we must rebuild trust and peace and fair representation are prerequisites for developing countries’ voices to be heard. In the second session, we had a discussion on international tax cooperation. This session noted that tax is as close to a panacea as we can get. It can provide income, set incentives, and reduce inequality. Speakers stressed the need for global initiatives to strengthen international tax cooperation including the Framework Convention. on international tax cooperation. The third session delved into the question of debt. Debt servicing is crowding out SDG financing. Speakers stressed the need for global consensus to stem the rising debt crisis, including a systemic multilateral approach. Instruments, including climate resilient debt clauses and state contingent debt instruments must be rolled out at scale. Debt resolution mechanisms need to be delivered with a speed that matches the urgency of the moment. In the fourth session on scaling up development and climate financing, the speakers stressed that both scale and quality needs to be pursued ambitiously. Public development banks play a key role in this and the private sector will also need to step up to this challenge. The fifth session delved into the question of international financial architecture reform. The current architecture needs to keep pace with the realities of the 21st century and beyond. Only bold international financial architecture reform can save the sustainable development goals. Speakers called for bigger and better international financial institutions, more accessible and affordable financing for developing countries, and SDG impact as a guiding force. Speakers across all sessions were clear that action must be taken now to safeguard the SDGs and sustainable futures for all. There is no shortage of opportunities to achieve change, as many of the speakers emphasized. The fourth International Conference on Financing for Development that will be held in Spain in 2025 provides a unique moment and a platform to turn the ambitions of the world into reality. of the Pact for the Future into action to accelerate the SDGs through financing for the Sustainable Development Goals. Thank you very much.

Folly Bah Thibault: Thank you very much, Betty, for that comprehensive summary of your discussions and for highlighting the main points that were made today in that session, in those sessions I should say. And finally, we’ll hear from Rumman Chowdhury, the rapporteur for the Digital Future for All sessions.

Rumman Chowdhury: Excellencies, distinguished guests, colleagues, and friends, today we heard from powerful voices focused on a simple question. What is your vision of a digital future for all? We have heard how a digital future for everyone, everywhere means a universal, affordable, meaningful, inclusive, sustainable, and prosperous digital future. Many of our speakers today have highlighted the urgent need to reduce the digital divide, not just in terms of achieving universal connectivity, but also to ensure that everyone has access to affordable and safe digital technology and the skills and capacities to use it meaningfully to improve their lives. From healthcare to education, climate mitigation, poverty alleviation, and gender equality, we have seen a diverse range of groundbreaking digital innovations that are driving progress towards achieving the SDGs. To quote Bianca Johnson, a young paraplegic woman who has regained her mobility thanks to technology, what we saw is that the future is the present. We’ve also heard what an inclusive architecture for AI governance looks like, building on the AI advisory body’s report, Governing AI for Humanity, with announcements on implementing its recommendations. And last but not least, we’ve heard how stakeholders and governments can join hands to deliver on the vision of the global digital compact. None of this is possible without innovative, inclusive, and multi-stakeholder partnerships that focus on specific SDG goals and targets. The SDG digital event this morning saw the announcement of, get this, $1.05 billion in pledges to support various initiatives to advance digital inclusion via the Partner to Connect platform. The summit of the Future Action Day on digital today has shown us incredible examples of the inclusive and collaborative action being taken all over the world. Indeed, it has shown us the power of collective action. We are ready for the second half of this journey. Accelerate, innovate, collaborate, and lead. Thank you.

Folly Bah Thibault: Thank you very much, Rumman, for summarizing the sessions from the Digital Future for All sessions. And thanks to all the rapporteurs for the thoughtful and comprehensive summaries that they’ve provided. Now we’ll hear from a few respondents who will share their unique perspectives on the Pact for the Future. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s my honor to introduce Anne Hidalgo and Axel van Trotsenburg. Our first respondent, please join us on stage, Madame Hidalgo, Mr. van Trotsenburg. Thank you so much for joining us. So our first respondent is Madame Hidalgo, who’s a member of the Secretary General’s Advisory Group on Local and Regional Governments and the Mayor of Paris, of course. And she’ll share her reflections about the role governments play in implementing the Pact at the local level.

Anne Hidalgo: Thank you very much for being with us today. You’re going to speak to us about the role that governments will play in implementing this pact for the future at the local level. Thank you. And thank you for hosting us. First and foremost, I’d like to thank the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Hidalgo, who’s opened up the door to multilateralism, including the various levels, including local authorities. What is now being proposed is that we follow up on what Martin Luther King said, that those who love peace need to know how to organize just as well as those that prefer war. And that’s what we’re talking about here. Multilateralism, what will that allow us to do? Well, it will enable us to act, because today, whether we’re talking about climate change or the social impact of climate change, the fight against poverty, whether we’re talking about democracy. We know that all of that can be evaluated in the lives of our citizens and within the level of cities because you have this phenomenon of people moving to the cities throughout the world for over 10 years now. Well, since the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, we’ve been meeting in different networks that have an exchange on good practices, particularly with regard to climate, the fight against poverty, this issue of housing and access to housing, and we’ve been meeting in these networks, French-speaking networks, the C40, for example, and for 10 years now, we’ve been working to try to get recognition for the place of local governments in global governance, not to work against states or try to usurp anyone’s authority. We want to join our forces together as part of a global coalition where actors need to be there, civil society, NGOs, national authorities, and of course, the private sector. What’s being proposed today is to be able to be present at the table of negotiations because we are essential players in the action that now needs to be carried out with regard to climate change, and in order to do that, and this is part of our agenda, we have to find funding that cities need, particularly cities in the South need. They need access to funding so that they can bring about this transformation, living better, housing, air pollution, taking the pollution out of rivers. I think now. at a crossroads in this summit for the future, where we’ve seen the facts, the work is before us. What we need now is willingness to bring all players together, particularly those that are on the front lines, particularly the mares, and I think of the Olympics and things like that and what we experienced in Paris and what we tried to share with the whole world, and namely it was this trust in humanism. I can assure you that living for more than a month, as if the world were all in Paris for a month, where we had people from all continents, all religions, all languages being brought together by sport, meeting in a peaceful environment where as mares, me as mayor, I was able to do everything I could to ensure that we had quality air, for example, so that the water of the Seine could have the pollution taken out of it, so that we could extend this universal welcome, peaceful welcome, and when you experience that, I can tell you, you want to cultivate that. We can’t extend those games or the Paraolympic Games, but what we can do is take that trust in humanity and the ability of those that prefer peace, take that so that we can build this peace together, and that is the path that is now open to us and it will be at the heart of the discussions on the Summit of the Future. Thank you very much.

Folly Bah Thibault: So, what you’re saying is that it’s important that local governments can and should play a big role in this Pact for the Future. Thank you. Thank you very much. And now we’re going to hear from Mr. Axel van Trotsenburg, the Senior Managing Director of the World Bank, who will share his reflections on how the Summit and the Pact for the Future can contribute to reform our global international financial architecture.

Axel van Trotsenburg: Well, thank you very much and good afternoon and a late Saturday afternoon. I hope that everybody stays focused. But first, a congratulation to the fantastic Olympic Games. I think that were fantastically done. I think the Summit of the Future is yet another reminder that we need to stay engaged on development. The SDGs are off track and we cannot forget that. And so, the Summit of the Future should not be limited to words. We need to encourage deeds and action. And the problem, what we are having is we need to have governments engaged, private sector engaged, and yes, multilaterals. Yet multilateralism is under threat. And many are questioning why you have multilateral organizations, be it the UN, be it multilateral development banks. Yet many problems, and the mayor just mentioned climate change, you cannot solve alone. It will require international global collaboration if we want to succeed. So that means that we actually need to put new life in multilateralism. And if you believe in that, you need to invest. You cannot limit the investment to words only. It will require significant amount. We don’t need to remind people and last year at the midterm review of the SDGs, we will need trillions of dollars. And that will have to come from all sources, from government, from private sector, from multilaterals. And that is, I think, the critical one where we need to focus. And some speakers talked about the financing. So I think one can always lecture to the other, but I think the multilaterals should start by themselves. So that is one of the areas where we actually, also at the bank, started the whole reform process. And also to see, can you actually do more with the existing resources? Because many governments, and that we have to admit, they are living on the fiscal stress. It’s not that there is unlimited resources available. And I think here we have done that, and that is a necessary condition. And more needs to be done. How can we get the private sector better involved? And particularly in developing country, and most importantly in the low-income countries. And there it is hard to attract private capital. So we need to think about de-risking mechanisms to incentivize the private sector also to participate. Why is this important? Because we need to keep behind the financing, there are people, there are jobs to create it, and they are not created. There are basically every year 1.2 million young people getting or trying to get in the market, and only a third will find a job. What is happening with the other 800 million? So I think we need to keep that in mind when we do this. Now what it requires for the poorest countries is that you need also concessional resources. Simply for two reasons. There are, they don’t have the fiscal resources to pay for high coupon debt. They will need long-term concessional financing or grants, and that will have to come also from governments. We have the largest fund available for the poorest countries called the International Development Association. It’s replenished every three years. The last round was $93 billion, and donors gave about $23.5 billion. I’m co-chairing the current round. Let me tell you, it is a struggle. It’s a big struggle. Not to agree, that’s on the policy framework. We can get good agreements. But to get more concessional resources from governments is going to be very difficult. And that is a first test. What I am saying is, we cannot only talk, we need to find these necessary resources, and that requires that we still need a mind change that multilateralism matters and ultimately will need to be reflected in policy action as well as money. And I think that is, in a way, where we need to keep this in mind, why this is important. And I just think we need to prioritize, in my mind, the poorest countries first, because their needs are the largest. But I think we are trying, for example, with the African Development Bank, to facilitate the access to energy or electricity for 300 million people in Africa. Six and a half million have no access. So we want to do that by 2030. So it’s very ambitious. But I think these are the type of things where you need to create the conditions. If you don’t have electricity, you cannot have digital. And very often, you can’t have jobs. So we will need to put the basic infrastructure in place so that people can succeed. And so what we need is a far stronger coalition of those that there is a need for internet. national solidarity, and it will need to go also through the purse. You will need to provide some money. Nobody is saying these are the exorbitant amounts in relation to the GDPs we’re having. We should be able to afford that. And that’s the plea what I would say for the summit of the future. We have to look also the summit of solidarity. We cannot forget that, and we need to act on it. Thank you.

Folly Bah Thibault: Solidarity is the key word here. Thank you very much, Mr. van Trotsenburg, Senior Managing Director of the World Bank. Thank you for sharing your reflections with us. Thank you both. Yes, you can return to your seats now. Thank you so much. And now, I’m very pleased to welcome the United Nations Deputy Secretary General to the stage, Amina Mohammed, who will offer her reflections of the conversations we’ve had the past two days here at the Summit of Future Action Days, rich conversations, insightful ones that gives a lot to think about. The DSG will also discuss what lies ahead, right? What happens next after the talking comes the action, right? All right.

Amina J. Mohammed: Thank you so much, Chair Foley, and thank you for being with us all the way through these action days. Your Excellency, the President of Namibia, Your Excellency, our sister and leader, Prime Minister Miyamoto Barbados, President of the General Assembly, Excellencies, colleagues, thank you all for your work and contributions, and very much enjoyed listening to the last session. These action days have showcased the power of inclusive and networked multilateralism, but they’ve also demonstrated the potential and the power of partnerships. They’ve reminded us of the immense potential of collaboration, of what we can achieve when we come together, united in purpose across sectors, generations, and continents. And your diverse contributions reflect the richness of what can be achieved when everyone is brought to the table in an inclusive dialogue. Yesterday, youth-led conversations forced us to face our collective responsibilities to deal with present challenges, and in doing so, take action also to secure a brighter future and for future generations. generations. They showed that meaningful youth engagement looks like in action and underscored the indispensable role that young people play in improving our world and bringing and informing concrete solutions. Today, we focus on the core issues to be resolved to allow financing to flow for sustainable development. Climate finance, taxes, debt. We also address the need to take profit of the potential of technology while managing its risks and to bring peace to a more complex and interconnected world. The discussions throughout the day have explored innovative tax corporation schemes, solutions to global debt, options for the expansion of climate financing, and for increased representation of developing countries in the global financial architecture. The relevance of intergenerational approaches, dismantling patriarchal power structures and putting young people at the forefront of discussions about the future featured strongly in the conversations under peace and security. You’ve also spoken about putting an end to terrorism, protecting civilians in armed conflict, and addressing new and emerging threats, including in the digital sphere. And you’ve insisted that a secure future depends on our ability to build trust, solidarity, and collective action. Finally, we just heard how cutting-edge technology solutions like satellite, internet, blockchain, artificial intelligence are advancing the SDGs. Yet, much work needs to be done to bridge the digital divide. Personal stories from the women and girls across Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, all demonstrated what is possible by scaling up access and capacities around digital technologies. And all this is while bearing in mind our responsibilities. towards future generations, the 10 billion who will inhabit our planet by the end of this century. What I can promise you is that we will carry your insights and ideas forward into the summit of the future, starting from tomorrow, because your input here, and we’ve seen this throughout the two days, is central to building and shaping a better world. Excellencies and friends, four years ago we began the process for this wonderful summit of the future. The Secretary General called for a more inclusive and networked multilateral system to increase our collective effectiveness. This call was rooted in a recognition of how the world was changing, in the fact that power and the ideas to solve global problems lie in many different hands, and in the fact that our world is in desperate need of transformation. Changes that will allow us to accelerate action, to deliver the promises that have been made to the Sustainable Development Goals, to achieve the SDGs, countries will need to invest, and so we must wrestle with our financial architecture that is no longer fit for purpose. It has served its time, and it’s served it well, and so we need to take this opportunity to make that pivot and be as responsive as we can to the needs of financing the development agenda. Since this process began, the United Nations has provided a platform for the broadest possible engagement, inclusion, and collaboration, and you have responded, putting forward ideas, announcements, initiatives, coalitions, agreed to disagree. Countless civil society networks and groups, including the major groups and other stakeholders, and the impact coalitions from the UN Civil Society Conference, have all been mobilized, heard, and have shaped the outcome of the Summit of the Future. All of you and the constituencies you represent have participated every step of the process in different formats. You’ve pushed for ambition in the three new texts that we are hopeful member states will soon adopt, the Pact for the Future, the Global Digital Compact, and the Declaration on Future Generations. Over these past two days alone, over 8,000 individuals have come into the UN HQ. More than 60 events have taken place inside the UN, with an additional 100 more across New York, and a further 30 around the world. world. In short, the UN made a call for an inclusive multilateralism, and you have delivered in trying to shape that. And for that, we thank you sincerely. But we do ask you to keep it up, because the day after is where it counts in implementing those commitments that will be made tomorrow. We need your continued drive, your engagement, and pressure to implement the new texts and hold us to account. You’ve proven time and time again that you’re willing to work together with governments, the UN, and all other actors that are key to building a better world. It is essential that we continue and that we keep strengthening the dialogue between political decision makers and the whole of civil society within the multilateral system. But it is also important to the intergenerational discourse that must continue to be deepened and be strengthened at the national and international level. All of this will be vital to rebuilding trust and hope and restoring legitimacy in international institutions, ensuring that global decisions that we take truly reflect the concerns, the values, and the experiences of people worldwide, 8 billion on our world today. And above all, to demonstrating that multilateralism can deliver for everyone. It can deliver for them everywhere, and it can leave no one behind when we try to shape a better future. So let’s keep working together to make all of that a reality in everyone’s life. Thank you so much.

Folly Bah Thibault: Thank you. Thank you very much, DSG, for your inspiring remarks, and indeed, let’s keep working together for a better future for all of us. It now gives me great pleasure to introduce the President of the Republic of Namibia, His Excellency Nangolo Mbumba, who will be looking ahead to tomorrow’s Summit of the Future, the official start of the Summit of the Future on Monday, and how we take forward the implementation of the Pact. Please welcome His Excellency Nangolo Mbumba of the Republic of Namibia.

Nangolo Mbumba: Your Excellency Philémon Yang, the 79th President of the General Assembly. Your Excellency Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados. Your Excellency Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary General. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, esteemed members of the civil society. We find ourselves in a time of profound global change, where our collective future depends not only on the decisions we make, but on the values we embrace. The United Nations has always been a beacon of common aspirations, fostering cooperation among nations to tackle challenges of our time. As we look to the future, it is clear that the strength of our global community does not only depend on the actions of governments, but on the active participation of civil society in the spirit of the Charter of the United Nations that speaks of We the People. Ladies and gentlemen, as we reflect on the significant journey leading up to this moment, summit of the future, we are reminded of the unwavering commitment and active engagement of various stakeholders, including civil society. The voice of the youth and broader civil society are energizing the world with vitality and a spirit of innovation. Their contributions have been instrumental in shaping both the debates and new commitments outlined in the Pact for the Future. This is the essence of the march of multilateralism. The belief that nations, peoples and communities, by working together towards a shared future of peace, stability and prosperity, can collectively accomplish more than when apart. This collective effort reaffirms the profound relevance of the United Nations in the global community. The action days of the past two days have underscored dynamic youth leadership as we chart a course towards the future of our global community. The outcomes of your discussions on critical issues advancing intergenerational solidarity, promoting climate and environmental foresight, ensuring governance for human rights, peace and security have been nothing short of inspirational. This conversation offers a foundation upon which we can build as we move forward with the adoption of the Pact for the Future. Ladies and gentlemen, I must underscore that our future will not and cannot rest solely on the well-crafted documents. The true measure of our success will be in the effective implementation of the pact for the future, the Global Digital Compact, and the Declaration of Future Generations. These initiatives will be pivotal in advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Namibia, as is the case for most African countries, has a younger population. This pact is not just for leaders of today. It is for you, the youth, who will inherit the wealth of today and tomorrow. It is a framework that seeks to secure your future by addressing the most critical issues that humanity faces. We therefore recognize and celebrate the active participation of the youth and the critical role they play as civil society in strengthening democracy. It is through the voices of community organizations, grassroots movements, and individuals, which are often led by young people, that we are reminded of the needs and aspirations of the people we are serving. The role is critical as active partners in shaping our international institutions. Since the release of our Common Agenda by the Secretary-General, his proposal for the Summit of the Future was always clear. This summit must have an outcome that is a bold step forward, charting a path for a more just, sustainable, and inclusive world. The Pact for the Future calls for urgent action on climate change. Namibia, like many other nations, is already feeling the effect of a warming planet. Our farmers suffer from severe droughts, our ecosystems are under threat, and our coastal communities are at risk from rising sea levels. The Pact recognizes the need for global peace and security. Peace is not just the absence of war. It is the presence of justice, equality, and human rights. The Pact for the Future highlights the transformative power of technology. In a world where technological innovation is advancing at an unprecedented rate, we must ensure that these advancements do not widen the gap between the rich and the poor, between those with access and those without. It is, therefore, incumbent upon us to amplify the voices of the marginalized and to push for ambitious action in the critical areas of climate change, human rights, and equitable development. Excellencies, delegates, esteemed youth delegates of civil society, we all are part of a global community. When we adopt the Pact of the Future tomorrow, let us hold hands and pull in the same direction to ensure that together we can build a world that truly leaves no one behind. And I thank you for your attention.

Folly Bah Thibault: Thank you very much, Your Excellency, the President of Namibia, Nangolo Mbumba, for his remarks and calling for action from all of us, as he said, not just governments, of course, but civil society and the different actors. Thank you very much, Mr. President. And it’s now my great pleasure to introduce the Prime Minister of Barbados, Her Excellency Mia Mottley, who will offer her perspective on the way forward.

Mia Mottley: Thank you very much, Madam Chair, President of Namibia, the Deputy Secretary General, my dear sister, President of the General Assembly, President Yang, brothers and sisters. We are here on a Saturday afternoon from so many different corners of the earth because we know that our time here and our commitment matters more than ever. As we speak, war rages in the Middle East, in Africa, in Europe, and in the Americas while there is no declared war, there is conflict that causes the loss of lives because of access to assault weapons and all of those other things that literally have undermined citizen security in our hemisphere. We are here in the season of superlatives from the dryas. to the wettest, to the strongest storms, every possible thing that we could imagine that can disrupt our way of life from the environment, and the range of biodiversity that is so essential to the balance of our earth, has already been affecting us. And we are here, generations after countries declared independence, with the intention of being able to deliver for their people the best life possible, but constrained of course by the absence of access to development opportunities, and most importantly of all, to the fuel, to the oxygen, to the financing that matches the needs of their people. I do not tire in saying that we cannot build schools and hospitals with 10 and 15 year money. We’re here because even though noises were made every decade for the last few decades, that things ought to change, they continued in the same direction, fueled by greed, fueled by inequity, fueled by marginalization, fueled by values reflected by human beings taking decisions, or as His Holiness would say to us, from literally the desensitization that comes that allows us to take comfort in ignoring what we see and what we hear. I take comfort this evening from the fact that we are here, but we being here will only be a record or a footnote in history. if our actions just end here. Yes, the conclusion of the pact for the future is the seminal treaty and theoretical point from which we want to take our action. But the truth is that that may become just simply another document in history if all that we have come to do is to secure a pact. We have now to ensure that we enlarge the people, the army, the believers, the doers, who are prepared to say that in the same way history can record successfully that slavery was wrong and needed to be abolished, in the same way that we can have history record successfully that women should have the right of agency over their vote and their body, in the same way that history can record successfully that the people who live in separate and apart systems in South Africa, or regrettably now as we see in the Middle East, that they should be freed from the bondages that allow others to determine what their destiny should be and to be able to secure it for themselves and the least capable among them. If you lived at those points in history, you might well have said that the battle was impossible. But we know enough to know, as President Mandela told us, it is not impossible if it can. be done, or it is impossible until it is done. This world can change, but it needs our energy, our commitment, and in the same way in electoral matters we go out and find other people to help us proselytize and canvas, we must now go out and find ordinary citizens who are prepared to say that they’re not wishing to be pawns anymore of others, and that the notion of two worlds, one for those who have and the rest for those who are relegated to not have it, one for those who see people and feel people and understand their obligation to help, and others who are insensitive and do not quite frankly care or see those around them. If we doubted the power of the people we only need to see where that power has made significant changes even in this year of that we live in, but what matters now is that there be coordinated action and that we believe and that we sell and share with each other that there is a possibility for a win-win, that there is a possibility for us to have a green transition that can mitigate the damages that would otherwise come from the climate crisis, that there is the possibility for ensuring greater equitable access to artificial intelligence and that the power of regulation can ensure that it be a force for good and not an instrument of oppression or recolonization of the earth, that it is possible for us to be able to take stances that recognize that investment in education will always trump conflict and war. and guns. But that there may be difficult decisions that we may have to make too. And the problem is, is that if we have a world that is dominated only by 60 second sound bites and four column inches, rather than allowing the spaces for discussion as we are doing in here, not just at the UN but in the villages, in the towns, in the communities, in the homes, in the households, that if we don’t get that discussion going, we’re not going to get the level of participation and we’re not going to build the momentum necessary that can move the inequity and that can remove the threats that this world has. I believe that it is possible for us to have a win-win. I believe that hope can be restored. But I do recognize that we are at that inflection point. And those who have power and want to maintain the status quo, even though they do not yet have a plan for allowing us to live on Mars, they are adamant on not creating the space or the policy flexibility or the access to the funding necessary for us to bring along others. It is unconscionable for us not to recognize that unless we can provide the basics of food, water, shelter, electricity to all people on this earth, we cannot talk about being a successful generation in human civilization. And we all know, we all know that there is sufficient to be able to share. What is needed is the change in attitude and values. I’m not going to reflect only on the fact that almost every religion carries us in the direction of caring for the most vulnerable, because people may want then to get into the schisms and isms of religious differences. But there is, in African civilization, the concept of Ubuntu. I am.

Folly Bah Thibault:

N

Nudhara Yusuf

Speech speed

0 words per minute

Speech length

0 words

Speech time

1 seconds

Intergenerational dialogue and rebuilding trust

Explanation

The session focused on the search for peace in today’s complex world. It emphasized the importance of rebuilding trust and engaging in dialogue across generations to build peace.

Evidence

The session included reflections from elders, former presidents, and young peacebuilders on rebuilding trust and engaging in dialogue.

Major Discussion Point

Achieving a Peaceful Future for All

Dismantling patriarchal power structures

Explanation

The session explored how patriarchal power structures affect people’s lives and how war amplifies these structures. It discussed ways to dismantle oppressive structures and the role of women and men as leaders in this effort.

Evidence

The session mentioned using football as a tool to achieve dismantling of patriarchal structures.

Major Discussion Point

Achieving a Peaceful Future for All

Countering terrorism through solidarity and cooperation

Explanation

The session highlighted the need for solidarity, common understanding, and a cooperative approach to countering terrorism. It reinforced the commitment to universal norms and consistent application of international law in countering terrorism.

Evidence

The session recognized youth and diverse actors as vital to achieving a future free from terrorism through leadership, innovation, and fostering global cooperation.

Major Discussion Point

Achieving a Peaceful Future for All

Protecting civilians from explosive weapons

Explanation

The session discussed the protection of civilians impacted by the use of explosive weapons in urban settings. It called for action to implement political declarations on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and address the rights of persons with disabilities impacted by armed conflict.

Evidence

The session included stories of resilience and messages urging an end to multigenerational trauma.

Major Discussion Point

Achieving a Peaceful Future for All

Harnessing technology for peace while mitigating risks

Explanation

The session explored scenarios for peace and security in 2045, considering factors like advancing technology and climate change. It discussed how technologies can be harnessed for good while mitigating risks for a peaceful digital future.

Evidence

A call to action was presented to recommit to multilateralism, resolve disputes peacefully, and develop governance frameworks fit for a changing world.

Major Discussion Point

Achieving a Peaceful Future for All

B

Betty Wainaina

Speech speed

119 words per minute

Speech length

478 words

Speech time

240 seconds

Reforming international financial architecture

Explanation

The session emphasized the need for bold reform of the international financial architecture to keep pace with 21st-century realities. Speakers called for bigger and better international financial institutions and more accessible financing for developing countries.

Evidence

The upcoming fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Spain in 2025 was mentioned as a platform to turn ambitions into action.

Major Discussion Point

Creating a Sustainable Future for All

Agreed with

Axel van Trotsenburg

Mia Mottley

Agreed on

Need for reforming global financial systems

Strengthening international tax cooperation

Explanation

The session highlighted the importance of tax as a tool for providing income, setting incentives, and reducing inequality. Speakers stressed the need for global initiatives to strengthen international tax cooperation.

Evidence

The Framework Convention on international tax cooperation was mentioned as a potential initiative.

Major Discussion Point

Creating a Sustainable Future for All

Addressing the debt crisis in developing countries

Explanation

The session discussed how debt servicing is crowding out SDG financing. Speakers stressed the need for a global consensus to stem the rising debt crisis, including a systemic multilateral approach.

Evidence

Instruments such as climate resilient debt clauses and state contingent debt instruments were suggested to be rolled out at scale.

Major Discussion Point

Creating a Sustainable Future for All

Scaling up development and climate financing

Explanation

The session emphasized the need to pursue both scale and quality in development and climate financing. Public development banks were highlighted as playing a key role, with the private sector also needing to step up.

Major Discussion Point

Creating a Sustainable Future for All

R

Rumman Chowdhury

Speech speed

118 words per minute

Speech length

309 words

Speech time

156 seconds

Reducing the digital divide and ensuring universal access

Explanation

The session highlighted the urgent need to reduce the digital divide, not just in terms of connectivity, but also in ensuring access to affordable and safe digital technology. It emphasized the importance of providing skills and capacities for meaningful use of technology.

Major Discussion Point

Shaping a Digital Future for All

Leveraging digital innovations to achieve SDGs

Explanation

The session showcased a diverse range of groundbreaking digital innovations driving progress towards achieving the SDGs. These innovations span various sectors including healthcare, education, climate mitigation, poverty alleviation, and gender equality.

Evidence

A personal story was shared about Bianca Johnson, a young paraplegic woman who regained mobility thanks to technology.

Major Discussion Point

Shaping a Digital Future for All

Agreed with

Nangolo Mbumba

Amina J. Mohammed

Agreed on

Importance of youth engagement in shaping the future

Developing inclusive AI governance

Explanation

The session discussed what an inclusive architecture for AI governance looks like, building on the AI advisory body’s report ‘Governing AI for Humanity’. Announcements were made on implementing the report’s recommendations.

Major Discussion Point

Shaping a Digital Future for All

Fostering multi-stakeholder partnerships for digital inclusion

Explanation

The session emphasized the importance of innovative, inclusive, and multi-stakeholder partnerships focused on specific SDG goals and targets. It highlighted the power of collective action in advancing digital inclusion.

Evidence

The SDG digital event saw the announcement of $1.05 billion in pledges to support various initiatives to advance digital inclusion via the Partner to Connect platform.

Major Discussion Point

Shaping a Digital Future for All

A

Anne Hidalgo

Speech speed

131 words per minute

Speech length

645 words

Speech time

293 seconds

Including local authorities in multilateral efforts

Explanation

Hidalgo emphasized the importance of including local authorities in global governance and multilateral efforts. She argued for recognition of the place of local governments in addressing global challenges like climate change and poverty.

Evidence

Hidalgo mentioned networks like C40 where cities have been working together for 10 years to gain recognition in global governance.

Major Discussion Point

Role of Local Governments in Implementation

Agreed with

Amina J. Mohammed

Mia Mottley

Agreed on

Importance of inclusive multilateralism

Providing funding for cities to address climate change and development

Explanation

Hidalgo stressed the need for cities, particularly in the Global South, to have access to funding. This funding is crucial for transforming cities to address issues like climate change, housing, air pollution, and water pollution.

Major Discussion Point

Role of Local Governments in Implementation

Fostering trust and peaceful coexistence through local initiatives

Explanation

Hidalgo highlighted the role of cities in fostering trust and peaceful coexistence among diverse populations. She emphasized the importance of creating environments where people from all backgrounds can come together peacefully.

Evidence

Hidalgo shared her experience of hosting the Olympics in Paris, where people from all continents, religions, and languages came together in a peaceful environment.

Major Discussion Point

Role of Local Governments in Implementation

A

Axel van Trotsenburg

Speech speed

134 words per minute

Speech length

866 words

Speech time

385 seconds

Reinvigorating multilateralism through increased funding

Explanation

Van Trotsenburg emphasized the need to reinvigorate multilateralism through increased funding. He argued that addressing global challenges like climate change requires significant investment from all sources, including governments, private sector, and multilaterals.

Evidence

He mentioned that trillions of dollars will be needed to achieve the SDGs, as highlighted in the midterm review of the SDGs last year.

Major Discussion Point

Reforming Global Financial Architecture

Providing concessional financing for poorest countries

Explanation

Van Trotsenburg stressed the importance of providing concessional financing or grants for the poorest countries. He argued that these countries lack the fiscal resources to pay for high-coupon debt and need long-term concessional financing.

Evidence

He mentioned the International Development Association, which provides the largest fund for the poorest countries, with its last round raising $93 billion.

Major Discussion Point

Reforming Global Financial Architecture

Agreed with

Betty Wainaina

Mia Mottley

Agreed on

Need for reforming global financial systems

Incentivizing private sector participation in developing countries

Explanation

Van Trotsenburg highlighted the need to incentivize private sector participation in developing countries, particularly in low-income countries. He suggested developing de-risking mechanisms to encourage private capital investment in these areas.

Evidence

He mentioned that out of 1.2 million young people entering the job market annually, only a third find jobs, emphasizing the need for private sector involvement in job creation.

Major Discussion Point

Reforming Global Financial Architecture

A

Amina J. Mohammed

Speech speed

144 words per minute

Speech length

1046 words

Speech time

434 seconds

Implementing new global agreements through inclusive partnerships

Explanation

Mohammed emphasized the importance of implementing new global agreements through inclusive and networked multilateralism. She highlighted the power of partnerships and collaboration across sectors, generations, and continents.

Evidence

She mentioned that over 8,000 individuals came to the UN HQ, with more than 60 events taking place inside the UN and additional events across New York and around the world.

Major Discussion Point

Moving from Commitments to Action

Agreed with

Anne Hidalgo

Mia Mottley

Agreed on

Importance of inclusive multilateralism

Strengthening intergenerational discourse at national and international levels

Explanation

Mohammed stressed the importance of deepening and strengthening intergenerational discourse at both national and international levels. She argued that this is vital for rebuilding trust and hope in international institutions.

Major Discussion Point

Moving from Commitments to Action

Agreed with

Nangolo Mbumba

Rumman Chowdhury

Agreed on

Importance of youth engagement in shaping the future

Rebuilding trust in international institutions

Explanation

Mohammed emphasized the need to rebuild trust and restore legitimacy in international institutions. She argued that this is essential for ensuring that global decisions reflect the concerns, values, and experiences of people worldwide.

Major Discussion Point

Moving from Commitments to Action

N

Nangolo Mbumba

Speech speed

94 words per minute

Speech length

777 words

Speech time

490 seconds

Recognizing youth as key stakeholders in global decision-making

Explanation

Mbumba emphasized the importance of recognizing and celebrating the active participation of youth in global decision-making processes. He argued that the youth play a critical role in strengthening democracy and shaping international institutions.

Evidence

He mentioned that Namibia, like most African countries, has a younger population, and the Pact for the Future is for the youth who will inherit the world of today and tomorrow.

Major Discussion Point

Youth Engagement in Shaping the Future

Agreed with

Amina J. Mohammed

Rumman Chowdhury

Agreed on

Importance of youth engagement in shaping the future

Amplifying voices of marginalized groups through youth leadership

Explanation

Mbumba stressed the importance of amplifying the voices of marginalized groups through youth leadership. He called for pushing ambitious action in critical areas that affect these groups.

Major Discussion Point

Youth Engagement in Shaping the Future

Addressing climate change, human rights, and equitable development

Explanation

Mbumba highlighted the need for urgent action on climate change, ensuring global peace and security, and harnessing the transformative power of technology. He emphasized the importance of addressing these issues in an equitable manner.

Evidence

He mentioned Namibia’s experience with severe droughts, threatened ecosystems, and coastal communities at risk from rising sea levels as examples of climate change impacts.

Major Discussion Point

Youth Engagement in Shaping the Future

M

Mia Mottley

Speech speed

0 words per minute

Speech length

0 words

Speech time

1 seconds

Reforming financial systems to match development needs

Explanation

Mottley emphasized the need to reform financial systems to better match the development needs of countries. She argued that current financial structures constrain countries’ ability to deliver for their people and access development opportunities.

Evidence

She stated that countries cannot build schools and hospitals with 10 and 15 year money, highlighting the mismatch between financial structures and development needs.

Major Discussion Point

Transforming Global Systems for Equity

Agreed with

Betty Wainaina

Axel van Trotsenburg

Agreed on

Need for reforming global financial systems

Ensuring equitable access to new technologies like AI

Explanation

Mottley stressed the importance of ensuring equitable access to new technologies, particularly artificial intelligence. She argued for the need to regulate these technologies to ensure they are a force for good rather than instruments of oppression or recolonization.

Major Discussion Point

Transforming Global Systems for Equity

Agreed with

Anne Hidalgo

Amina J. Mohammed

Agreed on

Importance of inclusive multilateralism

Prioritizing education and dialogue over conflict

Explanation

Mottley emphasized the importance of prioritizing investment in education over conflict and war. She argued for creating spaces for discussion and dialogue at all levels of society to build momentum for change.

Major Discussion Point

Transforming Global Systems for Equity

Providing basic necessities to all people globally

Explanation

Mottley argued for the necessity of providing basic necessities like food, water, shelter, and electricity to all people on Earth. She stated that this is essential for considering our generation successful in human civilization.

Evidence

She pointed out that there are sufficient resources to share, but what is needed is a change in attitude and values.

Major Discussion Point

Transforming Global Systems for Equity

Agreements

Agreement Points

Importance of youth engagement in shaping the future

Nangolo Mbumba

Amina J. Mohammed

Rumman Chowdhury

Recognizing youth as key stakeholders in global decision-making

Strengthening intergenerational discourse at national and international levels

Leveraging digital innovations to achieve SDGs

These speakers emphasized the crucial role of youth in decision-making processes, intergenerational dialogue, and leveraging technology for sustainable development.

Need for reforming global financial systems

Betty Wainaina

Axel van Trotsenburg

Mia Mottley

Reforming international financial architecture

Providing concessional financing for poorest countries

Reforming financial systems to match development needs

These speakers agreed on the urgent need to reform global financial systems to better support developing countries and match their development needs.

Importance of inclusive multilateralism

Anne Hidalgo

Amina J. Mohammed

Mia Mottley

Including local authorities in multilateral efforts

Implementing new global agreements through inclusive partnerships

Ensuring equitable access to new technologies like AI

These speakers emphasized the importance of inclusive multilateralism, involving local authorities, diverse partnerships, and ensuring equitable access to new technologies.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers stressed the importance of addressing the debt crisis in developing countries and providing concessional financing to support their development needs.

Betty Wainaina

Axel van Trotsenburg

Addressing the debt crisis in developing countries

Providing concessional financing for poorest countries

Both speakers emphasized the importance of addressing systemic inequalities and prioritizing peaceful approaches to conflict resolution.

Nudhara Yusuf

Mia Mottley

Dismantling patriarchal power structures

Prioritizing education and dialogue over conflict

Unexpected Consensus

Role of local governments in global governance

Anne Hidalgo

Nangolo Mbumba

Including local authorities in multilateral efforts

Recognizing youth as key stakeholders in global decision-making

While coming from different perspectives (local government and national leadership), both speakers emphasized the importance of including diverse voices in global governance structures.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of agreement included the importance of youth engagement, the need for financial system reform, and the value of inclusive multilateralism.

Consensus level

There was a moderate to high level of consensus among the speakers on these key issues, suggesting a shared understanding of the challenges facing global governance and development. This consensus implies a potential for collaborative action on these fronts in the implementation of the Pact for the Future.

Disagreements

Disagreement Points

Approach to financing development

Axel van Trotsenburg

Mia Mottley

Van Trotsenburg stressed the importance of providing concessional financing or grants for the poorest countries. He argued that these countries lack the fiscal resources to pay for high-coupon debt and need long-term concessional financing.

Mottley emphasized the need to reform financial systems to better match the development needs of countries. She argued that current financial structures constrain countries’ ability to deliver for their people and access development opportunities.

While both speakers agree on the need for better financing for developing countries, they differ in their approach. Van Trotsenburg focuses on concessional financing and grants, while Mottley argues for a more fundamental reform of the financial system.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of disagreement revolve around the specific approaches to financing development, the role of different stakeholders in global governance, and the prioritization of various issues within the broader context of sustainable development and global cooperation.

Disagreement level

The level of disagreement among the speakers appears to be relatively low. Most speakers seem to agree on the overall goals and the need for action, with differences mainly in the specific approaches or areas of focus. This level of disagreement is not likely to significantly impede progress on the topics at hand, but rather could lead to a more comprehensive and nuanced approach to addressing global challenges.

Partial Agreements

Partial Agreements

Both speakers agree on the need for more inclusive decision-making processes in global governance, but they focus on different groups: Hidalgo on local authorities and Mbumba on youth.

Anne Hidalgo

Nangolo Mbumba

Hidalgo emphasized the importance of including local authorities in global governance and multilateral efforts. She argued for recognition of the place of local governments in addressing global challenges like climate change and poverty.

Mbumba emphasized the importance of recognizing and celebrating the active participation of youth in global decision-making processes. He argued that the youth play a critical role in strengthening democracy and shaping international institutions.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers stressed the importance of addressing the debt crisis in developing countries and providing concessional financing to support their development needs.

Betty Wainaina

Axel van Trotsenburg

Addressing the debt crisis in developing countries

Providing concessional financing for poorest countries

Both speakers emphasized the importance of addressing systemic inequalities and prioritizing peaceful approaches to conflict resolution.

Nudhara Yusuf

Mia Mottley

Dismantling patriarchal power structures

Prioritizing education and dialogue over conflict

Takeaways

Key Takeaways

The Summit of the Future Action Days highlighted the importance of inclusive, multi-stakeholder partnerships to address global challenges

Reforming the international financial architecture is crucial for achieving sustainable development and climate goals

Youth engagement and intergenerational approaches are essential for shaping a better future

Digital technologies and AI offer opportunities for advancing SDGs but require governance frameworks to manage risks

Local governments play a vital role in implementing global agreements and fostering peace

Rebuilding trust in multilateral institutions is necessary to address complex global issues

Resolutions and Action Items

Implement the Pact for the Future, Global Digital Compact, and Declaration on Future Generations

Scale up development and climate financing, particularly for poorest countries

Strengthen international tax cooperation, including through a Framework Convention

Develop inclusive AI governance frameworks

Increase funding and support for multilateral institutions

Enhance youth participation in global decision-making processes

Unresolved Issues

Specific mechanisms for reforming the international financial architecture

Concrete steps to address the debt crisis in developing countries

Detailed plans for bridging the digital divide globally

Precise methods for dismantling patriarchal power structures in peace processes

Exact strategies for protecting civilians from explosive weapons in urban settings

Suggested Compromises

Balancing the need for increased development financing with fiscal constraints of donor countries

Finding common ground between different stakeholders (governments, private sector, civil society) in shaping global policies

Reconciling rapid technological advancement with equitable access and ethical considerations

Harmonizing local government initiatives with national and international policy frameworks

Thought Provoking Comments

We stand as the last few generations who can do something about the challenges that we face, and the first few generations that have the opportunity to seize new potentials for impact.

Speaker

Nudhara Yusuf

Reason

This comment powerfully frames the current moment as both a critical responsibility and unique opportunity for action, emphasizing the urgency and potential of the present generation.

Impact

It set an inspiring and action-oriented tone for the discussion, emphasizing the need for concrete steps rather than just talk.

Debt servicing is crowding out SDG financing. Speakers stressed the need for global consensus to stem the rising debt crisis, including a systemic multilateral approach.

Speaker

Betty Wainaina

Reason

This highlights a critical obstacle to sustainable development and calls for a coordinated global response, demonstrating the interconnectedness of financial and development issues.

Impact

It shifted the conversation towards the practical financial challenges of implementing sustainable development goals, leading to discussion of specific policy proposals.

Multilateralism is under threat. And many are questioning why you have multilateral organizations, be it the UN, be it multilateral development banks. Yet many problems, and the mayor just mentioned climate change, you cannot solve alone. It will require international global collaboration if we want to succeed.

Speaker

Axel van Trotsenburg

Reason

This comment directly addresses a core challenge to global cooperation while asserting its necessity, particularly for issues like climate change.

Impact

It refocused the discussion on the importance of multilateral institutions and international cooperation, leading to further exploration of how to strengthen these systems.

The true measure of our success will be in the effective implementation of the pact for the future, the Global Digital Compact, and the Declaration of Future Generations. These initiatives will be pivotal in advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Speaker

Nangolo Mbumba

Reason

This comment shifts focus from agreement on principles to the critical importance of implementation, tying the discussion to concrete global development goals.

Impact

It moved the conversation from theoretical discussions to practical considerations of how to turn agreements into action, emphasizing accountability.

If we doubted the power of the people we only need to see where that power has made significant changes even in this year of that we live in, but what matters now is that there be coordinated action and that we believe and that we sell and share with each other that there is a possibility for a win-win

Speaker

Mia Mottley

Reason

This comment emphasizes the power of collective action while also stressing the need for coordination and shared vision, bridging grassroots energy with organized efforts.

Impact

It energized the discussion by highlighting recent successes and the potential for positive change, while also calling for strategic, coordinated efforts.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by consistently emphasizing the need for concrete action, global cooperation, and effective implementation of agreed-upon goals. They moved the conversation beyond theoretical agreements to practical considerations of financing, institutional reform, and coordinated efforts. The speakers highlighted both the urgency of current challenges and the unique opportunities of the present moment, creating a sense of both responsibility and possibility. This framing encouraged a forward-looking, action-oriented discussion that tied high-level agreements to tangible impacts on sustainable development and global cooperation.

Follow-up Questions

How can we effectively implement the political declaration on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas?

Speaker

Nudhara Yusuf

Explanation

This was highlighted as a key action point to protect civilians in conflict zones

What specific governance frameworks are needed to address future risks in a changing world?

Speaker

Nudhara Yusuf

Explanation

This was mentioned as part of a call to action for peace in a digital world

How can we accelerate the implementation of climate resilient debt clauses and state contingent debt instruments at scale?

Speaker

Betty Wainaina

Explanation

These were identified as important tools to address the debt crisis in developing countries

What concrete steps can be taken to reform the international financial architecture to better support developing countries?

Speaker

Betty Wainaina

Explanation

This was emphasized as crucial for achieving the SDGs

How can we effectively bridge the digital divide, particularly in terms of skills and capacities to use digital technology meaningfully?

Speaker

Rumman Chowdhury

Explanation

This was highlighted as a key challenge in achieving a digital future for all

What specific mechanisms can be developed to de-risk investments and incentivize private sector participation in low-income countries?

Speaker

Axel van Trotsenburg

Explanation

This was identified as crucial for attracting private capital to developing countries

How can we strengthen the intergenerational discourse at national and international levels?

Speaker

Amina J. Mohammed

Explanation

This was emphasized as important for rebuilding trust and legitimacy in international institutions

What concrete actions can be taken to ensure the effective implementation of the Pact for the Future, the Global Digital Compact, and the Declaration of Future Generations?

Speaker

Nangolo Mbumba

Explanation

This was stressed as the true measure of success beyond the adoption of these documents

Disclaimer: This is not an official record of the session. The DiploAI system automatically generates these resources from the audiovisual recording. Resources are presented in their original format, as provided by the AI (e.g. including any spelling mistakes). The accuracy of these resources cannot be guaranteed.

Fostering Global Digital Cooperation for Prosperity

Fostering Global Digital Cooperation for Prosperity

Session at a Glance

Summary

This discussion focused on fostering global digital cooperation for prosperity, organized by the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO). The event brought together government representatives, international organizations, and private sector leaders to address the challenges and opportunities in the digital economy.

Key themes included bridging the digital divide, promoting inclusive growth, and leveraging technology for sustainable development. Speakers emphasized the importance of multilateral partnerships and knowledge sharing to accelerate digital transformation across nations. The DCO’s initiatives, such as the Digital Economy Navigator and IMPACT platform, were highlighted as tools to facilitate cooperation and exchange best practices.

Participants stressed the need to address gender disparities in the digital economy, noting the significant economic potential of increasing women’s participation. The role of artificial intelligence in driving productivity and economic growth was discussed, along with the importance of ethical AI governance.

Private sector representatives from Oracle and Microsoft outlined their efforts to support digital skills development and provide affordable access to technology in developing countries. They emphasized the importance of public-private partnerships in building digital infrastructure and fostering local innovation ecosystems.

The discussion also touched on the challenges of data governance, cybersecurity, and the potential fragmentation of the global digital landscape. Speakers called for common standards and interoperability to ensure a more inclusive and equitable digital future.

Overall, the event underscored the critical importance of international cooperation in harnessing digital technologies to achieve sustainable development goals and create a more prosperous global digital economy.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The importance of digital cooperation and bridging the digital divide to ensure inclusive growth and prosperity

– The role of women in the digital economy and the need to increase female participation

– The potential of artificial intelligence and the need for ethical governance frameworks

– Public-private partnerships and collaboration between governments, companies, and international organizations

– Building digital skills and capacity, especially in developing countries

Overall purpose/goal:

The overall purpose of the discussion was to explore ways to foster global digital cooperation in order to harness digital technologies for inclusive economic growth and development. Participants aimed to share insights on bridging the digital divide, increasing digital skills, and leveraging public-private partnerships to advance the digital economy.

Tone:

The tone was largely optimistic and forward-looking, with speakers emphasizing the opportunities presented by digital technologies while also acknowledging challenges. There was a sense of urgency about the need for cooperation and action. The tone became more concrete and practical when private sector representatives discussed specific initiatives and partnerships in the latter part of the discussion.

Speakers

Speakers:

– Hassan Nasser (moderator/facilitator)

– Deemah AlYahya – Secretary General of DCO

– Constantinos Kombos – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus

– Munir Akram – Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN

– Abdallah Al Dardari – Regional Director for Arab States at UNDP

– Hisham Alsheikh – Vice Governor of Digital Government Authority, Saudi Arabia

– Josephine Mukesha – Director General of National ID Agency, Rwanda

– Akiko Yamanaka – Senior Advisor to the President at ARIA, former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs for Japan

– Alaa Abdulaal – Chief Digital Economy Foresight at DCO Secretariat

– Dima Al-Khatib – Director of UN Office of South-South Cooperation

– Mathis Pellerin – Vice President at Oracle

– Alexandre Pignot – Global Leader for UN at Microsoft

Moderators/Facilitators:

– Hassan Nasser – DCO

– Amir Dossal – Global Partnerships Forum

Areas of expertise:

– Digital cooperation and economy

– Foreign affairs and diplomacy

– International development

– Digital government transformation

– National identity systems

– Women, peace and security

– South-South cooperation

– Technology and private sector partnerships

Full session report

Digital Cooperation for Global Prosperity: A Comprehensive Discussion

This event, organized by the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO), brought together a diverse group of government representatives, international organizations, and private sector leaders to address the challenges and opportunities in fostering global digital cooperation for prosperity.

Key Themes and Discussions

1. Introduction and Opening Remarks

Hassan Nasser, the moderator, opened the event by highlighting its focus on digital cooperation for global prosperity. Deemah AlYahya, Secretary General of DCO, emphasized the urgency of collaborative action to address the widening digital divide. She introduced DCO initiatives such as the Digital Economy Navigator and the IMPACT platform, designed to facilitate cooperation and exchange best practices among member states.

2. Digital Cooperation and Inclusive Growth

Constantinos Kombos, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus, called for “networked multilateralism” and synergies between stakeholders. He likened the current digital transformation to a new industrial revolution with unpredictable consequences, highlighting that nearly 2.6 billion people remain unconnected to the internet, with the majority being women and young girls. Kombos stressed the need to align technological progress with all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

3. Women, Peace, and Security

Professor Akiko Yamanaka spoke about the importance of women’s participation in peace and security efforts. She emphasized the role of digital technology in empowering women and promoting their involvement in decision-making processes.

4. Role of Technology in Economic Development

Abdallah Al Dardari, Regional Director for Arab States at UNDP, presented a sobering statistic: productivity in the Arab region has declined over the past 50 years, currently standing at 50% of its 1980 levels. He stressed the importance of AI and digital technology in addressing the low participation of women in Arab economies.

Hisham Alsheikh, Vice Governor of Digital Government Authority in Saudi Arabia, shared the kingdom’s success in digital transformation across government sectors. He highlighted Saudi Arabia’s commitment to train over 50,000 nationals in AI, cybersecurity, and cloud computing.

5. Digital Identity and Cross-Border Cooperation

Josephine Mukesha, Director General of National ID Agency in Rwanda, shared insights on the country’s implementation of digital identity from birth. She emphasized the need for common standards, interoperability in digital identity systems, and regulatory frameworks for cross-border identity verification.

6. Private Sector Partnerships

Mathis Pellerin from Oracle stressed the importance of private sector partnerships in accessing innovation and skilled workforce. He highlighted Oracle’s collaborations with DCO member states in areas such as cloud computing and AI.

Alexander Pignot from Microsoft outlined the company’s Tech for Social Impact focus on access, skills, and deployment. He emphasized the need for tailored affordability frameworks to address the uneven distribution of digital capabilities. Pignot also highlighted a critical disconnect between traditional development financing models and the needs of the digital economy.

7. South-South and Triangular Cooperation

Dima Al-Khatib, Director of UN Office of South-South Cooperation, highlighted South-South and Triangular Cooperation as key vehicles for bridging digital gaps. She mentioned the South-South and Triangle Cooperation Solutions Lab as a platform for knowledge sharing among developing nations.

8. Challenges in Digital Transformation

Munir Akram, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN, raised concerns about the potential fragmentation of digital systems on an east-west basis. He emphasized the need for developing countries to acquire their own computing power to ensure digital independence.

Conclusion and Future Directions

The discussion underscored the critical importance of international cooperation in harnessing digital technologies to achieve sustainable development goals and create a more prosperous global digital economy. Key takeaways included the need for inclusive digital transformation, the importance of partnerships across sectors, and the necessity of addressing both technological and socio-economic aspects of the digital divide.

Several initiatives and commitments were announced during the event, including the DCO’s Digital Economy Navigator and IMPACT initiative, Saudi Arabia’s commitment to digital skills training, and the expansion of skilling efforts by private sector partners.

Amir Dossal provided closing remarks, noting the need for more time to address all the important topics raised and expressing inspiration drawn from the concrete initiatives discussed.

The event concluded with the announcement that Microsoft has become a new observer to the DCO, further strengthening the organization’s partnerships with the private sector.

Session Transcript

Hassan Nasser: Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, all protocol being observed, we are starting this side event named Fostering Digital Cooperation for Prosperity. The title is already very ambitious, and as you’ve all seen during these two days and as we expect also to see during the next two days, digital is taking a big place in New York this time. So it was really important for DCO to have this event with the support of four DCO member states naming Cyprus, Pakistan, Rwanda and Saudi Arabia. We thank them for their support making this event possible. I would like also to recognize the support of other international organizations including UNDP, UN Office of South-South Cooperation and our partners from area attending today, as well as a global partnership forum. I hope with this everyone is recognized but also what is important is to be together in this room to have a fruitful and meaningful conversation. Without further ado, I will first of all give the floor to the Secretary General of the DCO, Her Excellency Deemah AlYahya. The floor is yours.

Deemah AlYahya: Thank you, Hassan. I would like to thank definitely our member countries for making this happen, believing in DCO and putting together a room full of thought leaders, either from governments, private sector and civil society, which really demonstrates that cooperation is the way forward to prosperity. So, with that, your excellencies, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon and welcome to this very important meeting we have today. We come together to foster global digital cooperation for prosperity. We’re living in a time where the digital revolution is reshaping our world at its extraordinary pace. Technology has become the backbone of our economies, the bridge that connects us all together without any borders and any boundaries, and the tools that empowers individuals and communities. Yet, as we embrace the immersive opportunities of this digital age, we must also confront the challenges that come with it. I’m speaking, of course, about the digital divide and the daunting number of 2.6 billion individuals and people that remain unconnected and unable to take part in all the digital age has to offer. Despite the rapid advancement of technology, these people still lack access to the internet and the digital tools that many of us take for granted. This divide threatens to widen exponentially and grow even bigger and bigger. This is where our work becomes very crucial. The DCO was founded with a clear mandate to accelerate the inclusion and sustainable growth of the digital economy and to ensure that digital prosperity is within reach for everyone. With 16 member states across Africa, Asia, and Europe, representing over 800 million people, and a diverse group of observers from the private sector, civil society, and academia, We are united in one ambition, to bridge the digital gap and to harness digital transformation to drive global progress. Earlier this year, during our third General Assembly hosted by the Kingdom of Bahrain, the DCO Council of Ministers adopted a final Council Declaration that highlighted our collective commitment to these goals. We recognized the unique opportunity presented by the upcoming Global Digital Compact to build a global consensus on digital cooperation. As the world prepares for the adoption of this compact, the DCO stands ready to lead by example, driving a multi-stakeholder approach that brings together governments, businesses and civil society to create a new model of cooperation to co-create and co-design an ambitious digital future. One of our flagship projects that we actually launched this morning is the Digital Economy Navigator. This comprehensive tool offers a detailed, country-specific analysis of the digital economy maturity across 50 countries. The then primary goal is to help countries to understand and leverage their unique digital economy characteristics and also to share best practices from one country to another that would help in accelerating their growth. Another key initiative that I would like to highlight that showcases cooperation is also DCO Impact Platform, which serves as a marketplace for digital solutions and services adopting for multilateral partnerships and cooperation. These are just a few examples of the initiatives we’ve put in place. There are many more in progress. each design to drive action and impact on ground and meaningful change and to ensure that no one is left behind in the digital era. While I could continue listing these initiatives, but the time is short and our work is far from finished. The theme of today’s event is Fostering Global Digital Cooperation for Prosperity speaks directly to our mission. In our interconnected world, no nation, organization or individual can tackle the challenges of the digital age alone. We must work together to harness and harmonize digital policies, enhance digital skills and foster trust in the digital economy. This is not just about technological advancement. It’s about ensuring that technology serves as a force for good and a tool for everyone, ensuring that use of technology to build a more inclusive, equitable and prosperous world. Thank you everyone for your participation and I look forward to a fruitful discussion and I would like to thank our esteemed panelists that join us and are very keen on listening to your thought leadership on how can we bridge the digital divide with cooperation. Thank you very much.

Hassan Nasser: Thank you very much. As we said, we have 16 member states today in DCO. The first European country joining DCO was Cyprus and we are very honored today to have with us His Excellency Dr. Constantinos Kombos addressing this participant with his view on the way to foster digital cooperation. Your Excellency, the floor is yours.

Constantinos Kombos: Thank you very much and let me from the outset I say that I’m deeply honored to be here with you. Of course, I have a difficult task speaking after Dima and after everything that she has explained that is happening starting from today. Let me first of all once again congratulate you and thank you for organizing this very important event. And the DCO is about vision, and you are the force behind the vision. We are bringing together a plethora of stakeholders for a discussion that is both topical and also future-oriented. We are, after all, living in a rapidly changing world, with shifts in the ways that we envision, plan, and implement, and shifts that, me at least, I feel that I cannot keep up. We are experiencing a new industrial revolution that is wide in scope and multilayered to the extent that its impact and consequences are quite unpredictable. It is a pendulum that swings between prosperity and exclusion, because at the end, these are the two options. Accordingly, technological progress and the interconnected digital revolution can be the blessing that will bridge the gap and create the opportunities for people from non-privileged societies, thus establishing new economic models that cancel out social injustices and overcome gender inequalities. The positive is possible, and progress can be meaningful, but only if that is on the basis of including everyone. Only if it is structured in terms of responsibility with a normative regulatory framework that is responsive to the fast-growing developments. Therefore, a strong multilateral network is needed, one that focuses on sharing innovation and good practices, including on regulatory issues. streamlining. And this is what the DCO has been doing. It is our collective task and obligation to make sure that technological progress is inclusive and sustainable. Leaving others behind is not an option. Currently, close to 2.6 billion people remain unconnected with no access to the Internet, with the majority being women and young girls. This is a stark reminder as to the task ahead, as regards the alignment of technological progress with all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Over the next few days, we are expected or we hope that we will be able to agree on the Global Digital Compact. This will form part of our collective response to the task ahead and will also present a point of reference for the future. My country, the Republic of Cyprus, fully supports an ambitious Global Digital Compact that is anthropocentric and anchored on the premise that digital transition is part and parcel of the core of human rights. This will ensure that inclusivity is integral to closing the digital divide and instrumental in moving towards the Sustainable Development Goals. This is clearly a monumental task, one that requires a new type of synergy between all the relevant stakeholders, governments, regional and international organizations, the private sector, civil society. In our interconnected world, network building and synergies is the only strategy that can work. Networked multilateralism transcends existing modes of operation and is guided by a very simple principle. Integrating the expertise and resources of all stakeholders is, on its own, about inclusivity, innovation and adjustment to the task at hand. This multidimensional collaboration will ensure coherence, it will prevent fragmentation, will have an expanding positive impact on our economies, on digital landscapes, on national and individual capacities. Ladies and gentlemen, it is for these reasons that in 2022 the Republic of Cyprus became the first EU member state to join the DCO. We are a small country, but we saw the potential and we endorsed fully the founding values of the organisation. An organisation that is both the platform for sharing and the springboard for inclusiveness and progress. For us, for Cyprus, merging capacities in the digital sphere facilitates communication and the transfer of knowledge, and we are committed to advancing those exact policies that promote inclusive digital growth. We are partners with the DCO and we contribute as much as we can to the formulation of its policies. At the same time, we have benefited as a recipient of technological know-how that enabled us to make significant strides in developing a robust digital economy with a strong research and innovation ecosystem. Dear friends, the technological digital revolution is not waiting for anyone. The future is being morphed right now. Let’s unite and harness our combined strengths. Let’s transform the global digital complex vision into reality. Thank you.

Hassan Nasser: Thank you, Your Excellency, for remembering us the monumental task you mentioned and the need for cooperation. The next moment of this side event will be a first panel, and the idea of cooperation will be at the core of the participants on this panel. We have today for the first panel on this right a representative of three member states of DCO, with Ambassador Munir Akram, permanent representative of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to United Nations, with Vice Governor Hisham Elsheikh from Digital Government Authority, and with Ms. Josephine Mukesha, the Director General of the National ID Agency in Rwanda. And they are joined by very important partners. Unfortunately, we are missing one, so you have more to do. And we have the Regional Director for the Bureau of Arab States, Dr. Abdallah Dardary. So I will leave these panelists who are trusting us today in the very capable hands of my friend Amir Dossal, who will bring to you the right questions, and we expect, of course, the right answer. Amir, you are the duty now. Thank you.

Amir Dossal: Thank you, Hassan. I want to thank my good friend, the Secretary General of DCO. Let’s see if it works this time. First, I want to start by thanking my good friend, the Secretary General of DCO, Her Excellency Deemah AlYahya, for her leadership and for commitment and driving all of us to do good, actually. Thank you, Deemah. It’s great to see you. And I also want to thank the inspiring remarks by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Konstantinos Kombas. Thank you, sir, for being here and for supporting this work. So today’s panel is actually quite simple. How do you make it happen, essentially? And we are really honored to have the three member states present, plus a stalwart at UNDP who can share his thoughts. his vision of how UNDP is doing things on the ground. And I’d like to start, without further ado, with Ambassador Munir Akram, who’s really been, I think, almost like the founding member of the DCO. Ambassador Akram, good to have you, and please, a warm welcome to you, sir.

Munir Akram: Thank you. Thank you, Amir. Welcome, Excellency, Ms. Deemah AlYahya, Secretary General of the DCO. Welcome, Brother Nasr. We are about to, I hope, adopt the global digital compact, probably tomorrow morning, if all goes well. Everything is not solved. We still have some problems that remain to be resolved tonight. But hopefully it will be adopted. And this compact basically has five major objectives. Firstly, to bridge all digital divides. Secondly, to expand inclusion and provide benefits for all. Thirdly, to have a safe and secure digital space. Fourthly, to promote responsible, equitable, interoperable data governance. And fifth, to enhance international governance of artificial intelligence. These are five main objectives. A number of commitments are being undertaken under the Well, member states have undertaken to bridge the digital divide, enhance capacities, do national digital surveys and develop national strategies, develop upskilling and reskilling of digital personnel, provide digital competency frameworks, have national and regional assessments of the digital capacities, exchange knowledge and best practices, and foster entrepreneurship and innovation. These are some of the commitments that are being undertaken in the document. Obviously, the DCO, which is the first stand-alone organisation devoted to digital space, it is in fact the only one so far devoted to digital cooperation, that the DCO has a head start in being able to contribute to the implementation of the Global Digital Compact once it is adopted in. And there are these commitments that have been undertaken by member states provide a good guideline for what we will need to do in the DCO as such. I think some of the programmes that have been outlined by the Secretary-General, perhaps also the STRIDE programme and other programmes that the DCO is already in place, I think all of these programmes could be aligned. with the objectives and the commitments in the GCD, GDC, for implementation and see how to elaborate those programs, and to collaborate with the United Nations, with the organizations, the technology, I call them the technologies are, and of course the UNDP and others, who we can cooperate to promote these objectives. But I think to my important point is that we need to keep the organization focused on the strategic objectives, because of course the Global Digital Compact has a set of strategies and objectives, but as member states of the DCO, we have to see where our interests are and where our objectives should be and what we should focus on as such. And here, of course, my thoughts are, first of all, we have to focus on artificial intelligence. I think this is also given quite a lot of importance in the document, in the compact, and there is to be the annual dialogue on artificial intelligence, there is to be the forum on the governance of artificial intelligence, and as yet we did not find agreement on the financing model for AI. So the proposal of the developing countries was for a fund, I believe we should work towards establishing the fund for AI. And I think the DCO could make a good contribution in that respect. Secondly, on data governance, I think the two points which were, of course, governance of AI data, but also interoperability of data governance. I think that that is an important point that needs to be kept in mind. And the capacity for data governance is one of the issues that we need to address as to how we will develop the capacity amongst our member states for data governance. The third issue is the issue of fragmentation. It is mentioned in the Global Digital Compact. We, at the moment, have a north-south fragmentation. We call it the digital divide. It’s basically a north-south divide. There is the gender divide as well. But there is also the most important geo-strategic development that is taking place is the potential fragmentation on an east-west basis. There are basically two systems which are emerging in the world, and countries are going to have to make a choice if this is forced upon us. If we are asked to accept one system and not the other, if we are asked to accept an eastern system or western system, then that is going to promote fragmentation across the world, not only between the two powers concerned, but across the world. So the DCO is one organization which has membership that is, I think, sits in the middle of the world. in the middle of this geo-strategic development that we are facing. And as such, the GCEO is in a good position to try to find ways of bridging this gap, which is going to become as important a divide as the north-south divide. How do we do this? How do we develop systems that are actually compatible with both worlds, both the eastern and western systems that are emerging at this time? It’s a challenge. The last point which I’d like to raise is perhaps not fully addressed in the Global Digital Compact, and that is the issue of computing power. All of us are talking about digital cooperation, digital inclusion, and we will have to have that inclusion only through access to data, to power that is owned by somebody else, whether it’s in the government sector or the private sector. So the only answer for countries as the members of the GCEO who want to be independent states and have the control of their own destiny in their own hands, the only answer is to acquire computing power. And to acquire computing power will take many things. It will take skills in design. It will take… finances, huge amount of degrees of finances, it will take access to minerals, it will take the political will to be able to actually act independently of the major powers. So this is, of course, these are some strategic issues which I think that the DCO is well placed to at least have a dialogue on, to see how we can address these strategic issues, even as we are promoting the cooperative programs to implement the global digital compact that we have. Thank you so much.

Amir Dossal: Thank you. The challenge remains a challenge for many developing countries and, of course, computing power is a whole issue of energy kicks in and infrastructure, capacity, et cetera. I was going to ask Hassan, whilst he was speaking, whether we might get an extension of time, because this is an important subject.

Hassan Nasser: You know, that’s why I give you the facilitation. There is no extension on time. So I can stop you at some point, because usually I stop myself, it’s difficult. No, we need to have the first panel closing at 45, I would say. Seven minutes? Oh, we can solve the problem of the world. Seven minutes is enough.

Amir Dossal: Ambassador Akram, thank you so much. I’m going to go in the order of the presence of everybody in the document as well, and I’d like to invite Dr. Abdallah Al Dardari, who is the Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States at UNDP. Dr. Aldari, it’s very nice to see you again, and thank you for what you do. And I absolutely don’t want to rush you. You have 90 seconds starting from now.

Abdallah Al Dardari: Okay, sir. What a pleasure. The two topics of today’s meeting, the two main topics, technology, digital technology, and the role of women in digital technology. So this will be my angle today. The Arab region’s productivity has been in decline for the last 50 years. In fact, productivity in our region today is 50% of what it used to be in 1980. And that applies to the richest of us and to the poorest of us. You will be amazed that the productivity patterns of all countries in the region are very similar. And the two main reasons why productivity is low in our region and has been going down is the very low level in technology and innovation in the composition of Arab economies and the very low participation of women in the Arab economies. In fact, the cost of the current level of female participation in economic activity in the Arab world is 20% of GDP every year. Out of a $3.5 trillion GDP of the Arab world, this means we are losing $700 billion a year because of low female participation in our economy. And according to the IMF, bringing in artificial intelligence at full scale in our global economy could give us a boost of 1.5% annually in productivity, total factor productivity, which translates into a $7 trillion increase annually in global output. In our region, this is $116 billion every year, plus the $700 billion we are losing because of the female participation. Together, we can add almost a trillion dollars of economic output every year in this region alone if we invest in women and in artificial intelligence and digital technology. And therefore, the efforts to move in this direction and these two directions working closely together and the efforts of DCO are not a matter of small amounts of money. They are existential matters, at least in our part of the world, and we need to take them that seriously. We in UNDP think of the problem as I just explained, and we believe this is the greatest opportunity in modern history for Arab economies and the global economy. By the way, you look at the recent reports in Europe, the Draghi report, exactly the same problems with different percentages, of course. So let me say that our commitment to work with you and with all partners around the room to address these two points, especially that in our cultural context, using artificial intelligence and digital technology to empower women probably is the fastest way to leapfrog rather than having to go through all what other women around the world had to go through to be where they are today. So, it’s a win-win situation. I’ll stop at that. Thank you.

Amir Dossal: The Bahrain have been at the forefront of some of these changes, actually, and it’s really nice to have His Excellency Hisham Alsheikh here, because he’s the real founding father of GCOs. I appreciate you coming back and supporting this. Perhaps you might also touch on the question of women’s role in the technology sector and how you are dealing with the question of what Mr. Al Dardari said, that if you don’t address women’s issues, if you don’t bring them into the fold, you can’t solve some of these problems. So, thank you, sir. Welcome.

Hisham Alsheikh: As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah. Your Excellency, esteemed guests, good afternoon. And honestly, today, we’re here to explore an exciting and rapidly evolving field, the field of digital cooperation. Digital cooperation refers to the collaborative efforts of various stakeholders, including governments, the private sector, civil society, and international organizations, to harness the digital technologies for the common good, primarily towards the center of our attention, the citizens. Now, digital cooperation is not just a trend. It is a necessity. It is crucial for addressing global challenges, fostering innovation, and ensuring inclusive growth in our interconnected world. It is about leveraging, leaving no one behind, and providing an equal opportunity to all in the digital era. And this is where, probably in an earlier remark by His Excellency, our Minister of Communication, Suhaha, mentioned that our workforce is 50% female are equal to men and this is where we are focusing our attention and enabling both workforces of men and women to jointly develop the nation in its vision. So Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation success is not just impressive. It’s a testament to the potential for global digital growth. The innovative and world-leading solution enacted across government agencies for society as a whole are a beacon of hope for the future. Saudi Arabia’s vision 2030 emphasizes on the importance of digital transformation and cooperation. This future forward approach can be seen in the health care sector where the kingdom has invested deeply in cutting edge care and facilities. Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the work completed under the vision 2030 ensured that Saudi was ideally placed to meet its residents’ health needs and respond nimbly and collaboratively to the changing landscape. Saudi Arabia today is a country that rewards determination, fosters opportunity and ensures citizens are empowered to reach their full potential, both men and women. Following the launch of vision 2030, the average life expectancy in Saudi Arabia rose to 75.1 years. In 2020, 87% of patients received emergency medical care within four hours of their arrival at a medical facility, up from 36% in 2016. Justice had its fair share of this transformation. reaching 95% of its hearings delivered online. More than 18 million beneficiaries across the kingdom benefit from those services on a daily basis. Litigation time dropped from 219 days on average to 30 days. This has made the justice system more effective and highly efficient on both productivity, significant cost saving while enhancing the service offered. Today, Saudi Arabia is one of the leaders in digital government transformation, ranking sixth on the UN EGDI and third on the World Bank GTMI. Additionally, it ranked first on the Open Government Data Index. The kingdom has also launched several initiatives. Cooperation was amongst the most critical and essential files on the global side. As a result, the Digital Cooperation Organization was founded in November 2020 during Saudi Arabia’s presidency of the G20, which focused on growing the global economy. In 2023, through the DCO, we have launched a global initiative named IMPACT, which was earlier referenced by Her Excellency the Secretary General. So what is IMPACT? It’s a marketplace for digital solutions and services that advocates for multilateral partnership and cooperation. It encourages the exchange of knowledge, cultivates digital ecosystems, and enhances capabilities for effective digital government transformation. The platform aims to catalyze the adoption of digital solutions across the DCO ecosystem to facilitate more efficient government operations and service delivery. It also aims to foster economic growth, innovation, investment attraction, and job creation, in addition to contributing to accelerating progress towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The emphasis on multilateral cooperation through IMPACT also promotes stronger diplomatic relation for the exchange of technological innovation, enrich the global community, and this is something probably was raised by His Excellency Ambassador Mounir in terms of East and West. IMPACT’s ultimate goal is to ensure that digital prosperity is accessible to all citizens within the DCO member states. Moreover, just a few days back, DCO launched the first ever Global Center of Excellence for Gen-AI, championed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, that will support member states to become innovators, producers, and leaders in AI by developing the talent and the resources needed to bridge the disparities in AI adoptions. I thank you.

Amir Dossal: Thank you. Thank you for the inspiring comments about what’s happening in Saudi Arabia. It really is an untold story. I was in Saudi last year for the climate meetings and it was really amazing, the progress being made, and credit to the country for sharing its know-how and technology with other countries. Thank you. I am delighted to welcome, and I’m sorry, please don’t worry about what Hassan told you. We’re delighted to have you here, Madam Josephine Mukesha. You’re the Director General of the National ID Agency of Rwanda and we’d love to hear from you because you’re the one who is actually implementing solutions. The question is how to build global digital cooperation to deliver on our commitments.

Josephine Mukesha: So thank you and a warm welcome. Thank you very much, and thank you, Your Excellency, Secretary General of TCO. So Rwanda has started the journey of implementing the digital identity, the single digital identity, and the digital identity will be issued from birth, because today we issue identity from 16, and the digital identity is poised on the foundational infrastructure that we already have, the CRVS, which is a digital platform where we measure and collect information about citizens’ vital events, and the population registry. So what we are looking at with global digital cooperation, we are looking at how to work on common standards and interoperability, because as we plan to issue digital identity to Rwandan citizens and foreign residents, refugees, foundlings, stateless, and everybody on the land, we want to make sure that there are areas of collaboration for best practices, knowledge and experience sharing for the implementation of a digital identity. We believe that TCO member states have a lot of knowledge and capabilities that we could look at areas of collaboration and see, not to repeat what didn’t work somewhere else, but what worked well, how we can implement ours. We are ambitious to look at an implementation of a digital identity that is built for purpose to fit Rwandan needs, so we do not want an off-the-shelf solution, we want a build from scratch, but that ensures, has all the standards for cyber security and all the ideas to the regulation for personal data protection and privacy, and we also look at building a digital identity where we could have regulatory framework that would allow cross-border identity verification. capabilities, and look at how to develop guidelines or frameworks that will allow the protection of personal data, because these are sensitive information, but to see how through DCO member states which ones we could start working with to look at how to develop, as we are developing our digital identity, it is forward-looking to allow that mutual interoperability to allow authentication cross-border, and also look at technology and partnership for leveraging expertise in technology to ensure an efficient and secure digital identity system implementation. I think my predecessors talked about capacity building and trainings for the users, because a digital identity, we believe, to increase its use, the more use case we have, the better it will be, and will reap the benefits that we look to generate from it, so we want to look at member states, the use cases they’ve developed, and we look at areas of collaboration and see if there are synergies and we could all benefit from, and we are looking at having an inclusive approaches and ethical consideration as well. Thank you very much.

Amir Dossal: Thank you, Ms Mukesha, and I appreciate your brevity. It’s very helpful, and I hope you’ll forgive me if I do not summarise, because it would be an insult to the amazing contribution of our panellists, actually, and it will give you an opportunity to continue that continuum of thought as you go forward, and more importantly, it gives me the pride to be able to give back five minutes to Hassan.

Hassan Nasser: Really? In which time zone? Thank you, Amir. Thank you. You did a great job, so you will take care of the second panel. But before we move to the second panel, we have also the immense honour… to have Professor Akiko Yamanaka with us. She is the Senior Advisor of the President at ARIA, but also the former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs for Japan. And she will entertain and educate us today regarding a topic that she’s really passionate about, which is women, peace, and security, and women in digital economy, an age of balance. Professor Akiko, the floor is yours.

Akiko Yamanaka: Thank you very much for your kind introduction, Secretary General, Excellencies, ladies, ladies, and gentlemen. It is my honor that I can have an opportunity to share with DCO members about the future vision of the world society. Could I share with you about my experience, why I have been working on WPS and WDE, which ARIA, ARIA is the Organization Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, had a kickoff event in June this year for ASEAN countries. When I attended the UN Decade of Women’s Conference in Nairobi, Kenya in 1985, I was young. Still are. No, the Secretary General of the conference, late Letitia Shahani, from the Philippines, gave the most impressive speech. She said, peace is not a situation where there is no war. It is women who can teach our children the reality of war and peace. True development. is social, cultural, and political, as well as economics, not only economics. Equality between men and women is not simply the absence of discrimination. Rather, equality means granting women the right, opportunity, responsibility to take part in their own development. So these words suggest that peace is the base, and we need updated tools like digital economic power in order to join the development equally with male colleagues. In order to make the challenges of WPS and WDE in the world, we have to remember the important concept of the human security. This concept is based on Albert Einstein, a team member of developing of atomic bomb, and he actually, after bombing to Hiroshima, encouraged focus more on human factor rather than scientific development for the future generation. And he also said, quote, it is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder, quote. Thus, UNDP defined the human security in 1994 with seven fields such as economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security, and political security. I have added two more items because we are in 2024. Water security, separated from the food security, and of course, energy security. These are the basic concept of SDGs as well. And let me introduce the words of late economic professor of Kenneth Galbraith of Harvard University. When I met him as a professor of the university, he said, Akiko, Japan and the U.S. have succeeded to produce excellent products. However, it is doubtful if we have succeeded to produce real happy people. And when I met him as a member of the House of Representatives, he said, House of Representatives means parliament in Japan. He said, Akiko, there are three programs in the 21st century. One, the program of the nuclear issues. Two, the program of the elite and the poor. Three, the program of the traditional discrimination such as race, religion, gender and so on. We are now 21st century. When I met him last time of his age, 93 years old, he stood up from the wheelchair and said three times, Akiko, Japan should stop just following the United States and establish your own identity. It sounded like his will to me. Now, I would like to share three key words which enables us move toward the better future. One, addressing common interests. Two, ensuring social resilience. And three, establishing an age of balance. That means development, environment protection, globalization, regionalization, high-tech information, individual privacy, group orientation, individualism. work, leisure, materialism, spiritualism, male, female, military solution, non-military alternatives, national interest, international interest, in other words, common interests. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that the secret weapon to change the world to peaceful, stable and prosperous is us women. Let us work and work together in order to produce real happy people. I thank you very much.

Hassan Nasser: Thank you very much, Professor Akiko. Let’s all make happy people after this event. But before, we have our four panelists who have been waiting patiently. We will be pressuring you on time, but we hope that, like lemon, if we press, we get very good juice, right? So, I will leave my friend Amir to continue the torture, but I would like to introduce, of course, Ms. Dima El-Khatib, the Director of the UN Office of South-South Cooperation. We have Mr. Mathis Pellerin, Vice President from Oracle. Mr. Alexandre Pignot, Global Leader for the UN in Microsoft. And, last but not least, my dear colleague, Ms. Alaa Abdulaal Chief Digital Economy Foresight at the DCO Secretariat. Amir. Please, you have five seconds.

Amir Dossal: I just want to say what Professor Akiko said. You’re really echoing what UNDP said. If we address the issue of disparity of women, then we get prosperity, you’ll address that. So thank you for reminding us. My founding material for my political conscience when I was studying economics, so I’m really grateful for the opportunity to remember Galbraith again. Sorry for stepping in. No, that’s all right. I have four seconds left now. Forgive the first panel, but the second panel is actually very interesting. We have the benefit of the private sector present as well, who will show us what they’re actually doing and making things happen. Of course, Deemah is already doing those things in South-South cooperation. He has been a formative leader in this. Alaa Abdulaal, welcome. I enjoyed your presentation yesterday at the Digital Awards. Thank you for what you’re doing. I’d like to start with you and invite you. Hassan has been very diligent and gave me some very good questions. I’m not going to give you questions. I’d like to invite you to talk about what DCO is doing, including on the impact initiative or anything else you’d like to talk about.

Alaa Abdulaal: Thank you so much. I’m really honored to be part of this panel just beside our colleagues here. It is an honor. On behalf of the Digital Cooperation Organization, you have mentioned that we have been doing a lot. Today, we were blessed with an amazing announcement of the Digital Economy Navigator. Mr. Hisham had talked about the impact initiative. I would like to also talk about the Digital Space Accelerator. Cooperation is our middle name. We are the digital cooperation organization. So if we do not act with cooperation, we are not fulfilling our organization name. And this is why we have the Digital Space Accelerator, which is a very innovative way that we have produced where we bring together different stakeholders all on the same table with also global experts to really discuss and find solution for some of the challenges or seizing some of the opportunities that will help us to really have a sustainable and inclusive growth. Last year, we had amazing six topics we started with. They are very diverse from misinformation and how much it is impacted by the social media. We had also the topic on taxation, financial incentives, and how they can help in the growth of the digital economy. We had on public-private partnership. They were six very diverse topics. And one of them is women participation in ICT and through ICT. And those groups together, they have been working with also our member states. We have conducted global roundtables. We were in South Africa, Geneva, and Riyadh, online sessions with more than 200 people thinking together on how to solve those issues. And we outcomed with nine amazing deliverables, which can be seen on our website from frameworks, policy papers, tools that hopefully they will help our member states to really grow in the digital economy. In addition, this year, we have added more five other topics because we saw the opportunity and how they can enhance also the inclusive growth. We are focusing on AI, how we cannot open a topic or a digital space accelerator on AI, and the importance of ethical use of AI. Also, we have a topic on misinformation again, but how does it impact the cultural values? We have topics about trade acceleration, the digital trade acceleration. All of this together, we have been in Thailand, we have been in Geneva during the WTO, we have been in Riyadh during, again, AI Summit, again with almost until now 100 participation of different experts and with our member states. And we are still working on other roundtables that are coming towards the year. The beauty of all of this is whatever solution that we are delivering from all of those topics will be comprehensive, reflecting the different views and serving our member states and even the global community. And we hope that we will continue working together and we invite everyone to be part of the Digital Space Accelerator. And I need to even invite everyone to visit the Digital Economy Navigator and download the report and see what are the data that can be used to accelerate the growth of the digital economy. Thank you so much.

Amir Dossal: Thank you for your inspiring remarks. Hassan, I’m assuming that the report will contain all the information and if somebody wants to add some additional thing about their thought, that can be included in the final report. Great, thank you.

Deemah AlYahya: If I can build on that as well, it is actually an annual navigator. And what is really beautiful, because I’m so passionate about it so I’m jumping in, what is very beautiful about it is that it highlights best practices of all our member states. And it enables countries to go in and if they have a gap in an area, they can look at where are the best practices in other countries that they can adapt and it gives that access. to either the private sector or either financial institutions that can help in funding such kind of developing programs as well.

Amir Dossal: So it’s a platform where you can build those partnerships online. Yes. Thank you. So I’m going to invite now Dima Al-Khatib. Dima, you launched a lab in July. We’re all interested to hear about what you did actually and how we can be part of this exciting movement.

Dima Al-Khatib: Open invitation. Thank you. Thank you very much, Excellencies. And it’s a real honor to take part in this discussion today, a very timely one, especially, as Hassan also was saying, this is the time where we all need to think about bridging the digital divide and think about the means of implementation, as His Excellency was also noting. And I want to take this opportunity to mention that with the ambition and the importance of the Global Digital Compact, we believe that South-South Cooperation and Triangle Cooperation are extremely important means to bridge that gap and to leverage expertise and to share experiences and to really move much faster and leapfrog, as we say. As you rightly noted, we have recently launched what we call the South-South and Triangle Cooperation Solutions Lab, which is a platform, is part of our knowledge platform for best practices, and it is a platform to test and incubate and pilot solutions related to different disciplines and addressing different complex issues that the countries of the South are facing. The purpose also is to look at the solutions from a portfolio perspective and not to address topics in a siloed way, because every topic, as we know, in development, is interconnected with so many others. We just spoke about peace and development and women, extremely interconnected. So this is the approach that we are using. And the other thing that I also want to mention and underline is that the focus in line with the Global Digital Compact will also focus on developing digital public goods, such as open data and AI models, and it will also try to build a robust digital ecosystem that will enable this incubation and this testing. Of course, by linking it to the different networks that already exist, whether the best practices or networks of think tanks, we have an initiative called the Global Thinkers, we will be also trying to leverage the voice of the Global South from different angles, whether the youth, the academia, the think tanks, all towards converging and finding solution. Of course, this is a partnership platform, so it’s open for any entity to join forces with us. We have already several partners, such as IAEA, WFP, Masdar City, the Gulf Organization for Research and Development, and hopefully it’s a trajectory of growth. So looking forward to have more partnerships and looking forward to keep promoting South-South and Triangle cooperation as a key vehicle and a key means of implementation to really address those gaps. Let me stop it here. Thank you.

Amir Dossal: Thank you. Hearing you, I realized that OHRLS, the High Commissioner for, or High Representative for Landlocked Countries, Leased-to-Help Countries, they would benefit from this entirely.

Dima Al-Khatib: With them, and for the Landlocked Conference, we will be partnering on the ministerial segment.

Amir Dossal: Thank you. Excellent. Thank you so much. Thank you. Now I’d like to invite our colleague from Oracle, actually, the Vice President of Oracle, Matis Pellerin. Matis, where are you based?

Matis Pellerin: I’m based in Paris.

Amir Dossal: Oh, hard life, actually. We are delighted to welcome you to New York. Thank you for coming here.

Matis Pellerin: Thank you very much. If I may, I will make a comment on the role of partnership with the private sector, because I represent the private sector with my colleague from Microsoft. Lots of things have been said. I think the access to innovation and the access to a skilled workforce is one of the challenges governments are currently facing. And what could we do as a private sector to really address this issue? I think I can identify at least two major problems. One is access to innovation. His Excellency was mentioning the artificial intelligence, compute power, are the things where the private sector can really help. The shortage of skills is also one of the main challenges. And we also see lots of things where the private sector could also intervene. So I don’t think governments should think that they can become tech experts. And actually, we are tech experts from the private sector. And I totally understand that on strategic issues, sometimes governments are a bit reluctant to delegate these strategic issues like innovations and IT. However, usually, when we talk about digital transformation, when governments try to do it themselves, it becomes much more expensive, much more challenging. And also, usually, it’s very difficult for the government because they are a bit lagging behind in terms of innovation while they need to compete. with all the big tech companies. In terms of hiring also, it’s a challenge. Hiring the best skilled people, you need to compete with the private sector when you are government. So there is lots of reasons where I really think that governments need to find a trusted partner. They need to find a partner that is going to be able to help them in both the digital transformation effort of the government, but also in developing local skills and supporting them in their capacity building efforts. And actually, I’m very proud that at Oracle, we are already partnering with lots of DCO member states. I was listening carefully what His Excellency was saying about Saudi Arabia, but we are doing a lot with the Saudi government to help them in their digital transformation efforts. We just committed to train recently more than 50,000 Saudi nationals to new technology like AI, cybersecurity, and cloud computing. We are also doing similar things in Morocco, for instance, partnering with the Moroccan governments to try to develop knowledge in Morocco. We are going to build an R&D innovation center in Casablanca to train and to embed inside Oracle Moroccan people that are going to be working in our innovation and R&D. So there is lots of partnership we can build, both on the digital transformation efforts, but also on the capacity building effort which is made locally to train the population. Thank you.

Deemah AlYahya: Do you mind, Amir?

Amir Dossal: No, please. Absolutely, yes.

Deemah AlYahya: Well, I totally agree on what you have mentioned. In the digital transformation, every part of the ecosystem has its role. So rather than trying to play other roles, let’s bridge. the communication gap. One very successful story, actually, we have with Oracle, whom are an observer to DCO, is we launched the skills program, which is a platform that enables skills, especially in AI, to educate individuals in all our 16 member states. We have now registered more than 1,000 participants from executives, from governments of our member states, and we represent 800 million in population. 75% is under the age of 30. So you can imagine all that support and help and upskilling. And if we don’t have partners from the private sector that can help accelerate that, then it would be very, very difficult to bridge that gap. So thank you so much for your partnership.

Matis Pellerin: Indeed, we are very happy about the DCO Academy partnership, and it’s open to all member states. So you are all very welcome to join and try to use this training platform, which is very important for everyone, expert people, but also beginners. So feel free to join.

Amir Dossal: Thank you, and we appreciate your ethos on this, actually. Thank you. So not the final speaker, but one of the most important speakers, our neighbor, actually, Alexander Pinot, who’s right across the street, right? You’re based here at 885? Well, I’m not based here, but Microsoft, yes. Good to have Microsoft’s office here focused on the UN. Thank you for being here. So please.

Alexander Pinot: Thank you so much. First of all, thank you, Your Excellency, for the opportunity to be here, ladies and gentlemen. I’d like to start to recognize that the global digital economy and the digital capabilities are at its highest ever. What just happened in these last years with the advent of AI has just created an exponential growth in terms of digital capabilities, digital potential, and what value it can create. The problem we have is that with this exponential growth and this explosion in potential and in capacity, the pattern of distribution is following the world patterns. So the same unequal distribution that we used to have is now potentiated in a way because the technology is expanding in a way and the ability to access this expansion and this new value creation continues to be as or even more uneven than it was. And it’s uneven from a geographical perspective when you think about the developed world and the developing world, and it’s uneven from a gender perspective as we all discussed and we reiterated on the relevance that it has to be more inclusive for women and the value it can create from a human, social, and economic perspective for the world. So as Microsoft, we deeply believe in the role of a company not just to generate profit for its shareholders, but to create shared value in a triple bottom line for all the stakeholders that we interact with and creating a better world and focusing not just on the markets where we have commercial profitability in the short term, but creating a better digital economy for all that creates sustained value for the world and future digital markets that are a lot more inclusive and a lot more broad. In this sense, we have created a group inside Microsoft called Tech for Social Impact which is dedicated to this long term triple bottom line value creation of the digital economy intimately aligned with the digital compact and with the creation of shared digital value for all. The focus is on essentially three big things. One is around access. The ability to have even connectivity today, it’s very uneven. If you look at LDCs and the amount of people in LDCs that don’t have yet access to internet or even connectivity, it’s astonishing. Digital infrastructure and cloud infrastructure is also another element that is absolutely critical. But even if these things exist, the affordability element needs to be tailored so that the ability to use, the ability to access, is tailored. In this aspect, we have been doing two things. One, creating frameworks of affordability that actually differentiate the cost of solutions in creating a positive impact for the global south, and especially for the least developed countries, to be able to access all our prime technology more locally and with different affordability and pricing models. And so we created a digital development program that allows for that. But secondly, we deeply embrace digital public infrastructure and digital public goods. And we believe that the expansion that we’re having on the cloud, the expansion we’re having on this new digital infrastructure, can and should be combined with digital public goods to create faster, easier to deploy digital public infrastructure. And so we are actually investing significantly on the onboarding and the support to digital public goods agenda and the creation of digital public infrastructure through associated with cloud and with AI to create additional value. The second aspect that we believe is, you can have all the capacity and with a much more even distribution, but there needs to be ability to leverage that technology. And so skilling and the ability for people to understand technology and to use technology in an effective way is absolutely fundamental. So this year, we have been for years, since COVID, we created a significant boost on our skilling efforts to help recover from the economic impact of COVID. But now with AI, we felt that we needed to triple down on that investment and the capacity to skill people at scale. So in partnerships with UNICEF, UNDP, IOM, we’re actually expanding the way we are skilling people at scale, not just in the global north, but also in the global south and in the developing world. Additionally, there’s also aspects around deployment and finance. Which is, you know, the ability to leverage these technologies is intimately associated with having the capacity and having the skills and having the talent that is able to deploy them and to implement them in a good way. And we know that that doesn’t exist today. So there needs to be mechanisms, partnering with technical assistance partners, partnering with the ecosystem to bring capacity to the countries where it doesn’t exist today. Use these projects as foundational investments that can help develop a more broad local digital ecosystem. And so what we’re trying to do is to create these projects where, by creating gravitas around a big project of implementation, it creates conditions for a more local ecosystem and digital economy to thrive. And finally, there’s also an element we’ve been advocating, and it’s still, I would say, there’s still a disconnect there, but gradually we’re seeing positive evolutions on the right direction. Development financing was built from an age centered on assets and CapEx. It is all about infrastructure. It is all about assets. It’s all about CapEx. But the digital economy today, it’s all about OPEX and access to innovation as a service. There is a tremendous disconnect that I think is hindering the developing countries to be able to tap into the digital economy based on services due to the disconnect with the financing mechanisms that are hyper-centered on strong CapEx up front that actually even increase the depth of those countries. And so there’s the transformation around from short, intensive, large scale CapEx to long term, 15 years, 10 years OPEX that allows them actually to adopt technology, create impact, and generate value in a sustained way without facing the problems of financing mechanisms these days. Finally, and I’m getting longer, I’m sorry, I’m not helping, I know. But just one more point, which is. If you achieve access, if we achieve ability to leverage, we also need to focus a bit on ensuring that it is creating impact and generating a trusted digital economy and trust in these countries. So the aspect of starting with the problem we’re trying to solve, making sure that technology is being deployed in a fit-for-purpose way. And we don’t start with technology. We start with the problems that technology can solve. And we use the technology just in the proportion that is needed to solve the problems, not necessarily just to put technology on the table. I think has been part of that. And with this also, the aspect of partnerships. It has been fundamental that for these projects to be successful, to center ourselves on strong partnerships between private sector, public sector, and especially the international development sector that makes the bridge super important for the creation of value on the long term. So thank you for the opportunity.

Amir Dossal: Thank you. Thank you very much. We need more time, but I’m sorry. We’ll have to do another panel, actually. I want to thank you again for your contributions, your ideas, and especially for the concrete initiatives you’re involved in. Because that’s what will inspire others. And you share it with others. They can replicate. They can learn from you and go forward. One minor point when we talk about LDCs, I keep reminding my colleagues, they’re not least of all countries. They’re the least discovered countries. We get lost in our negative connotations of the UN. I’m sorry. On that note, I return this back to ourselves.

Deemah AlYahya: And if you would just allow me to welcome Microsoft as our new observer to the organization as well. So we’re happy to have them on board.

Amir Dossal: Good. Excellent.

Hassan Nasser: So I will first thank all the speakers, and especially those who stick to the time. No offense. The other one, they owe me a coffee. I would like also to thank Amir for facilitating. Really, thank you very much, sir. And of course, a big thanks to our two keynote speakers for their visionary, let’s say, perspective and sharing with us those elements. This event team is chasing us from this room. New York is big. We still have a lot of days. I have a great summit of the future, and we are here really to impact the world. Thank you very much. Thank you.

D

Deemah AlYahya

Speech speed

122 words per minute

Speech length

990 words

Speech time

485 seconds

Digital divide threatens to widen exponentially

Explanation

The digital divide is a significant challenge that could worsen over time. Despite technological advancements, 2.6 billion people still lack access to the internet and digital tools.

Evidence

2.6 billion individuals remain unconnected and unable to take part in the digital age

Major Discussion Point

Digital Cooperation for Inclusive Growth

Agreed with

Constantinos Kombos

Hisham Alsheikh

Agreed on

Digital cooperation is crucial for addressing global challenges and fostering innovation

C

Constantinos Kombos

Speech speed

128 words per minute

Speech length

743 words

Speech time

346 seconds

Need for networked multilateralism and synergies between stakeholders

Explanation

Addressing digital challenges requires a new type of collaboration between various stakeholders. This networked multilateralism integrates expertise and resources from all parties to ensure coherence and prevent fragmentation.

Evidence

Mention of governments, regional and international organizations, private sector, and civil society as relevant stakeholders

Major Discussion Point

Digital Cooperation for Inclusive Growth

Agreed with

Deemah AlYahya

Hisham Alsheikh

Agreed on

Digital cooperation is crucial for addressing global challenges and fostering innovation

A

Akiko Yamanaka

Speech speed

100 words per minute

Speech length

626 words

Speech time

375 seconds

Importance of addressing common interests and ensuring social resilience

Explanation

To move towards a better future, it’s crucial to focus on common interests and social resilience. This approach helps in creating a balanced and inclusive digital future.

Evidence

Mention of three key words: addressing common interests, ensuring social resilience, and establishing an age of balance

Major Discussion Point

Digital Cooperation for Inclusive Growth

H

Hisham Alsheikh

Speech speed

128 words per minute

Speech length

715 words

Speech time

334 seconds

Digital cooperation crucial for addressing global challenges and fostering innovation

Explanation

Digital cooperation is essential for tackling worldwide issues and promoting innovation. It involves collaborative efforts from various stakeholders to harness digital technologies for the common good.

Evidence

Mention of governments, private sector, civil society, and international organizations as stakeholders in digital cooperation

Major Discussion Point

Digital Cooperation for Inclusive Growth

Agreed with

Deemah AlYahya

Constantinos Kombos

Agreed on

Digital cooperation is crucial for addressing global challenges and fostering innovation

Saudi Arabia’s success in digital transformation across government sectors

Explanation

Saudi Arabia has made significant progress in digital transformation across various government sectors. This transformation has led to improved efficiency and service delivery in areas such as healthcare and justice.

Evidence

Examples of improvements in healthcare delivery and justice system efficiency due to digital transformation

Major Discussion Point

Role of Technology in Economic Development

A

Abdallah Al Dardari

Speech speed

130 words per minute

Speech length

459 words

Speech time

210 seconds

Low productivity in Arab region due to low technology adoption and women’s participation

Explanation

The Arab region’s productivity has been declining due to low levels of technology and innovation adoption, as well as low participation of women in the economy. This has resulted in significant economic losses.

Evidence

Mention of 20% GDP loss annually due to low female participation, amounting to $700 billion a year

Major Discussion Point

Role of Technology in Economic Development

Importance of AI and digital technology in empowering women and leapfrogging development

Explanation

AI and digital technology offer a significant opportunity to empower women and accelerate development in the Arab region. These technologies can help overcome cultural barriers and enable faster progress.

Major Discussion Point

Role of Technology in Economic Development

M

Munir Akram

Speech speed

0 words per minute

Speech length

0 words

Speech time

1 seconds

Need for computing power to ensure independence and control of digital destiny

Explanation

Countries need to acquire computing power to maintain their independence and control over their digital future. This involves developing skills in design, securing finances, and accessing necessary resources.

Major Discussion Point

Role of Technology in Economic Development

Potential fragmentation of digital systems on east-west basis

Explanation

There is a risk of digital systems fragmenting along east-west lines, potentially forcing countries to choose between different systems. This fragmentation could exacerbate existing divides and create new challenges.

Evidence

Mention of emerging eastern and western digital systems

Major Discussion Point

Challenges in Digital Transformation

A

Alaa Abdulaal

Speech speed

142 words per minute

Speech length

533 words

Speech time

224 seconds

DCO initiatives like Digital Economy Navigator and Digital Space Accelerator

Explanation

The Digital Cooperation Organization has launched initiatives such as the Digital Economy Navigator and Digital Space Accelerator. These programs aim to foster cooperation and innovation in the digital economy.

Evidence

Mention of six diverse topics addressed by the Digital Space Accelerator, including misinformation, taxation, and public-private partnerships

Major Discussion Point

Partnerships and Capacity Building

Agreed with

Matis Pellerin

Dima Al-Khatib

Alexander Pinot

Agreed on

Importance of partnerships and capacity building in digital transformation

M

Matis Pellerin

Speech speed

149 words per minute

Speech length

519 words

Speech time

207 seconds

Private sector partnerships crucial for access to innovation and skilled workforce

Explanation

Partnerships with the private sector are essential for governments to access innovation and skilled workforce in the digital sector. These partnerships can help address challenges in digital transformation and capacity building.

Evidence

Examples of Oracle’s partnerships with Saudi Arabia and Morocco for digital transformation and capacity building

Major Discussion Point

Partnerships and Capacity Building

Agreed with

Alaa Abdulaal

Dima Al-Khatib

Alexander Pinot

Agreed on

Importance of partnerships and capacity building in digital transformation

Disagreed with

Hisham Alsheikh

Disagreed on

Role of government vs private sector in digital transformation

D

Dima Al-Khatib

Speech speed

137 words per minute

Speech length

444 words

Speech time

194 seconds

South-South and Triangular Cooperation as key vehicles for bridging digital gaps

Explanation

South-South and Triangular Cooperation are important means to bridge the digital divide and leverage expertise. These forms of cooperation can help countries share experiences and move faster in digital development.

Evidence

Mention of the South-South and Triangle Cooperation Solutions Lab as a platform for testing and incubating solutions

Major Discussion Point

Partnerships and Capacity Building

Agreed with

Alaa Abdulaal

Matis Pellerin

Alexander Pinot

Agreed on

Importance of partnerships and capacity building in digital transformation

A

Alexander Pinot

Speech speed

164 words per minute

Speech length

1197 words

Speech time

436 seconds

Microsoft’s Tech for Social Impact focus on access, skills, and deployment

Explanation

Microsoft’s Tech for Social Impact initiative focuses on improving access to digital technologies, developing skills, and supporting deployment in developing countries. This approach aims to create a more inclusive digital economy.

Evidence

Mention of partnerships with UNICEF, UNDP, and IOM for expanding skilling efforts

Major Discussion Point

Partnerships and Capacity Building

Agreed with

Alaa Abdulaal

Matis Pellerin

Dima Al-Khatib

Agreed on

Importance of partnerships and capacity building in digital transformation

Disconnect between development financing models and digital economy needs

Explanation

There is a mismatch between traditional development financing models, which focus on assets and CapEx, and the needs of the digital economy, which are more centered on OPEX and access to innovation as a service. This disconnect hinders developing countries’ ability to tap into the digital economy.

Major Discussion Point

Challenges in Digital Transformation

Need for tailored affordability and pricing models for developing countries

Explanation

Developing countries require tailored affordability and pricing models to access digital technologies and infrastructure. This includes creating frameworks that differentiate costs and allow for easier access to technology in the global south.

Evidence

Mention of Microsoft’s digital development program that allows for differentiated pricing models

Major Discussion Point

Challenges in Digital Transformation

J

Josephine Mukesha

Speech speed

131 words per minute

Speech length

455 words

Speech time

207 seconds

Rwanda’s implementation of digital identity from birth

Explanation

Rwanda is implementing a digital identity system that will issue digital identities from birth. This system builds on existing digital platforms for civil registration and vital statistics.

Evidence

Mention of existing CRVS digital platform and population registry

Major Discussion Point

Digital Identity and Cross-Border Cooperation

Need for common standards and interoperability in digital identity systems

Explanation

There is a need for common standards and interoperability in digital identity systems across countries. This would facilitate knowledge sharing and best practices in implementing digital identity solutions.

Major Discussion Point

Digital Identity and Cross-Border Cooperation

Importance of regulatory frameworks for cross-border identity verification

Explanation

Regulatory frameworks are crucial for enabling cross-border identity verification. These frameworks should allow for mutual recognition of digital identities while ensuring data protection and privacy.

Major Discussion Point

Digital Identity and Cross-Border Cooperation

Agreements

Agreement Points

Digital cooperation is crucial for addressing global challenges and fostering innovation

Speakers

Deemah AlYahya

Constantinos Kombos

Hisham Alsheikh

Arguments

Digital divide threatens to widen exponentially

Need for networked multilateralism and synergies between stakeholders

Digital cooperation crucial for addressing global challenges and fostering innovation

Summary

These speakers emphasize the importance of digital cooperation in addressing global challenges, fostering innovation, and bridging the digital divide. They highlight the need for collaboration among various stakeholders to achieve these goals.

Importance of partnerships and capacity building in digital transformation

Speakers

Alaa Abdulaal

Matis Pellerin

Dima Al-Khatib

Alexander Pinot

Arguments

DCO initiatives like Digital Economy Navigator and Digital Space Accelerator

Private sector partnerships crucial for access to innovation and skilled workforce

South-South and Triangular Cooperation as key vehicles for bridging digital gaps

Microsoft’s Tech for Social Impact focus on access, skills, and deployment

Summary

These speakers agree on the importance of partnerships and capacity building in driving digital transformation. They highlight various initiatives and approaches to foster collaboration and skill development in the digital sector.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasize the importance of inclusivity, particularly for women, in digital transformation and economic development. They view technology as a means to empower women and address social inequalities.

Speakers

Abdallah Al Dardari

Akiko Yamanaka

Arguments

Low productivity in Arab region due to low technology adoption and women’s participation

Importance of AI and digital technology in empowering women and leapfrogging development

Importance of addressing common interests and ensuring social resilience

Both speakers highlight the challenges faced by developing countries in accessing and controlling digital technologies. They emphasize the need for tailored approaches to financing and pricing to ensure equitable access to digital resources.

Speakers

Munir Akram

Alexander Pinot

Arguments

Need for computing power to ensure independence and control of digital destiny

Disconnect between development financing models and digital economy needs

Need for tailored affordability and pricing models for developing countries

Unexpected Consensus

Importance of digital public goods and infrastructure

Speakers

Alexander Pinot

Josephine Mukesha

Arguments

Microsoft’s Tech for Social Impact focus on access, skills, and deployment

Rwanda’s implementation of digital identity from birth

Need for common standards and interoperability in digital identity systems

Explanation

Despite representing different sectors (private and public), both speakers emphasize the importance of digital public goods and infrastructure. This unexpected consensus highlights the growing recognition of the need for collaborative approaches to digital development across sectors.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of agreement include the importance of digital cooperation, partnerships for capacity building, inclusive digital transformation, and the need for tailored approaches to address the digital divide.

Consensus level

There is a high level of consensus among the speakers on the importance of digital cooperation and inclusive development. This consensus suggests a strong foundation for collaborative efforts in addressing global digital challenges. However, there are nuanced differences in approaches and priorities, particularly between public and private sector representatives, which may require further dialogue to align strategies for effective implementation.

Disagreements

Disagreement Points

Role of government vs private sector in digital transformation

Speakers

Hisham Alsheikh

Matis Pellerin

Arguments

Digital cooperation is crucial for addressing global challenges and fostering innovation

Private sector partnerships crucial for access to innovation and skilled workforce

Summary

While Hisham Alsheikh emphasizes the role of government in digital cooperation, Matis Pellerin argues for a stronger role of the private sector in driving innovation and providing skilled workforce.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of disagreement revolve around the roles of government and private sector in digital transformation, and the approaches to bridging the digital divide.

Disagreement level

The level of disagreement among the speakers is relatively low. Most speakers agree on the importance of digital cooperation and the need to bridge the digital divide. The differences mainly lie in the specific approaches and emphasis on different aspects of digital transformation. This level of disagreement is not likely to significantly impede progress on the topic, but rather could lead to a more comprehensive approach that incorporates various perspectives.

Partial Agreements

Partial Agreements

Both speakers agree on the need for developing countries to access advanced digital technologies, but they differ in their approach. Akram emphasizes the need for countries to acquire their own computing power, while Pinot suggests tailored pricing models to make existing technologies more accessible.

Speakers

Munir Akram

Alexander Pinot

Arguments

Need for computing power to ensure independence and control of digital destiny

Need for tailored affordability and pricing models for developing countries

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasize the importance of inclusivity, particularly for women, in digital transformation and economic development. They view technology as a means to empower women and address social inequalities.

Speakers

Abdallah Al Dardari

Akiko Yamanaka

Arguments

Low productivity in Arab region due to low technology adoption and women’s participation

Importance of AI and digital technology in empowering women and leapfrogging development

Importance of addressing common interests and ensuring social resilience

Both speakers highlight the challenges faced by developing countries in accessing and controlling digital technologies. They emphasize the need for tailored approaches to financing and pricing to ensure equitable access to digital resources.

Speakers

Munir Akram

Alexander Pinot

Arguments

Need for computing power to ensure independence and control of digital destiny

Disconnect between development financing models and digital economy needs

Need for tailored affordability and pricing models for developing countries

Takeaways

Key Takeaways

Digital cooperation is crucial for addressing global challenges and fostering inclusive growth

There is a need to bridge the digital divide to ensure digital prosperity for all

Partnerships between governments, private sector, and civil society are essential for digital transformation

Technology adoption and women’s participation are key factors for economic development

Digital identity systems and cross-border cooperation require common standards and interoperability

Capacity building and skills development are critical for leveraging digital technologies

Resolutions and Action Items

DCO launched the Digital Economy Navigator to analyze digital economy maturity across 50 countries

DCO launched the IMPACT initiative as a marketplace for digital solutions and services

Saudi Arabia committed to train over 50,000 nationals in AI, cybersecurity, and cloud computing

Microsoft is expanding skilling efforts in partnership with UN agencies

Rwanda is implementing a digital identity system from birth

Unresolved Issues

How to address the potential fragmentation of digital systems on an east-west basis

How to align development financing models with the needs of the digital economy

How to ensure equitable access to computing power for developing countries

How to effectively regulate cross-border digital identity verification

Suggested Compromises

Developing tailored affordability and pricing models for technology access in developing countries

Combining cloud infrastructure with digital public goods to create more accessible digital public infrastructure

Shifting from large upfront CapEx investments to long-term OPEX models for technology adoption in developing countries

Thought Provoking Comments

We are experiencing a new industrial revolution that is wide in scope and multilayered to the extent that its impact and consequences are quite unpredictable. It is a pendulum that swings between prosperity and exclusion, because at the end, these are the two options.

Speaker

Constantinos Kombos

Reason

This comment frames digital transformation as a double-edged sword, highlighting both its potential benefits and risks. It sets the stage for a nuanced discussion about the challenges of the digital age.

Impact

It shifted the conversation from purely optimistic views of digital progress to a more balanced consideration of both opportunities and potential pitfalls.

Currently, close to 2.6 billion people remain unconnected with no access to the Internet, with the majority being women and young girls. This is a stark reminder as to the task ahead, as regards the alignment of technological progress with all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Speaker

Constantinos Kombos

Reason

This comment grounds the discussion in concrete statistics and ties digital inclusion to broader development goals. It emphasizes the scale of the challenge and its disproportionate impact on women and girls.

Impact

It focused subsequent discussion on the importance of inclusivity and gender equality in digital transformation efforts.

The Arab region’s productivity has been in decline for the last 50 years. In fact, productivity in our region today is 50% of what it used to be in 1980. And that applies to the richest of us and to the poorest of us.

Speaker

Abdallah Al Dardari

Reason

This comment provides a striking regional perspective, highlighting long-term economic challenges that digital transformation could potentially address.

Impact

It broadened the discussion to consider how digital cooperation could address longstanding economic issues in specific regions.

There are basically two systems which are emerging in the world, and countries are going to have to make a choice if this is forced upon us. If we are asked to accept one system and not the other, if we are asked to accept an eastern system or western system, then that is going to promote fragmentation across the world, not only between the two powers concerned, but across the world.

Speaker

Munir Akram

Reason

This comment introduces the geopolitical dimension of digital cooperation, highlighting the risk of a new form of global divide.

Impact

It shifted the conversation to consider the strategic implications of digital cooperation and the need for approaches that can bridge potential east-west divides.

Development financing was built from an age centered on assets and CapEx. It is all about infrastructure. It is all about assets. It’s all about CapEx. But the digital economy today, it’s all about OPEX and access to innovation as a service. There is a tremendous disconnect that I think is hindering the developing countries to be able to tap into the digital economy based on services due to the disconnect with the financing mechanisms that are hyper-centered on strong CapEx up front that actually even increase the depth of those countries.

Speaker

Alexander Pinot

Reason

This comment highlights a critical mismatch between traditional development financing models and the needs of the digital economy, particularly for developing countries.

Impact

It introduced a new perspective on the financial challenges of digital transformation and sparked discussion on the need for new financing approaches.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by broadening its scope from purely technological considerations to encompass economic, social, geopolitical, and financial dimensions of digital cooperation. They highlighted the complexity of the challenges involved in fostering inclusive digital transformation and the need for multifaceted, collaborative approaches. The discussion evolved from general statements about the importance of digital cooperation to a more nuanced exploration of specific challenges and potential solutions, emphasizing the need for tailored strategies that consider regional contexts, gender equality, geopolitical realities, and innovative financing models.

Follow-up Questions

How can we develop systems that are compatible with both eastern and western digital ecosystems to prevent global fragmentation?

Speaker

Munir Akram

Explanation

This is important to address the potential east-west fragmentation in digital systems and promote global digital cooperation.

How can developing countries acquire and build their own computing power to ensure digital independence?

Speaker

Munir Akram

Explanation

This is crucial for countries to have control over their digital destiny and not be dependent on external powers.

How can we leverage artificial intelligence and digital technology to empower women in the Arab world?

Speaker

Abdallah Al Dardari

Explanation

This is important to address the significant economic losses due to low female participation in Arab economies and to leapfrog traditional barriers.

How can we develop common standards and interoperability for digital identity systems across countries?

Speaker

Josephine Mukesha

Explanation

This is crucial for implementing cross-border identity verification capabilities while ensuring data protection and privacy.

How can we transform development financing models to better support OPEX-based digital economy investments rather than traditional CapEx-focused infrastructure?

Speaker

Alexander Pinot

Explanation

This is important to enable developing countries to access and leverage digital technologies without increasing their debt burden.

Disclaimer: This is not an official record of the session. The DiploAI system automatically generates these resources from the audiovisual recording. Resources are presented in their original format, as provided by the AI (e.g. including any spelling mistakes). The accuracy of these resources cannot be guaranteed.

A Digital Future for All (afternoon sessions)

A Digital Future for All (afternoon sessions)

Session at a Glance

Summary

This discussion focused on the Global Digital Compact (GDC) and the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in shaping a digital future that benefits humanity. The event brought together leaders from government, technology, civil society, and international organizations to explore how to harness digital technologies and AI for sustainable development while addressing potential risks.

Key themes included the importance of inclusivity, bridging the digital divide, and ensuring AI governance is rooted in human rights. Speakers emphasized the need for multi-stakeholder cooperation and global governance frameworks to guide AI development. The United Nations was highlighted as uniquely positioned to facilitate this process due to its global reach and legitimacy.

Participants discussed both the transformative potential of AI to accelerate progress on sustainable development goals and the need to mitigate risks like bias, privacy concerns, and potential misuse. The importance of building capacity, especially in developing countries, was stressed to prevent an “AI divide” from emerging.

Recommendations from the UN’s High-Level Advisory Body on AI were presented, including proposals for a global AI capacity network, an international scientific panel on AI, and mechanisms to foster inclusive AI development. Speakers noted the urgency of action, given AI’s rapid advancement.

The discussion concluded on an optimistic note, with participants expressing hope that early engagement on AI governance could help steer the technology towards benefiting humanity. However, they emphasized sustained effort and cooperation would be needed to realize this vision of an inclusive, sustainable digital future for all.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The importance of developing AI and digital technologies in an inclusive, ethical way that benefits all of humanity

– The need for global cooperation and governance frameworks for AI, with the UN playing a key role

– Bridging the digital divide and ensuring developing countries can participate in and benefit from AI advancements

– Balancing the opportunities of AI with potential risks and challenges

– Implementing the Global Digital Compact and moving from principles to concrete actions

Overall purpose/goal:

The discussion aimed to highlight the transformative potential of AI and digital technologies while emphasizing the need for responsible development and governance to ensure these technologies benefit all of humanity. It sought to build momentum for global cooperation on AI governance through initiatives like the Global Digital Compact.

Tone:

The overall tone was optimistic and forward-looking, with speakers emphasizing the positive potential of AI while acknowledging challenges. There was a sense of urgency about the need to act quickly to shape AI’s development. The tone became more action-oriented towards the end, focusing on next steps and implementation.

Speakers

Moderators/Facilitators:

– Redi Thlabi – Journalist and TV Host Al Jazeera English

– Tumi Makgabo – In Africa World Wide Media

Speakers:

– Ian Bremmer – Political Scientist, President of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media

– Ebba Busch – Minister for Energy, Business and Industry and Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden

– Sundar Pichai – CEO, Google and Alphabet

– Felix Mutati – Minister of Technology and Science, Zambia

– Margrethe Vestager – Executive Vice President of the European Union

– Rebeca Grynspan – Secretary-General, United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

– Omar Al Olama – Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work in the United Arab Emirates

– Josephine Teo – Minister for Digital Development and Information, Singapore

– Nnenna Nwakanma – Digital Policy, Advocacy and Cooperation Strategist

– Carme Artigas – Former Secretary of State for Digitalisation and AI of Spain and Co-Chair of the Secretary-General’s High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence

– James Manyika – Senior VP, Google-Alphabet and Co-Chair of the Secretary-General’s High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence

– Vilas Dhar – President and Trustee, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation

– Jian Wang – CTO and Founder, Alibaba Cloud

– Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

– Alondra Nelson – Harold F. Linder Professor, Institute for Advanced Study

– Mokgweetsi Masisi – President of Botswana

– Amandeep Singh Gill – UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology

– Achim Steiner – Administrator of UNDP

– Doreen Bogdan-Martin – Secretary-General of the ITU

The speakers represent a diverse range of expertise including government leadership, technology industry executives, civil society representatives, academics, and leaders of international organizations. Their areas of focus include artificial intelligence, digital development, human rights, sustainable development, and global governance.

Full session report

The Global Digital Compact and AI Governance: Shaping a Digital Future for All

This high-level discussion brought together diverse leaders from government, technology, civil society, and international organizations to explore the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in shaping an inclusive digital future. The conversation centered on the Global Digital Compact (GDC) and the need for responsible AI development and governance to benefit all of humanity.

Key Themes and Agreements

1. The Global Digital Compact as a Foundation for AI Governance

There was broad consensus on the importance of the Global Digital Compact as a starting point for global AI governance. Speakers like Carme Artigas and Omar Al Olama emphasized the unique position of the United Nations to lead this effort. James Manyika stressed the need for a multi-stakeholder approach, which was echoed by other participants. Volker Turk noted that the GDC builds on existing human rights frameworks, stating, “The Global Digital Compact is firmly anchored in human rights.”

2. AI’s Potential for Sustainable Development

Speakers agreed on AI’s transformative potential to accelerate progress on Sustainable Development Goals. Felix Mutati highlighted AI’s ability to transform lives in rural areas, saying, “AI has the potential to leapfrog development.” However, many stressed the need to bridge the digital divide to prevent an AI divide, emphasizing the importance of building AI capacity in developing countries.

3. Balancing Innovation and Risk Mitigation

There was general agreement on the need for a balanced approach to AI governance that promotes innovation while mitigating risks. Margrethe Vestager emphasized the importance of enforceable AI regulation, while Carme Artigas highlighted the need to balance innovation and risk mitigation.

4. Human Rights and Community Engagement

Speakers like Volker Turk and Alondra Nelson emphasized the importance of grounding AI governance and development in existing human rights frameworks. Vilas Dhar highlighted the importance of community engagement in AI development, challenging the typical narrative of top-down control in governance.

5. Scientific Research and Understanding of AI

Multiple speakers, including James Manyika, Dr. Wang Jian, and Alondra Nelson, stressed the importance of scientific research to better understand AI systems and their impacts. Manyika proposed “a real-time scientific panel on AI developments,” while Nelson drew parallels to rapid scientific developments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

6. Role of the Private Sector

James Manyika and others discussed the crucial role of the private sector in AI governance. Manyika emphasized the need for collaboration, stating, “We need everybody at the table – governments, civil society, academia, and the private sector.”

7. Capacity Building and Infrastructure

Many speakers emphasized the importance of capacity building and infrastructure development for AI in developing countries. Nnenna Nwakanma’s statement, “Connect the schools. Connect the young people. Connect my children,” refocused the conversation on practical, human-centered outcomes of digital development.

Key Recommendations and Action Items

1. Recommendations from the UN High-Level Advisory Body on AI, as discussed by Ian Bremmer and panelists, including:

– Establishing a global fund for AI for sustainable development

– Creating an international scientific panel on AI

– Developing a global AI capacity-building program

2. Proposal to make an online platform available for public input on the Global Digital Compact after its adoption

3. Emphasis on building AI capacity and infrastructure in developing countries to prevent an AI divide

4. Focus on sustainable and ethical AI development practices, as highlighted by Alondra Nelson

5. Plan to potentially adopt the Global Digital Compact at the upcoming Summit of the Future

Thought-Provoking Insights

1. Vilas Dhar reframed governance as a collaborative process involving multiple stakeholders, not just governments and tech companies.

2. Mokgweetsi Masisi highlighted the interconnection between digital divides, global inequality, and gender disparities.

3. Alondra Nelson acknowledged the limitations of current knowledge about AI systems, emphasizing the need for ongoing research and understanding.

Unresolved Issues and Future Directions

Despite the productive discussion, several issues remain to be addressed:

1. Specific mechanisms for enforcing AI governance globally

2. Details on implementation of the proposed global fund on AI

3. How to effectively balance AI development with sustainability and climate concerns

4. Concrete steps to ensure AI benefits reach marginalized communities

In conclusion, the discussion demonstrated a high level of consensus on fundamental principles and goals for AI governance, providing a strong foundation for global cooperation. The conversation evolved from high-level policy talk to considering concrete actions and their impacts on diverse communities, particularly in the Global South. The Global Digital Compact emerges as a crucial starting point for global AI governance, with emphasis on multi-stakeholder involvement, scientific research, capacity building, and human rights-centered approaches. As Amandeep Singh Gill noted, “The Global Digital Compact is our chance to shape our digital future.” The stage is set for continued dialogue and action on shaping an inclusive, sustainable digital future for all.

Session Transcript

Redi Thlabi: I think the applause was loudest this side. You’re very generous. Thank you. Good afternoon. Honored delegates, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Redi Thlabi. I’m a broadcast journalist, a moderator, an MC from Johannesburg, South Africa, delighted to be a visitor in the United States. I noticed that when the lunch break was announced, many of you did not leave. That tells me that you were in this room this morning when the answer to why we are here was provided. In the morning, we saw the real impact of digital tools, of artificial intelligence enabling human flourishing. Who can forget Adit, a young lady who grew up in a refugee camp, but she was able to access learning. She was able to connect with other young people from other parts of the world because she had the technology to do so. Who can forget how we witnessed the ability to get mobility after an acute injury. The mobility that you and I take for granted, but when you lose it, you need technology, you need innovation to help you be a part of the global community. You were in this room when we saw how technological tools can be enabled to respond to the planetary crisis that we are all facing today. That’s what happened this morning. So what are we doing this afternoon? We are here to ensure that those case studies that we heard about in the morning are not just the exception, but they become the norm. We are here to renew our commitments, to find solutions to the crises that we face, to ensure that we create a global digital architecture, a compact that is human-centered, that is secure, that is efficient, that is accessible to all. Because if we don’t do this, we create other frontiers of inequality. I come from Africa, I’m a part of the Global South, and we see very much how often we feel as if the world is advancing without us, even though we have the expertise, the agency, the tools, the willingness. But without the investment, without being invited into the table as we find these digital solutions, then this inequality will deepen. And so we convene today at a very hopeful moment. In a few hours, the Global Digital Compact may just become a reality. You will hear a lot about it. It has several themes that resonate. It’s about collaboration, creating policy, bringing all the stakeholders together to ensure that the case studies that we heard about in the morning become a global norm so that we all become citizens of a world where technology and AI are accessible, they are free, they are secure, and they are rooted, they are rooted in human flourishing. That’s what today is all about. But to situate us in the moment, let’s watch this very short video about the Global Digital Compact just to get a sense of the process and how it unfolded.

Official Video: GDC has been a very optimistic and constructive process during the past 18 months with broad participation from multi-stakeholders. And with GDC, we see that every country and every member state of the United Nations will have better possibilities of implementing the SDG agenda. Co-facilitators of the Global Digital Compact are so excited that we’ve come to this moment where we can actually indulge the Global Digital Compact. We as co-facilitators have engaged with yourselves. over many many hours. Over hundreds, thousands of delegates have put in their work and now it’s time to really look at this document and adopt it. And so we’re very excited that we’ve really come to this point and welcome you to this event. Thank you very much. The Global Digital Compact provides an opportunity to close the digital divide. It also provides an opportunity for Africa to engage as well as civil society organizations to engage way better at the United Nations level. The Global Digital Compact should be implemented through a multi-stakeholder process so that everyone, everywhere, can thrive in the age of AI. Governments must protect and support the people who build and govern digital public goods, like Wikipedia, which is run by volunteers who share knowledge in over 300 languages. Thank you very much for this outstanding opportunity to share with all of you how private and public collaboration can help achieve the goals of the Global Digital Compact. We at TIGO, we build broadband networks across all the communities we operate in. We call them digital highways because they provide the highways that bring our communities to the digital economy and it takes the work of everyone involved, public, private sector, everyone, so that those digital highways get built for the betterment of our communities are for the inclusion of everyone in them into the digital economy of the 21st century. Let’s make it happen together. I’m delighted to welcome the Global Digital Compact and to see that children’s rights are at the heart of this declaration. Children’s charities across the world have collaborated closely with co-facilitators and the UN Tech Envoy for two years to shape this important compact. We welcome that it now underscores a unified commitment for children’s rights and safety. I hope all will live by its words and will move from words to action. States have made bold commitments. They must now translate them into concrete actions. Equally, tech companies must not be exempt and be held accountable for the services they deliver to children. The Global Digital Compact has been a crucial platform for diverse stakeholders like me to come together and shape the future of a digital world that benefits everyone. It has fostered a sense of shared responsibility and ownership. I believe that the GDC we contributed will play a vital role in shaping a digital world.

Redi Thlabi: Thank you very much. Thank you. You will have an opportunity to make your inputs to ensure that the Global Digital Compact becomes a reality. Once it’s been adopted by world leaders, the online platform will be available tomorrow and you can share your inputs. Ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome the Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden, Ebba Busch.

Ebba Busch: Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. I was suggesting earlier here when we were waiting for things to start, soon someone has to get up on stage and start singing. I’m not gonna sing here today but we’re going to talk about the digital era that we have just entered fully on now. And we’re living in an era where digital and emerging technologies, where they’re really reshaping almost every single aspect of our lives. our lives. The digital transformation presents us with unprecedented opportunities to really accelerate our work towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. To fulfil those opportunities, we need to cooperate across all levels, and certainly, of course, including the UN. Sweden has, together with Zambia, had the honour of facilitating the negotiations on the Global Digital Compact that we are soon going to adopt. The Compact outlines our collective commitment to a digital future that is inclusive, that is open, that is sustainable, fair, safe and secure. And it seeks to close those digital divides and accelerate progress across the Sustainable Development Goals. Sweden is my home country, and Sweden is also home to some of the most innovative companies in the world that are enabling and driving the global digital transition forward. To truly harness this power of digital technology for a better and more sustainable future, we need an approach that involves all stakeholders. It is only by bringing together the excellent researchers, innovative companies, efficient authorities and multilateral organisations that we can create a well-functioning innovation system that works for everyone. Artificial intelligence, AI, plays a central role in this context. It has the potential to revolutionise how we work, learn and connect with one another. Yet, we must also acknowledge the challenges and risks that come with it. Of course, like so many of the new emerging technologies, AI can be used for both good and for harm. This is why it is crucial that we work together to establish common norms and governance structures that guide the use of AI in such a way that it truly, truly benefits humanity. And at the same time, limit its proliferation into areas of use that may threaten our common security, development, and future. We need a global conversation to build a shared understanding of both the opportunities and the challenges of AI. And in this regards, I really like to emphasize the Compact’s initiative to launch a global dialogue on AI governance, which engages governments and stakeholders in developing standards that prioritizes human rights, that prioritizes safety and sustainability. Increased investment will be crucial to scale up AI capacity, building for sustainable development. Taking into account the recommendations of the High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, the GDC encourages the establishment of a global fund on AI that is complementary to relevant UN funding mechanisms. Additionally, an international scientific panel on AI could offer valuable guidance on the global community on AI development. Sweden has long championed an open, free, and secure internet. And we believe that digital technology should be used to strengthen human rights. We have a responsibility to turn our vision of a digital future future into concrete actions that make a real difference. This means we must collaborate across borders and sectors, and we must all take responsibility to ensure that the digital transformation benefits everyone. Sweden is committed to continuing its leadership in this global process, and we look forward to working with all of you to unlock the potential of digitalization and to ensure that we build a future where digital technology truly serves all of humanity. And with that, I’d like to end with somewhat of a more personal reflection and personal note as a citizen of the world, as a mother of two. My two children back home in Sweden, they’re named Elise and Birger, they’re seven and nine years old. I was this much pregnant when I got elected party leader for my party for 10 years ago. And I’m happy and I’m proud to be able to say to them, because they are now, I mean, they are the generation that are growing up not knowing what life was like before internet, you know? Can you imagine? And I’m proud to be able to say to them that we are now truly taking their rights in the digitalized era seriously, because I’ve said so many times that a childhood in freedom requires safety online. And thank you. And it really is so. We’ve said it so many times, but you can’t say it enough times. Children’s rights are human rights. Women’s rights are human rights. And we are now bringing human rights and the sustainable developmental goals online, finally. Thank you.

Redi Thlabi: Deputy Prime Minister, thank you for your energy and inspiring case studies that you shared. Without much ado, let us hear another keynote this afternoon from the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai.

Sundar Pichai: Mr. Secretary General, President of the General Assembly, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it’s a privilege to join you today. I am energized by the Summit’s focus on the future. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to unlock human potential for everyone, everywhere. I believe that technology is a foundational enabler of progress. Just as the Internet and mobile devices expanded opportunities for people around the world, now AI is poised to accelerate progress at unprecedented scale. I’m here today to make the case for three things. Why I believe AI is so transformative. How it can be applied to benefit humanity and make progress on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. And where we can drive deeper partnerships to ensure that the technology benefits everyone. But first, let me share why this is so important to me personally and to Google as a company. Growing up in Chennai, India with my family, the arrival of each new technology improved our lives in meaningful ways. Our first rotary phone saved us hours of travel to the hospital to get test results. Our first refrigerator gave us more time to spend as a family rather than rushing to cook ingredients before they spoil. The technology that changed my life the most was the computer. I didn’t have much access to one growing up. When I came to graduate school in the U.S., there were labs full of machines I could use anytime I wanted. It was mind-blowing. Access to computing inspired me to pursue a career where I could bring technology to more people. And that path led me to Google 20 years ago. I was excited by its mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. That mission has had incredible impact. Google Search democratized information access, opened up opportunities in education and entrepreneurship. Platforms like Chrome and Android helped bring 1 billion people online. Today, 15 of our products serve more than half a billion people and businesses each, and 6 of them each serve more than 2 billion. There is no cost to use them, and most of our users are in the developing world. Today we are working on the most transformative technology yet, AI. We’ve been investing in AI research, tools, and infrastructure for two decades because it’s the most profound way we can deliver on our mission and improve people’s lives. I want to talk today about four of the biggest opportunities we see, many of which align with the SDGs. One is helping people access the world’s knowledge in their own language. Using AI, in just the last year we have added 110 new languages to Google Translate, spoken by half a billion people around the world. That brings our total to 246 languages, and we are working towards 1,000 of the world’s most spoken languages. A second area is accelerating scientific discovery to benefit humanity. Our AlphaFold breakthrough is solving big challenges in predicting some of the building blocks of life, including proteins. and DNA. We have opened up AlphaFold to the scientific community free of charge and it has been accessed by more than 2 million researchers from over 190 countries. 30% are in the developing world. For example, over 25,000 researchers just in Brazil. Globally, AlphaFold is being used in research that could help make crops more resistant to disease, discover new drugs in areas like malaria vaccines and cancer treatments and much more. A third opportunity is helping people in the path of climate-related disaster, building on the UN’s initiative, Early Warnings for All. Our Flood Hub system provides early warnings up to seven days in advance, helping protect over 460 million people in over 80 countries. And for millions in the path of wildfires, our boundary tracking systems are already in 22 countries on Google Maps. We also just announced FireSat technology, which will use satellites to detect and track early-stage wildfires, with imagery updated every 20 minutes globally so firefighters can respond. AI gives a boost in accuracy, speed and scale. Fourth, we see the opportunity for AI to meaningfully contribute to economic progress. It’s already enabling entrepreneurs and small businesses, empowering governments to provide public services, and boosting productivity across sectors. Some studies show that AI could boost global labor productivity by 1.4 percentage points and increase global GDP by 7% within the next decade. For example, AI is helping improve operations and logistics in emerging markets, where connectivity, infrastructure and traffic congestion are big challenges. Freight startup Gary Logistics in Ethiopia is using AI to help move goods to market faster and bring more work opportunities to freelance drivers. These are just very early examples, and there are so many others across education, health, and sustainability. As technology improves, so will the benefits. As with any emerging technology, AI will have limitations, be it issues with accuracy, factuality, and bias, as well as the risks of misapplication and misuse, like the creation of deep fakes. It also presents new complexities. For example, the impact on the future of work. For all these reasons, we believe that AI must be developed, deployed, and used responsibly from the start. We are guided by our AI principles, which we published back in 2018. And we work with others across the industry, academia, the UN, and governments in efforts like the Frontier Model Forum, the OECD, and the G7 Hiroshima process. But I want to talk about another risk that I worry about. I think about where I grew up and how fortunate I was to have access to technology, even if it came slowly. Not everyone had that experience. And while good progress has been made by UN institutions like the ITU, gaps persist today in the form of a well-known digital divide. With AI, we have the chance to be inclusive from the start and to ensure that the digital divide doesn’t become an AI divide. This is a challenge that needs to be met by the private sector and public sector working together. We can focus on three key areas. First is digital infrastructure. Google has made big investments globally in subsea and terrestrial fiber optic cables. One connects Africa with Europe. And two others will be the first intercontinental fiber optic routes. that connect Asia-Pacific and South America, and Australia and Africa. These fiber optic routes stitch together our network of 40 cloud regions around the world that provide digital services to governments, entrepreneurs, SMBs, and companies across all sectors. In addition to compute access, we also open up our technology to others. We did this with Android, and now our Gemma AI models are open to developers and researchers, and we’ll continue to invest here. A second area is about investing in people. That starts with making sure people have the skills they need to seize new opportunities. Our Grow with Google program has already trained 100 million people around the world in digital skills. And today, I’m proud to announce our Global AI Opportunity Fund. This will invest $120 million to make AI education and training available in communities around the world. We are providing this in local languages, in partnerships with nonprofits and NGOs. We are also helping to support entrepreneurs for the AI revolution. In Brazil, we worked with thousands of women entrepreneurs to use Google AI to grow their businesses. In Asia, where fewer than 6% of startups are founded by women, we are providing many with mentorship, capital, and training. The third area is one where we especially need the help of member countries and leaders in this room, creating an enabling policy environment, one that addresses both the risks and worries around new technologies, and also encourages the kind of applications that improve lives at scale. This requires a few things. Government policymaking that supports investments in infrastructure, people. and innovation that benefits humanity. Country development strategies and frameworks like the Global Digital Compact that prioritize the adoption of AI solutions. And smart product regulation that mitigates harms and resists national protectionist impulses that could widen an AI divide and limit AI’s benefits. We are excited to be your partner and to work with you to make sure bold innovations are deployed responsibly so that AI is truly helpful for everyone. The opportunities are too great, the challenge is too urgent, and this technology too transformational to do anything less. Thank you.

Redi Thlabi: Thank you very much to the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, for that very holistic picture of the potential, the risks, and the opportunities. Thank you. Now let’s get to the conversation. Let’s put some meat to it, as we say in my language at home. Let’s just give some meaning to the Global Digital Compact. How do we position ourselves to move from aspiration to action and to take us through that very important conversation? Here is a sister, a moderator, and an international broadcaster, my homegirl, Tumi Makgabo.

Tumi Makgabo: Thank you. All right, we got there in the end. Good afternoon, everybody. Reedy, thank you so very much for that introduction. I feel like we flew a long way to get together in New York, but it’s always a pleasure to be in. in this incredible, exciting, stimulating city. But more importantly, I think it’s really incredible to have the opportunity to be in a room where people are thinking about what tomorrow’s going to look like. How do we create a tomorrow that works for everybody who’s involved in tomorrow? Well, you’ve heard a little bit about the GDC, and in this following conversation, we’re going to try to unpack how do we take the idea, how do we take the thought, how do we take the intent of what the GDC is trying to create and make it real, give it life, breathe it into existence. It isn’t easy, it certainly will be a challenge, but I think it’s a challenge not only that we’re up for, but it’s a challenge that is important to ensure that the society and the world looks exactly the way we hope and intend. Now, ordinarily, I could safely stand up here all by myself, but I don’t think that’s going to be the most exciting thing for you to watch. So please assist me in giving a very, very, very warm welcome to the following. Felix Mutati, who is the Minister of Technology and Science in Zambia. Margrethe Vestager, who is Executive Vice President of the European Union. Rebeca Grynspan, who is the Secretary General of UNCTAD. Omar Al Olama, the Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications in the UAE. Josephine Teo, who is the Minister for Digital Development and Information in Singapore. And last, but most certainly not least, Nnenna Nwakanama, Civil Society Representative. To all of you, thank you so very much for joining us today. And it really is genuinely and truly an honor to have each of you joining me today. And I’m looking forward to having this conversation. I’m going to take a seat next to you. But not too close. I get a little bit nervous because I don’t know what they might do to me if I ask them a question they don’t like. The reason we really gathered here, and let’s talk for a moment about the digital compact. It’s about principles, it’s about commitments, it’s about inclusivity, not just in terms of who negotiated it, but in terms of who it’s supposed to apply to. The intention is to, and I’m going to read this so I don’t get it wrong, to support the achievement of an inclusive, open, sustainable, fair, safe, and secure digital future for all. Ambitious. In addition, there’s something that’s really important that the GDC does, and that is it recognizes the pervasive and existing digital divides, and we know, we can see what the impact of those divides are and have been in the past. And really, it responds to the need for more inclusive digital governance. So we all have an understanding of what it should do, what it shouldn’t do, and how do we deal. So the ambition is there. It’s in paper, in various iterations. How do we make that happen? Perhaps Mr. Minister, if I can begin with you. Developing countries in particular, Reedy mentioned it earlier, and I think the lived reality of most people who exist in the developing world will be able to tell you about some of the challenges that we face whenever we experience digital divides. I mean, the CEO of Google just gave us a perfect example in his remarks. How do you think the GDC will help in particular developing countries, but perhaps you can use your country as an example, to bridge that divide? It’s on. Let’s try again.

Felix Mutati: Thank you. Many thanks for having me. I’ll just tell you a short story in terms of bridging the digital divide, in terms of inclusivity, from a Zambian perspective. A young man called James in the rural part of Zambia, a farmer, farming using traditional methods because he was not included or connected, had a chance to secure a mobile phone, had a chance to get connected to internet. Using those tools, he transformed his farming methods because he had access to weather forecast, he had access to market prices, he had access to information. And our interpretation is that the Global Digital Compact is about a shared vision. Transforming life for that little boy in the rural part of Zambia. That is our simple understanding and that is why we’re here, changing lives.

Tumi Makgabo: Now there’s a particular balance that is always required because we see that sometimes when we change and transform lives, sometimes it can happen really rapidly, sometimes it takes a little bit longer. If I can come to the UAE as an example, what is the thinking about bridging and bringing together that process of rapid adoption of AI, along with making sure that it is a safe environment for all who are going to be involved in digital technology and how it changes their lives?

Omar Al Olama: Thank you very much. I’m very happy to be here and to be very honest, I think the UAE is a good example of what happens when you create a trajectory for digital development that is on steroids, as they say. we’ve experienced it. So we went from not having paved roads, not having university graduates, being a country that was maybe part of the underdeveloped world 50 years ago to being today one of the most advanced countries in the world. That advancement created a lot of opportunities, it made the UAE be able to explore frontiers like artificial intelligence, and I think it also shows that there is no excuse for us not to be able to do that for more countries. We need to move from, and I don’t mean to plagiarize President Obama here, but from yes we can to yes we will. We need to really definitely try to actually implement that vision that we have on digital development and take forward the recommendations that the panel is making towards the global south.

Tumi Makgabo: We need to also have the conversation about inclusivity. The reason we can have a conversation around developed versus developing countries is because growth has not been equitable. There are some parts of the world that have grown and done well economically, et cetera, and those that have clearly been left behind. If we can then talk for a moment, Secretary General, about how do we make sure that this compact is not just a document that is full of ambition, but it actually means that we see a manifestation of that inclusivity of growth when it comes to the digital era.

Rebeca Grynspan: Thank you. Thank you very much, and thank you for that question. First of all, let me say that we all know that we are lagging in the SDGs, yes? That only 70% of the SDGs are enrolled to be accomplished by 2030. So we have to start by thinking that we cannot have linear solutions because we need non-linear ones, pathways, to really get to the 2030 objectives. And I think that the digital revolution in AI can provide those. non-linear path towards DSDG. So it’s a great opportunity because obviously, you know, the digital technologies are transforming life in an exponential way. So that can be really a very important tool. But my second point, going to you, is that when you are in a society where things are changing so rapidly, we have to remember always that not everything changes at the same speed. So it creates tensions. It creates asymmetries. It creates imbalances that we need to deal with. So it’s not enough access. You need really a deliberate digital development strategy because you have to connect. You have to bring the stakeholders. But you have to do a lot of things. You have to create an ecosystem that is, you know, really will bring everybody to the speed, to the level that is necessary. But you start from a very uneven play field, yes? Not everybody is today in the same line to start this career. So you have to make an extra effort. And part of this extra effort is, first of all, for people, it’s not only access, but it’s affordability and quality of their access to the digital technologies. But it’s also not to relegate the developing countries to be users. We want to be producers. We want to bring the digital revolution, not only for our consumption, but we want to really use it for our diversification, for going up the ladder. in terms of the value chains in the world, to add more value, to create better employment, and to bring digital into the productive structure will really require an extra effort from the international community and also from governments to make it, as I said, a deliberate development strategy.

Tumi Makgabo: One thing that also is going to require deliberate efforts is the question of human rights. Margrethe, if I can come to you on that. How do you make sure that there is a respect and a consideration for human rights while at the same time one wants to promote fair competition and keep in mind that we’re coming from such different points of departure, there’s a lot of balancing. How is the EU thinking about that?

Margrethe Vestager: First and foremost, I think the Global Digital Compact is an amazing achievement. It is as if we have a new chance. We have it. There are so many things where we have not succeeded, and I think the Digital Compact shows that we can agree that we’re really going to engage in correcting the mistakes and show much increased effort because if we live up to what is in the Compact, well, then a lot of the things that are haunting us will be a thing of the past, and for us, we want to partner with as many countries as possible, and the fact that human rights are completely core of the Global Digital Compact makes our conversation shorter, focused because we know that we agree on the fundamentals when we digitalize. So, partnerships will be so much easier, and these are really important for us. And I think it also illustrates that there is a commitment to create trust in technology. Because that doesn’t come automatic. Technology can be terribly misused, both for crime and fraud, but also for surveillance and undermining democracy. And here we can focus on the use of technology. I think the example, the story was excellent. It’s such a good illustration of the agency that people get. Because I think that is the underlining ambition here. That all the things that we were not successful with, with trust, with focusing on the use cases and giving people agency, enabling them, then this digital compact will be, you know, a road to a future that is very different from all the bad scenarios that we actually do have ahead of us.

Tumi Makgabo: There is no question, I think, for anybody that this presents a particular opportunity. One through the GDC, but generally through technology and how we can better harness that to achieve all of these things that we wanted to do. The world of work, however, we all recognize is going to look quite different in five years’ time, let alone a decade or two down the road. In Singapore’s case, how are you ensuring that there is better preparedness for a more digitized work in the context of work? And how can we learn from what Singapore has done so that we’re not always having to go back to the beginning in order to ensure we’re better prepared for a world of work that looks so different?

Josephine Teo: Well, thank you very much for this opportunity to participate in this great conversation. My comments will build on what Margaret and the Secretary-General have said. And that is to recognize the fact that unevenness exists even for the workforce. And what it means… is that there will be some parts of the workforce that are closer to the technology frontier because their employers are already using technologies in innovative ways in their companies. And so that creates an environment for them to pick up the right skills to become even more proficient in the jobs and the requirements of the future. But there will be many other members of the workforce who, for example, may be employed by small and medium enterprises who tend to lag in terms of the technology adoption. Then there are also people who are marginalised. Sometimes it is because they have special needs. It could be because they have a disability. We have to be very creative in thinking about how all of the past barriers that put impediments in the path of these individuals to succeed. The way in which we are doing this is to enable every single one of the workers to acquire the skills to be relevant for the future. Part of it involves working with employers because they create the momentum and they create the strongest incentives. But we also need active labour market policies in the form of support for individual learning, putting resources in the hands of individual workers so that they don’t only depend on their employers to provide the training opportunities. Then in order to support this ecosystem, you need also to build up the training infrastructure so that there is a good ecosystem of training providers who not only can deliver training competently, but whose content meet the needs of the market. All of these have to come together and the more we can share with each other how these can be achieved in each of our contexts, I think the better we are going to be. So we are very grateful to the UN for putting together the GDC to create the opportunities for us to do exactly that.

Tumi Makgabo: Thank you very much, Minister Teo. Minister Al-Olama, I believe that we have to bid you farewell, so thank you very much for joining us. Do you want to, is there one more comment and thought that you want to leave us with before you go?

Omar Al Olama: I think the Global Digital Compact is a great starting point for the action to follow. The UAE, we believe that there’s a lot that needs to be done but we all need to work together on it. This technology is very pervasive, it crosses borders, and there needs to be cooperation. So we’re definitely part of this roadmap that the UN is putting forward and we’re definitely going to be a big supporter for it.

Tumi Makgabo: That’s terrific to hear. Thank you for joining us and we look forward to seeing you do that. If you can please just give him a thank you. Thank you. And no, I wasn’t waiting for him to leave, I just have to get closer to the panellists, so don’t think I’m being, I promise I’m not being weird. Nnenna, if I can come to you, from a civil society perspective. You know, the reality is that there sometimes can be a disconnect between what happens on the ground and what happens higher up between policy makers and those of us who have really good intentions. It doesn’t always manifest in the way that we hope. What does the implementation question and what does the monitoring question of the GDC look like in a civil society context from your point of view?

Nnenna Nwakanama: Sankofa, I’ll come back to that word. Fabrizio Hochschild is from Chile. Ninten Desai is from India. Lynn Sentamu is Canadian. Marcus Comer. is from Switzerland, Yanis Karklins from Lithuania, Dee Williams in St. Lucia, Adama Samaseko in Mali, and the journalist Brenda Zulu from Zambia. I’ve met these people over my 25 years of engagement in digital cooperation within the UN. These are people from all walks of life. And my first statement here today is sankofa, looking back from where we’re coming from so we know where we’re going to. The GDC is nothing revolutionary. The success is in the process, and that process is multi-stakeholder. I do believe that as we keep shaking hands between multilateralism and multi-stakeholderism, we can do much. Not just here in New York. I don’t need a visa to be able to implement GDC. I want to be at home and have the same principle of multi-stakeholderism play out in everything at national level.

Tumi Makgabo: I think we understand why you’ve been in this process for so long. We kind of get it. Thank you for that. Minister Mutati, if I can then come back to you. We can look at the broader picture, and I think the GDC is no doubt inspiring. Those who believe it or not, I did actually read it, and I think it is really inspiring, and I think it really is ambitious, and I think it genuinely is asking us to address some of the most fundamental and pressing issues that help us address the human rights challenges we face on the planet. planet. How, though, do we begin to implement that? From a Zambia perspective, what is the translation of that, from paper to reality, actually look like and involve?

Felix Mutati: Thank you very much. One of the pillars of the Global Digital Compact is strategic partnerships. And strategic partnership from a Zambia perspective, I’ll give you two examples. This year, Zambia has got challenges around climate change. Our economy, in terms of GDP, is going down. And we have difficulties and other problems. But earlier on, we had a strategic partnership to look at how we can collaborate among ourselves as Africans. And one of the countries in Africa, we went and lifted a tax innovation, collection innovation, which we started using this year. Now, the consequences of that partnership has been that, whereas the economy is going down, the tax revenue is going up. And for us, we think that is what is called strategic partnership, which is part of the Global Compact. It gives actual results. And this is actually happening. Second example, because of limited resource, to try to extend connectivity of our people, government on one side. Working with the private sector and other partners, providing the necessary incentives, they were able to plant significant infrastructure, digital infrastructure, which has enabled Internet to move from in the 50s to almost 70 percent. That is what we call strategic partnership. So Zambia, in a sense, was already implementing the global digital compact and the key pillar of partnership, and the results are there for us to see. Thank you.

Tumi Makgabo: That’s a really interesting example that you use, because it sounds to me like a lot of this has to do with ensuring that the solutions are specific to what your needs are, no doubt. But when we look more broadly, the challenge for a lot of developing countries is that they have to prioritize where they allocate those resources. So it’s easier for us to sit and say, well, you know, we have to think about ESG, or we have to think about greening, or we have to think about this safety and that health. But the resources that are required to do all of those things are quite limited. What do you think needs to happen to allow developing countries to better strike that balance, and how potentially can the GDC be supportive of that process? We know that within the document itself, it’s quite specific about a need for that to happen. But again, the reality versus what’s on paper.

Rebeca Grynspan: Yeah, it’s such a good question, because, you know, precisely today we were talking about the necessary changes in international financial architecture, really to support development. We were talking about restructuring the debt, because debt doesn’t allow many of these countries, to really have the strategies and the investments that need to be done. I gave today the number that 3.3 billion people live in countries that are paying more in service and debt than on health or education. So if you have that problem, how are you going really to have the investments that you need for making this happen? And the other part of this, I’m sorry to say, obviously, is the responsibility to think about the long-term. I always say we usually forget that the short and the long-term start at the same time. There is no long-term that is a succession of short-termism, yes? You don’t get there by short-term thinking. You need long-term thinking. But many of the systems don’t allow, don’t have the structures, don’t have the institutions like, for example, Singapore has, to really have this long-term view for a policy to stay and to persevere for the objectives. So let me just end saying, you need national responsibility, and the minister has talked about that. You need a government that really thinks about this, that does the right thing, that invests in education, that invests in the people that Nina was talking about, that brings society in an inclusive way with a voice to really harness development, but you need the international community. And that’s why the global digital compact is so important, as we have said. Because you need a framework. And the other thing, and I’m sorry to say this because we are talking about optimism, but this is a very concentrated market, yes? need to spread the opportunities because really concentration is very high. So you need international standards and international norms to really make these technologies to stay within the good and not to go to the bad, like Margrethe was saying.

Tumi Makgabo: So it’s interesting that you’re promoting the global view, which is crucial. We’ve heard from the minister the national view, but there’s that space in between, which is the regional question. Now we’ve seen what the EU has been doing. We understand the EU’s ambition generally to be a leader in many spaces, and this is not unique in that question. What can the world, or what should we be learning about broader cooperation and implementation of such policies when we look at what the EU is trying to do within its space of influence from a policy perspective? Because one size doesn’t fit all, so there needs to be some maneuverability in that regard, but there also needs to be an overview that allows everybody to understand what the rules of engagement are.

Margrethe Vestager: I think that is very well put. And the thing is that there is an asymmetry here, because the individual human being can take the most of the possibilities, but the individual cannot do away with the harm that technology can bring. That is not possible. So there is a societal, regional, global answer here to address things that are systemic in a systemic matter. And this is what we are trying to do. So we have passed legislation, the Digital Markets Act, to keep the market open so that people have choice, and so that the businesses who provide choice, that they are interested for investors. Because, if you depend on a gatekeeper to get to the market, why invest in you? We have the Digital Services Act making sure that digital services are safe to use. That they would not cause you mental health problems or undermine democracy or the integrity of our elections. And that what is legitimately decided in our democracy is also treated as such when online. We have privacy legislation and our AI Act is coming into force. All of that to create a systemic response to the things that people cannot influence themselves individually. And when you have a systemic response, and we enforce in full, because otherwise it’s worth nothing. Enforcement is everything. When we do that, then each and every one of us, alone and together, can grasp the opportunities. And that’s the important thing here, because otherwise nothing will happen. So I think one should be really careful to try to decentralize, to say, you go, you go figure out. No, no. We need that systemic response. We think that legislation is needed, because we see the harm that can be done. And I think that global digital compact is essential, especially when it comes to AI. Because AI is not just any new digital algorithm. It is so much more powerful when it comes to human agency. And that is why the use cases, the trust that we as societies will be responsible, is absolutely key for all these wonderful things that we’re talking about.

Tumi Makgabo: That brings me nicely. Okay, you want to… They keep wanting to clap for you and I keep interrupting them. So I think every now and again, I must remember to give you a chance to clap properly. That brings me nicely to the question of public-private partnerships. So, when we are looking at this process, everybody has to play their part. We need to make sure that the rules of engagement not only exist, but that they are followed and that they are implemented, and that there is consequence for transgression, right? Because it doesn’t help, and we know about, broadly speaking, the challenges of international law when it comes to the implementation and enforcement of consequence. What role, however, do you see, maybe you can give us an example in Singapore, where this public-private partnership can better foster the implementation and the oversight of what this GDC process may look like?

Josephine Teo: Well, since Margaret was talking about AI, that could be where the example arises. I think being a general-purpose technology, we all want to benefit from its transformative potential. And yet, at the level of public services, very often the expertise does not yet exist. And that’s where I think the private sector can be brought into the picture and encouraged to enable policymakers, as well as individuals, teams, organisations that make the rules to understand how this technology is implemented. And that’s exactly how we have done it in Singapore. We encouraged and we invited the private sector to contribute to the development of use cases, as well as our understanding of the guardrails that need to be put in place. But I would go one step further. I would say that the private sector can do a lot more in terms of helping to build capacity. And the capacity is so important because, particularly from the point of view of small states, on the one hand we see the opportunities, on the other hand we are told of the risks. The question is, will we… we’d be left behind as small states. Now, in this process of figuring out what to do, I think we were really appreciative that at the UN level, there was an advisory board at the high level that was constituted in a very inclusive way. And this has given us the motivation to contribute to this process by asking our own chief AI officer to be involved, and then subsequently inviting the whole high-level advisory board to meet in Singapore so that they can also engage with the forum of small states that was meeting there. Now, the result of a process like this is that we now have the ability to say, adopting the principles articulated in the GDC, how to help ourselves as nations, but equally importantly, how we can help each other. And in that regard, I’m very pleased to note that this process created an opportunity for another country that we admire greatly, which is Rwanda, to say, how about the both of us come together to create an AI playbook for small states? So that is something that we have done. And I hope that this will help all of us.

Tumi Makgabo: I just love my panel because everything they say, everybody wants to clap for them.

Margrethe Vestager: Can I add something? Because I would encourage everybody to look at the AI apprentice model that is implemented in Singapore, because that allows businesses to get to use AI while people in all walks of life can learn about how to do that. And you get experts who are embedded in the local community. So this idea of AI apprenticeships, I think the Singaporean model is really, really inspiring.

Tumi Makgabo: Thank you very much.

Josephine Teo: We’re happy to share more.

Tumi Makgabo: They’re happy to share. So everybody come, let’s share. Okay, Nnenna, if I can come to you because believe it or not, we’ve got like four minutes left. What measures do you think specifically we need to be mindful of? And I’m going to limit you in the sense that I’m going to ask you for two of the most important measures we need to make sure are in place to protect human rights as we embark on this journey.

Nnenna Nwakanama: Two measures, capacity to implement. It is okay to come to New York. It is okay to read European papers and all of that, but America and Europe do not make the world. I’m African. I’m Nigerian. I live in Cote d’Ivoire. I’m part of this world and I want that to be down here. So capacity to implement across the whole world, whether it be government, because I have spoken about multi-stakeholder, but multi-stakeholder capacity is needed, financial, human and technological. That is one. We need to balance that. The other one is connecting people. I see people talking about AI. I see, I’ve lived in the days of great technology, emerging technology, and all of the big grammar technology, but please, can we get people connected to me? And please, can we not disconnect the people who are already connected? Because some of you are here and then you go home and you disrupt internet connectivity. We have to talk about shutdown. In the GDC itself, that part has, they’ve been knowing at it. I don’t know what it’s going to be like tomorrow morning. Anyway, let me now, excellences, ladies and gentlemen, friends here and friends who are watching me online, boys and girls, cats and dogs, emojis and avatars, I myself, on behalf of my own self, I would like to endorse the GDC.

Tumi Makgabo: because I want my time back from all this clapping. Like really, I’ve lost like loads of time from the applause. Okay, we’ve literally got two and a half minutes, so I’m gonna do a rapid fire round. I’m going to ask you for two specific things that when we leave this stage and we leave this room, as individuals, we need to consider implementing. We’re not talking broad policy strokes here, we’re talking about things that you think we can do when we leave. Nnenna, you’ve given us a clue, but can you give us two different ones, and I’m gonna start with you and work my way across. We’ve got two minutes.

Nnenna Nwakanama: Connect the schools. Connect the young people. Connect my children. Thank you.

Tumi Makgabo: Okay, okay, okay, thank you. Thank you. Minister Teo.

Josephine Teo: We want to move beyond learning about digital to thriving with digital. And to do that, we can move alone, and we can go very fast that way, or we can go together, and I believe that will go even further.

Tumi Makgabo: Thank you. Even further. Secretary General, you.

Rebeca Grynspan: Embrace not only the global digital compact, talk to your governments for implementing, for supporting, but embrace the path for the future, because there are many things that we have to do for this to be possible. And in the path of the future, we have a lot that can help people to get connected.

Tumi Makgabo: Vice-President Vestager.

Margrethe Vestager: Obviously, first things first, connectivity is everything. If you’re not connected, well, what then? But as we connect, please make sure that we do not sacrifice our children. Their independence, their agency, that they do not get dependent, that they do not get sucked in, in social media that will not serve them well. We have a huge challenge in making. sure that our children, they’re not only safe, but developed, and that they can use digital for their own good and for the good of their community.

Tumi Makgabo: Minister?

Felix Mutati: Thank you. One of the biggest challenges, the skills and literacy, particularly in the rural part of our country, things we take for granted. Let us handhold our people. And let us show them how to press the numbers on the mobile phone. Thank you.

Tumi Makgabo: I don’t know if you can tell, but I thoroughly enjoyed that conversation. And it is because we had such a wonderful panel of speakers with us this afternoon. Can you please give them the appropriate round of applause? I can’t hear it. Thank you so very much. Thank you. And thank you. Thank you very much.

Redi Thlabi: OK, I see your panel doesn’t want to leave the stage to me. OK. Thank you. Thank you so very much to Dumi Mahabo for expertly leading that important conversation. We’re going to watch a very short video speaking to the themes of today about the futures that are possible for us and the kind of decisions we need to make. Let’s just watch this short video, and then I’ll introduce you to the next panel.

Official Video: One humanity, two futures. In one, we embrace AI’s potential for a world of inclusion and equity. In another, AI tools became the catalyst for division and exclusion. The choice between these paths did not lie in circuits, but in human hands. In October 2023, amid heated debates on artificial intelligence and its potential, there was excitement about the future, but also anxiety over its risks and uncertainties. The UN Secretary-General gathered 39 top AI experts to confront this challenge. The uniquely diverse group consulted intensively around the world and engaged with thousands of experts. This uniquely diverse group aligned on guiding principles to propose concrete actions for governing AI for humanity by building common scientific understanding on AI, its opportunities and its risks, by fostering common ground for effective AI policies and standards anchored in human rights, by sharing common benefits through building capacity, mobilizing resources and tackling data dilemmas, to close AI divides, and to support this global action, an AI office at the United Nations, for an equitable and inclusive future with AI. Let’s build this future together.

Redi Thlabi: Thank you very much. And I think the theme of that video links so well with the comments that came from the first panel. We all acknowledge we come from different worlds, but we are one humanity. So how do we create these digital tools, AI for humanity, make it serve humanity, make it accessible for all of humanity? I’m really looking forward. to this next panel discussion, which speaks exactly to that, AI for Humanity. And to moderate this panel discussion is Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group. Ian?

Ian Bremmer: Thank you so much, and also thanks to me, who just crushed it for the last 45 minutes, absolutely, right? So now you’re stuck with me, and obviously I’m honored to be here at the Summit of the Future. We’re going to talk about artificial intelligence. I’m honored to be one of the 39 members of the high-level advisory panel on AI, and you’re going to meet a number of my peers on the panel today. It was back in 2017 that the Secretary General, António Guterres, I remember first told me that he thought that his two most important legacies in global governance would be on combating climate change and responding to the positive implications of disruptive technologies. You have seen the UN engage and lead the work on climate over the past many years, but today is a day we get to talk about and even celebrate a little some efforts in global governance on artificial intelligence. This past Thursday, I think you’ve seen it, we have released our final report, Governing AI for Humanity. It’s right here. It’s the first truly global approach to governance of artificial intelligence, and we’re going to talk today about some of the recommendations, why governance including nations from the global south is so important, and some practical reasons why this roadmap is needed. to ensure progress and greater equity, given the challenges that we face in our digital and physical future. So, with that, let me please introduce our distinguished panelists. Experts and leaders from many sectors required for a multi-stakeholder approach, five of us together on the UN High-Level Advisory Body, and two interlopers who are here anyway. As I mentioned, first of all, our co-chairs. We have Carme Artigas, who is co-chair of the body, along with James Manyka, senior vice president at Google Alphabet. We’ve got Vilas Dhar, also an HLAB member. He’s president of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. Dr. Wang Jian is chief technology officer at Alibaba. Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. And Alondra Nelson, also an HLAB member, is a professor at the Institute of Advanced Study. I welcome all of you. Please. So, let’s get right to it. Carme, the first question I want to ask, and I’m going to start with our two co-chairs, shockingly, bracketing this whole thing, is why the United Nations, right? There have been a lot of efforts at governance of AI. There’s been a lot of money going into AI. The UN doesn’t have a lot of money, doesn’t have a lot of power, right? But here we are. So, why? I mean, obviously, part of it is because it makes us sit uncomfortably close, and that facilitates cooperation. But leaving that aside, why was it critical for the United Nations to take this on?

Carme Artigas: Yes, so this was the first question we had to answer ourselves in the body. You were independent people, and we came to the conclusion that the UN is uniquely positioned to this effort, because it’s the only global organization that has the mandate, the reach, and the legitimacy to seat all nations and all stakeholders in the table. And it has the historical, I would say, success that has done it in the past, I mean, governing international topics such as climate change or on earth control. And because AI is such a pervasive and horizontal technology, and it’s absolutely cross borders, there is no single nation or region that can solve by itself the potential harm biases, discrimination, and lack of inclusiveness. And of course there are other frameworks that are very, very valuable, but they are limited. They usually leave behind many nations, especially on the global south. So we do not pretend that UN is the right place to regulate AI at a global level. We think it’s the right place to encourage collaboration, to foster inclusive business, and ensure that AI is developed, keeping the human rights in mind.

Ian Bremmer: Now, you’re a European, and the Europeans are known for having governance, even multi-stakeholder governance as a superpower. I mean, Lord knows it’s not building AI companies, right? So given that, how do you, former minister in this field, you know, how did you engage with what can the UN do, and what should the EU really be doing?

Carme Artigas: I would say that people sometimes mix ethics, regulation, and governance. There are three different things. Ethics is how do we should, how should we all behave well, companies, governments. Governance is how do we put in mechanisms, instruments, that ensure that everybody’s behaving ethically. And regulation is one of these mechanisms, and we have done it in Europe, the first international regulation, and nobody can argue against me that regulation is not against innovation. That’s another topic, but I am open to discuss it to anyone. I think regulation builds trust, because it orders a market and gives trust. confidence to the market, the consumers, and the citizens. But there are not only a way to govern through regulation. We can govern through transparency, through oversight, through involving everybody. So governance is beyond regulation itself. It’s one mechanism. We should find also the market incentives so that companies and governments behave ethically.

Ian Bremmer: Just a quick one, because I’m responding to that. Did you say, I mean, when the group first came together, you know, 39 members from all these different countries, different walks of life, that actually coming to agreement on common principles seemed to be one of the easiest things for our group to do? That was quick. Am I right about that?

Carme Artigas: Yeah, of course.

Ian Bremmer: Anyone else want to take that on? James?

James Manyika: No, you’re fundamentally right. I mean, one of the things that was extraordinary when we began our work was how quickly we got to agree on things like, this must be based on fundamental human rights. We all agreed. This must be based on international law. We all agreed. This must benefit everybody. We all agreed. I think the hard work was, how do we all come together to think through how we actually do and achieve those things? But I think getting to the principles was relatively quite straightforward. I’m looking at Alondra here, who was a big, you know, force in getting us to many of the right places we got to, especially on issues around fundamental human rights based on the extraordinary work that she had been doing for many, many years.

Ian Bremmer: Alondra, do you want to jump in?

Alondra Nelson: Yeah, I would just say, you know, to your question of why, why is that the UN provides us with a quite incredible foundation? I mean, the UN Charter, our international accords around human rights are quite powerful kind of cornerstones for thinking about this. And so we had a place to go. And I think, you know, the challenge that we face with technology is particularly powerful and fast moving ones like AI is things are moving around and where do we anchor ourselves? And I think the why of the UN is in part that the world’s countries had agreed. have agreed upon already these fundamental kind of true North values. The challenge becomes what does that mean in a digital world? What does that mean in an AI world in which, you know, society is being kind of re-transformed and reconfigured? But I think those fundamental things are true and that’s been a really core of our work on the committee.

Ian Bremmer: And I want our audience to appreciate this. I mean, getting the Singaporeans to champion rule of law is not exactly shocking, but I mean, we’re talking about the Americans, the Russians, the Chinese, the Europeans, the global South. I mean, all participants here, this was not the hard challenge in this group. Vilas?

Vilas Dhar: I think that’s right. I mean, Ian, I want to start from a fundamental observation. We too often equate governance with control. And it’s part of a conversation that’s much bigger. I think we have followed a narrative that technology companies innovate and governments regulate and somehow in that the rest of us go along. But that’s not the point of governance, right? Governance is to set a shared vision for humanity, is to think about all of the resources we can bring to bear to make shared decisions that put agency with communities, that allow voices to participate and to come forward. When we think about the work of the body, I think this underpins the idea. What we got from the Secretary General was a mandate to think beyond, beyond the forms and functions of the moment, to think about a world where a digital future actually works for all of us. It starts from the fundamental pieces that James and Alondra spoke to. But it requires us to also envision new functions and new forms for a future that’s grounded in the idea of governance for, by, and of the people. And I think AI gives us such an amazing aperture to go back to really fundamental questions about what participatory mechanics should look like.

Ian Bremmer: I’m glad you brought that up because when, you know, so much of the conversation on AI out there is about risks, existential risks, disinformation, all of that. This group, not in any way unconcerned with those risks. but fundamentally thinking about how to use AI for humanity. I mean, climate change in a sense is a much more difficult conversation because there’s so much zero-sumness. There’s so much, you know, like reparations need to be paid because you’ve done this to us. This has been an overwhelmingly positive sum, non-zero-sum conversation. James?

James Manyika: Yeah, it has been, but it also has highlighted something else, including beyond the UN itself, is how important this is for it to be a multi-stakeholder endeavor. That was fundamentally important. Let me tell you why I think that was fundamentally important. If you think about what’s at the heart of this technology, this conversation, and what we hope for it, you point to three things, I think. One are the extraordinary opportunities, the possibility to address so much of our challenges with the SDGs, climate change, there’s so much that we could potentially do that’s transformational, number one. There are complexities and risks. There are so many of them. We have to think about all the kinds of issues that we know could happen and go wrong with this technology. And then third, the idea that this has to benefit and include everybody. If you think about each of those three things, there’s no other way to get that done other than through a multi-stakeholder effort. The opportunities, companies are pursuing those, researchers are pursuing those, NGOs are pursuing those, governments are pursuing those. The risks and complexities, same thing. Governments are thinking about those, agencies are thinking about those, researchers are, civil society is. Get to the inclusion and the opportunities. How do you go after opportunities, especially in countries and places and communities where those are not commercial opportunities? You have to include everybody. So as you think about each of the three things that are at the heart of this, it has to be a multi-stakeholder effort. And that’s why I’ll say one final thing. It’s why I was so thrilled that our body actually represented that multi-stakeholder effort. take hold of you. We had researchers, we had academics, we had activists, we had civil society, we had everybody involved. We debated a lot, argued a lot, and we worked pretty well together, I think.

Ian Bremmer: And I would say that it wasn’t obvious during the conversations who necessarily was wearing each of those hats, because the body was collective, pretty global. But I’m going to ask you, because you do wear one of those hats in real life, when we talk about governance, and Vilas just talked about the way we should think about governance, what are the responsibilities that the core private sector corporations, and even some of them state-owned enterprises are linked, should have when we think about governance of AI?

James Manyika: Well, we have several. First of all, keep in mind that much of the research, fundamental research that’s advanced in this field, is led in the private sector, a lot of the research labs are in the private sector. So that places an incredible responsibility, one which is to make sure we’re developing this technology responsibly, we’re thinking about all the beneficial uses of it, not just the commercial uses of it, we have to think about all of that, and we also have a responsibility to engage with governments and others, who are not only going to govern these technologies, but also think about, because keep in mind that this technology, three things happen to it, it’s developed, it’s deployed, and it’s used. That whole chain involves lots of other actors, so we have a responsibility as a private sector to work with each and every one of those, hear their concerns, and see and work together to think about how we deploy and use this technology responsibly. We have an enormous responsibility. Part of it, I’ll say one last thing, we have a responsibility to be transparent, and to help build trust. If this technology is going to have the impact that we think it’s going to have, the public has to trust it, the public has to feel that we and everybody else who’s developing, deploying, and using it, is held accountable. So we have a profound responsibility.

Ian Bremmer: And an interesting point there here is a technology that frankly a lot of people in the global south are more excited about and trust more than a lot of people in the advanced world also an opportunity. Right a fundamental opportunity thing about governments, but Alondra you wanted to come in and then I’m turning to Dr. Wang

Alondra Nelson: I just I think one of the things that we were grappling with is that it’s a fundamental different moment for different moment for multilateralism Right because of exactly what James said not only because you have if we think about something about multilateral action around nuclear Right, those are often owned by states or utilities. And so you have a whole different ecosystem these are technologies that are often coming out of the private sector almost exclusively or a lot of the R&D is coming out of the private sector and then as James suggested you have this sort of series of Stakeholders along the sort of lifecycle of them and that’s a whole so part of what we were grappling with was not just you know How do you govern a dynamic iterative technology? But how do you do it in a way that also is at the same time trying to reimagine what multilateralism looks like when you have when you have to have a Multistakeholder system in a way that you did not when we were trying to think about how do we do nuclear nonproliferation? it’s a completely different set of Actors with different kinds of different sets of power and different kinds of asymmetry than we’ve had to deal with before.

Ian Bremmer: I mean there are US China arms control agreements on AI that will be required But but that’s not what we’re talking about right here. Now. Dr. Wang you you are a scientist and indeed when when you started out There weren’t that many with PhDs in your field in your company. You’re also in the private sector I’m wondering how you are navigating how you think about those tensions and how those tensions are changing as AI is Moving so much faster is becoming so much more transformative as we’re talking about what governance Multistakeholder governance should look like.

Jian Wang: Yeah, I think there’s a different way to look at it. The first thing, you know think about in the UN level Actually, I feel pretty good because you know of the good structure. Like we have the United Nations, we have UNESCO, we have the ITU, these are part of the global organization. And ITU could be a very critical role in terms of technology development. And UNESCO, dealing with the science, dealing with the education and the culture, I think for any new challenge, particularly from new technology, you have to work with a different party and solve the problem from different perspective. You really cannot just solve the problem just by, you know, involve the government. You have to involve the different level of things. That’s one thing. But the scientists, I think, is very important. Get scientists, get individual involved to solve this problem. So for me, the governing is not just, you know, the responsibility of the organization, of government. It’s actually responsible to every people. Just like in the last couple of years, I’m working with the scientists in UK and the scientists in the United States, working together on the geoscience problem. And the more interesting, you know, eventually, actually not eventually, later this year, we bring this new technology to Africa. So individual could make a great deal to help solve this problem. So for me, just like the conversation today, and technology is not just creating a problem. The technology is bringing the people together, even though today is a different way to bring people together. But eventually, you know, different people love this technology. They will work together and solve the challenge. So I’m pretty confident, you know, any problem, you know, created by the human could be solved by a human being.

Ian Bremmer: So this is the most inclusive, proactive conversation I’ve seen on big governance issues, frankly, in the UN in a long time. I’m gonna now shift to implementation and to someone who’s been tasked with some of the most challenging problems in the world on that. front, Volker, none of us envy your position. As you think about AI and how AI can be used, can be implemented by governments, by non-state actors to allow impunity or to facilitate transformation and effective governance, where do you think it’s going right now and what do you think needs to be implemented as a result of these recommendations?

Volker Turk: Well, first of all, congratulations that you got the report out. I think it’s a minor miracle that you have been able to do it and really congratulations to you. When you mentioned mandate, no, you mentioned legitimacy, reach and mandate. I would add normative framework and you have mentioned it. It’s about human rights. We do not have to reinvent the wheel. We have an existing framework that is dynamic, that evolves, that deals with also the future issues and human rights is at the core of it. Because if you are not aware of the impact that anything that happens in this world on freedoms, on fundamental freedoms or on individual rights, if that is not analysed, it’s going to be a problem. And the advantage is it’s a universal framework. So it’s not about global south, global north, west versus someone else. It is universal and that is still agreed at this point in time by everyone. We had a big event on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights last year. There was no detractor from that, no spoiler. So we have that framework. It’s intergenerational. It’s not just about now, it’s also about the past because in some instances you have to deal with the grievances. of the past, but it is primarily also about the future, so it has this intergenerational dimension and it brings us back to human agency and to human dignity, which is whenever anything happens in this world, including on the digital, on the AI front, you will have to take into account. And it is multi-stakeholder. A human rights framework is by nature multi-stakeholder. We cannot do anything on the human rights front if you didn’t, if it wasn’t nourished by social movements, by civil society, by the private sector, and by member states. And actually, so we have a role model when we look at the implementation of how we can bring this to bear on the norms that states themselves have accepted, that the private sector through the business and human rights guiding principles have accepted, and how we can actually go into the granular detail that is needed in order to analyze how we are going to work.

Ian Bremmer: James wants to come in, but a quick follow-up for you first, which is people outside this room, people in this room know this. People outside this room don’t necessarily appreciate that 194 countries around the world agree on a lot of things. They agree on fundamental human rights, even if they don’t implement them. They agree, but they know what they are. They agree on sustainable development goals and where one would want humanity to go, even if right now most of them are not on track to being fulfilled. And hopefully, they agree on a global digital compact and how one deploys artificial intelligence to help ensure that we can actually get some of this better. So when you think about that, if you had a crystal ball, right now, do you believe over the next two, three years that AI is potentially on track to help actually implement, execute more of the things that we agree on but aren’t doing?

Volker Turk: Look, we are obviously at a very difficult geopolitical moment, no doubt about that. But we hopefully will have the global digital compact and the pact for the future. It’s a good beginning. beginning, it’s not enough, it will require a lot of dedicated attention to it, it will require continued multi-stakeholder conversations, it will require a governance framework that becomes more and more effective. Of course we are divided, polarised, we are not at the best place when it comes at the societal level to bring coherence to things, but this is precisely where whatever we can hang on to that works, including the report that you brought out, it actually shows that it is possible and we need to grab on to that and run with it.

Ian Bremmer: James?

James Manyika: Well you know, as you know well Ian, a couple of things that were on our minds when we were doing the work, one is the need to move and act very quickly, for at least two reasons that were centred in our work, the SDGs, the world’s behind, we’re all behind if you recall, we centred the need to contribute to accelerate the SDGs, the ITU has just done some phenomenal work that highlights that of something like the 169 goals in the SDGs, something like 134 of them could benefit and be accelerated using AI, we have to move. The second thing that was on our minds was the issues around capacity, and this is where especially the Global South comes to mind, because I grew up in the Global South, unless we’re able to give people access to this technology, both to participate and benefit from it, the risk of the digital divide becoming the AI divide is too huge, so we have to act, we have to act, that’s why one of our recommendations is around either the capacity fund or capacity network, we have to bring together a multi-stakeholder group that moves quickly to bring capacity and access to especially the Global South.

Ian Bremmer: I mean climate change, we didn’t really have decades, but the reality was you kind of could kick the can for a while and just let other people pay for it, the kids. You don’t have that time on this issue, which is why I don’t think I’m not surprised that everything happened in a year because, I mean, you need light speed to make that work. Carme, you want to come in and then Vilas.

Carme Artigas: Yes, exactly. I think these recommendations are only as good as our capacity to implement them as soon as possible. So as you have mentioned, and no of these recommendations are built on vacuum. We’re building on existing frameworks that already work, like human rights, but also the excellent work that UN agencies are already doing in their own domains. And that they will keep on doing that, and probably they will have much more burden of work around all these topics on AI. But we need additional instruments because there is still a global governance deficit. And because this is so horizontal, it requires so much coordination. So this is why we did not recommend, as the first thing, an international agency. Because that takes a long time, it’s a big institution, and we will see if that comes.

Ian Bremmer: And the governments, they were not ready to approve that. If you’d announced it, it wouldn’t have happened.

Carme Artigas: I don’t know, but we are proposing things that are actionable, and that we believe that in less than 18 months’ time can be ready for work. Because that’s what we need. And I think that governance is far from an innovator, it’s a catalyzer, and it’s an enabler. And I think that’s what we should be focused on.

Ian Bremmer: An agenda setter?

Carme Artigas: Of course. But I think having this conversation, and these conversations, was not the public opinion one year ago. And I think we are starting a conversation now that I hope is followed beyond the Global Digital Compact, and the companies and the governments and all the institutions will support our recommendation.

Ian Bremmer: I mean, this is the sneaky thing about the UN, right? Which is that, you know, you actually put it together, you imagine it, you start actually having conversations that other people aren’t having, and they will, default, become what people are talking about.

Vilas Dhar: Here’s the power in it, Ian. I think you’re exactly right. There is a way to talk about this that is the law of big numbers. That AI is the story of billions of dollars of investment, millions of lines of code. The foundation models that have the most parameters. And you can almost turn it into a math problem. There were a number of experts on the body with me that were computer scientists. I think we probably would all say, I hated doing math homework as a kid. I certainly don’t want to do it now. It’s not the solution. Instead, what I think about is all of these things we are talking about aren’t really about put all the ingredients together, put them in a stew pot and get an answer. It’s think about the fact that almost all of this comes down to the experience of people on the ground. My brothers and sisters, my cousins, my uncles, my aunts in countries across the planet. And what we put forward in the report is a mechanism to think about real intervention that intersects with people where they are. We don’t think about capacity building as finding a few critical enablers and saying let’s invest in compute. Or let’s just make sure there are data sources. Instead, we think about a holistic network that says let’s actually look with communities at what their needs are and think about a mechanism by which we say there is massive resources across the system. There is those contextual pieces of a normative framework. There is that mandate and that integrity. But it doesn’t happen because any entity, the UN or otherwise, says we are now going to come in and build AI for the public good. Happens because we work with communities to say what do you need to build and want to build? The second recommendation in the report that’s relevant is this idea of a global fund. The idea that we actually need capital resources that sit apart from and outside of our political mechanisms that hold instead a moral responsibility to say we need to take the resources necessary for communities to define their digital agency and make sure that they have the economic resources that let them use that money in the way they need to to build what they do. Now, we haven’t defined the specific form of that fund for a very specific reason. This is something that needs to happen through a participatory mechanism. That through the global digital compact and the implementation that comes, we need to take rights, we need to take frameworks, we need to take capital and turn it into something that actually advances progress.

Ian Bremmer: Alondra, as someone who does public policy for a living, what do you take out of this? If you were in charge of global implementation, what would you, how would you think, not about priority. advertising, but how would you think about your agenda? What would you want to make sure that people are taking away from the next steps?

Alondra Nelson: Well, first I would go to process, because that’s what wonks do. But would it be, just to double click on what Vilash said, I mean, part of this process was a lot of consultation with lots of people from civil society, with the impacted communities. So if we really want to steer and shape these good outcomes, we need to figure out how to do that in part by engaging communities. So any implementation, exactly to Vilash’s point, has to include communities that are impacted, that are going to be impacted, need to have a seat at this table in this conversation, whether or not they have PhDs in computer science or can do math. That’s critically important. I think the other piece is that we don’t know enough. So I would also associate myself with Dr. Jian, and that we don’t know the science. I mean, if we think back about the high watermark of the COVID-19 pandemic, and there were lots of preprints and lots of papers, and I think in that context, perhaps it was okay to say, you know, we’re going to figure out the science as we’re, you know, we’re going to build a plane while we’re flying it. We actually don’t know enough about these systems and tools and models. A lot of what we do know, a few people know, a lot of people don’t know. So I think one of the sort of outcomes of the report is really a commitment to implementing a kind of common understanding. And we’re seeing across the, you know, sort of international ecosystem, different ways for doing that. We proposed in the report, creating an international panel for understanding AI, for the science of AI, that would complement work on AI safety, that would complement some of the other sort of multilateral and regional things that are happening. But even these have to be done in a way that is communicating that information to not only nation states, but sees the public as an audience for how these tools work, what they can do, what their limitations are, and how we can use that information to steer them to the good outcomes that I think many of us hope and want, but are not inevitable and are not unique inherently characteristics of the technology.

Ian Bremmer: And I’d like to believe that this panel right now is actually leading by example specifically on that. That’s what we’re trying to do on this stage right now, right? Volker, you wanted to go and then James.

Volker Turk: Just to, because I think it’s a very important discussion, because if you look at the future and what startups want to do these days, they will want to do something for the for the good, common good, public good, whatever you call it. But you need to fill it then with content. That’s where the human rights side comes in, because you want to do something that is of benefit to humanity. And we often hear that actually from those who are involved in this. That’s important. But there is also the risk side and we cannot avoid talking about the risks. And because risks, we can also look at it from like traffic regulations. I mean you’re going to hit another car if you don’t respect the traffic regulations. And it’s a little bit the same when it comes to innovation, to all kinds of creative work.

Ian Bremmer: I want to give James and Dr. Wang a chance to come in and then we’re going to turn to risks. And I’m going to go to you first, by the way, but go ahead James.

James Manyika: I want to just underscore something that Dr. Nelson just described, which is there’s so much more research still to do in this field. I mean I, in my day job, I oversee the research teams that are researching and building these systems. And the field is moving so quickly, the advance is coming so fast. There’s still a lot more that we still need to learn. Some of that is surprising as being incredibly beneficial. We have all these breakthroughs and landmark breakthroughs in science and other places. But some of them are risks that we’re still researching. So I think the research frontier, that’s why one of the key pieces in our recommendation was this idea of a scientific panel that tries to keep it. But it’s got to be one that works very, very differently than what say the IPCC does. It has to be real-time. IPCC does what, a report every seven years? We can’t do that here. So that’s why the ongoing research both to understand the benefits benefits, the potential, as well as the risks, is so fundamentally important. That’s why many of us are involved in a lot of these AI safety institutes and research to really work on the frontier of the risks.

Ian Bremmer: Dr. Wang, you want to come in?

Jian Wang: Yeah, I think that back to this research challenge, I think it’s something to bring up, you know, at this time. Just thinking about every year, we have more than 5 million paper published, probably some number even bigger than 5 million, that’s a lot of paper. And just like climate change, it’s a very, very complex system, and it takes time for people to really understand. And come to the AI, it’s even more complex than the climate change, okay. So I would say that really needs something new and a framework to bring the whole science community together. Again, I want to emphasize that, and with a UN framework, and otherwise, there’s no single science committee can solve this problem.

Ian Bremmer: And is it fair to say in this field that right now, especially when we look at the two countries that are leading the way in AI, U.S. and China, that the scientific community is actually getting further apart?

Jian Wang: And most of the time, I won’t look at this field based on the countries, okay. So if you look at the people who really pioneered this area, they are from Europe, okay, from Canada. So it is not just country by country, and you have to look at how the science community actually works, okay. So for me, actually, the reason that people are thinking about U.S. and China is just because they have good AI infrastructure, helped people do the research, okay. So I think for the UN, we have to make sure they have the global shared AI infrastructure so everybody could contribute, and everybody could contribute. to solve the problem, okay. This is actually how big tech companies should do as well. You know, it’s not just for your company, but it’s really on a shared infrastructure, particular technology infrastructure, I would say.

Ian Bremmer: For the rest of the people, yeah. Oh, okay. Who was first? No, to focus first. So, only because I want to shift towards, again, we can have a very upbeat conversation about where we want to get, but as you said very eloquently, the geopolitical environment right now, the trajectory is not towards more integration, more global cooperation. It’s actually towards more conflict, and the political and economic models that we thought we could kind of take for granted are themselves under siege. So, when you look at the AI initiatives that are now being put together against that geopolitical conflict, that context, where do you see the biggest challenges?

Volker Turk: Well, it is obviously, once the genie is out of the bottle, how do you control the genie? And I think- Once all sorts of actors have that technology. For instance, and this is a phenomenon that is not just in one part of the world. I mean, we get a lot of it. We actually get a lot of requests for advisory services from member states and startup companies all around the world who want to do the right thing. So, they’re asking us, what type of risk models do we use? How do we regulate? How do we get a multi-stakeholder system in place? And it’s incredibly important that we are very fast in making sure that these advisory services can be provided. We have done it with the big tech companies. I mean, I brought you one of the documents that came out of this, which looks at taxonomy of risks from a human rights perspective, which wants to really complement the existing risk frameworks and really say you need to look at obligations. when it impinges on individual freedoms and rights. And that work is incredibly important. It’s not about ethics anymore, it is about obligations that we have towards people.

Ian Bremmer: All right, please.

Carme Artigas: I just wanted to comment on all the discussions about risk. I don’t know if we all remember that we’re talking about machine learning and deep learning, the conversations were about fairness. All of a sudden, when generative AI came to scene, we forgot about the conversation of fairness, we focused the focus on risks, in most of them existential risk or risk for frontier AI models, and sometimes that is preventing us to look at the existing risks that we already have in the present, more on the sides of fundamental rights. And it’s very interesting, and I recommend everybody having access to the document, and an agenda we have included, which is a risk analysis, a risk survey, involving many countries in the world, different stakeholders, and how interesting it is to see the difference on perception of risks of global north, global south, men and women. And we’re talking about risk because we are not informed that we need this scientific panel on the real facts, sometimes we tend to be dramatic or probably overreacting, and we forget to talk about opportunities. And if we see how risk is perceived in the global south is less perceived, people are more concerned about the opportunities they can miss.

Ian Bremmer: But they’re being left out.

Carme Artigas: Absolutely. So let’s talk also about opportunities, let’s have scientific panel inform us, not only on the risk, more transparency from the private companies, of course, but also on the great opportunities. And I can mention the huge acceleration we can expect on achieving the sustainable development goals, and also how can we allow for education and public health and universality. And I think that is the discussion that we still need to have.

Ian Bremmer: So the principle global risk here is that the lack of resources, the lack of urgency, means the digital divide becomes an AI divide, and we end up splitting apart much farther, right? And humanity doesn’t look like humanity very much in that environment. right?

James Manyika: No, it doesn’t. I mean, I was going to interject very, very quickly. If you remember in our work, one of the fascinating observations for me is when we’re talking about the risks, we often talked about misapplication and misuse. Several members in our body said, please add missed uses. If you remember that word, it’s actually in there. Missed opportunities. And that was mostly some of the members in the Global South thinking about the missed opportunities when this technology could actually transform their lives, circumstances. But all of that hinged on this ability, having the capacity to be able to participate. And we spent a lot of time thinking about the enabling infrastructure, the enablers to enable participation that range everything from very basic things that are in the digital compact like broadband connectivity, even electricity, right? In addition to access to models and compute. So I think this question of access and capacity is so fundamental to the inclusivity part of this conversation.

Ian Bremmer: So addressing the missed opportunity isn’t like, oh, we’re paying you because we’re doing something wrong. It’s because you’re actually creating market opportunities. I mean, it should be additive.

Alondra Nelson: Can I jump in here and just have a slight push back a little bit? I mean, I do think, so we did hear quite a lot from people in the global majority that they didn’t want to be left out. But there were also concerns about climate and sustainability, about the mining of critical minerals, about the extraction of labor that has to be done to train data. So I want to be very clear about what we’re hearing on the sort of landscape of inequality when you think about the entire AI stack and not just the sort of deployed tool or system.

Ian Bremmer: It feels like a race, right? I mean, on the one hand, you need these tools to address the challenges, but making the tools is also going to strain the challenges. Yeah? Please.

Vilas Dhar: I mean, we assume that inertia is the problem, right? We assume that inertia is inevitability, that the ways that we develop are the only ways can do it. Today, in this building, we are showing an AI model in a collaboration with Rafik Anadol, who I know is friends with many of us, a model that’s trained on 100 million pieces of data, sourced ethically with community consent from across the planet, trained on a model that uses only renewable power, that goes slow rather than fast, that generates incredible pieces of aesthetic beauty, and can also be used to build a predictive climate model that lets us test interventions. AI doesn’t have to be an attack against our climate sustainability. What we have to change instead is the why behind our reasons for moving so fast, for what the commercial purposes are that are often putting us in conflict against things like political rights, economic rights, climate issues, and more. There are other ways. Risks are not deterministic. We talk about risks so we can come up with better paths to better futures.

Ian Bremmer: Do you buy that? I mean, I’m asking… Thank you.

Alondra Nelson: I do. I do. I mean, I think that we are, you know, we talk quite a lot about a few organizations, but we have other organizations that are creating different models or trying to think about the sustainability issue. And I think we should be, if we’re really serious about advancing on the SDGs, we should need to be really serious about the sustainability issues and about, I think, a growing conversation that says we just need more energy, full stop, and, you know, whatever happens, you know, so be it. And so we, I think particularly in a place, in a conversation at the UN, we’ve got to figure out a way to hold all those things together and put them in balance, even understanding that it’s going to be very hard to do. And I think this is, that’s innovation, right? I mean, I think that we have had other moments where we said, you know, you’ve got to, you’ve mentioned seatbelts, seatbelts in the cars, we put guardrails on the road that allow you to sort of go where you want to go, steer a little bit faster. I mean, there are other kinds of historical moments in which we have had to make choices about how we want to advance things. And I would, you know, I think one of the challenges that we want to offer to the world, particularly to the scientific community, is how do you build these models more sustainably? How do you build data centers that are cooler, that use less water? I mean, it is a, like, it’s a, it is, these are the scientific challenges. engineering challenges of our time. And I think for many scientists, they’re incredibly exciting to think about as puzzles and how do we incentivize that?

Ian Bremmer: So we have only three minutes left. And I wanna use that for our two co-chairs, if you don’t mind. And I wanna ask both of you, take a step back. Is this a historic moment? In 10 years time, do we go back? Is there a COP process for artificial intelligence? Are we thinking differently about global AI? Are we applying our models in ways that are more inclusive, more integrative because of what is being done right now? Do you believe that? I wanna ask both of you, what it means for you. James.

James Manyika: I think this is a very important moment. One of the things that gives me enormous confidence is the fact that we’re still so early in the development of this technology. The fact that we’re having these debates, these discussions, this early in the development of a technology that still is in its early stages gives me a lot of hope. The fact that we’re able to at least agree on fundamental principles that should guide the development of this technology, that gives me enormous hope. The fact that we can actually have a multi-stakeholder conversation about this and come together to think about, so how do we do this? It goes back to what you said, Ian. The fact that we very quickly got to agree on basic principles and that much of the debate and hard work all had to do with how do we do it, that gives me hope. So I’m actually quite optimistic about all of this. I think, but it’s only incumbent on everybody here and all of us in the room to make sure we progress this with humanity’s best interests at the center of what we do with this technology.

Ian Bremmer: Carme, you get a minute.

Carme Artigas: I’m absolutely confident that here, in changing times, we have managed to develop AI for the good of humanity with more inclusiveness, with more opportunity to all, not only relying to the goodwill of organizations and governments, but we have. created really the governance instruments to make it happen and that we would look back to today of today and say, we were proposing the right thing, but most important, the nations were brave enough to adopt them.

Ian Bremmer: So before we close, I want to thank you to the panel, but I know everybody here would be a little remiss if we didn’t ask our friend Amandeep to stand up, our special envoy who made this process work. Tireless, tireless efforts, incredibly balanced decency, moral guidance and integrity and reflects everything that we are hoping for on this panel would not be happening if he wasn’t there. And I just want to thank you for everybody here. Thanks so much for joining us. We’re out of time and we’ll see you soon.

Redi Thlabi: Thank you so much, Ian, for this marvelous moderating of that panel and to your panelists as well. So much love, respect and affection, I see, but we’ve got to move along to the next segment of the program. Thank you all so very much. Thank you. I’ll introduce our next guest once we’ve all settled down to prepare for the next speaker as we wind down to the final segment of our convening this afternoon. I’d like us to settle down so we can give the president his moment and an opportunity to address us as we take the final steps to our event today. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, again, please help me in starting this joint closing. Help me welcome, a warm welcome, he’s travelled a long way to be here. Western Africa is a long way from here. His Excellency, I’m not going to call him up until we’ve all settled. I think it is appropriate. I think it is appropriate to demonstrate our own commitment, our own respect, and a word that Ian used earlier, decency, in describing Amandeep Singh Gill, UN Secretary General’s envoy on technology. So I’d like us to afford the same warmth and decency to our next speaker. It is a pleasure to welcome on stage his Excellency, the President of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi, for his closing comments.

Mokgweetsi Masisi: Mr. Secretary General, Excellencies, I wish to express my profound gratitude to the Secretary General of the United Nations, His Excellency Antonio Guterres, for the invitation to participate in the Action Days session ahead of the summit of the future that is scheduled for 22nd to the 23rd September 2024, particularly on the segment of the digital track. Recommendations go to all the speakers and presenters on the digital future for all for highlighting the significance of digital justice. Digital technology is pivotal in global transformation. The effects of its impact can either be positive or negative, depending on how we harness the opportunities and mitigate challenges. However, the scope of positive impact remains high if we can collectively work towards this end. It is critical to make a link between digital inclusion and digital cooperation to bridge the divide between nation-states and within nation-states. We need to recognize that the digital divide emanates from disparities between the developed and developing countries. Technology has the potential to advance the promotion and acceleration of closing the gap in opportunities between genders and, consequently, can lead to the attainment of gender parity goals. More importantly, digital space has the potential to advance the promotion of human rights, if unimpeded. Furthermore, issues of international peace and security leverage on the use of digital technologies to inform the world of the threats and challenges that need to be addressed. Botswana, therefore, commits to be part of the brigade that flags the criticality of the potential of digitalization and cautions of its threats. Thus, my Administration has prioritized digitalization as one of its priorities within its flagship strategy of the Reset and Reclaim Agenda. I assure you of the Republic of Botswana Government’s commitment to continue to be open and amplify our voice on issues of digitalization. It is also my fervent hope that the global aspirations outlined in the Global Digital Compact would close gaps, create inclusivity, and promote access. by once again extending my sincere appreciation to the Secretary-General and all other key stakeholders for a productive session as we all look towards the summit of the future tomorrow. Thank you.

Redi Thlabi: Thank you very much. And now, for the final segment of our closing, a pleasure to welcome Amdip Singh Jo, UN Secretary-General’s envoy in technology. If you could also join him on stage, please. We heard from you earlier this morning Achim Steiner, Administrator of UNDP. If you can also come with him at the same time, thank you. Thank you. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the ITU. If you could also kindly come on stage, please. I’ll pick on you first, Amandeep, to speak, okay? Thank you.

Amandeep Singh Gill: And thank you to all of you for being here with us at this moment, this very important moment. And I want to thank my partners in this endeavour, Doreen and Achim, and their teams for the incredible work that we’ve been able to do together. I have only three points to share with you as reflection from the day. First, the importance of connection. And as we heard in the video, it’s not about connecting the circuits, it’s about connecting the people. So it’s the connections across people, people from different geographies, different backgrounds, different sectors, different lived experiences. We can only get the digital future right. if we connect people. The other second point that I take away from the day is the importance of not retreating into silos. Everything is connected. We can’t deal with AI without dealing with data. We can’t deal with either without dealing with digital public infrastructure and connectivity and so on. So we need to take a holistic view. And the last point I want to share is the importance of humility. I think we need to listen more than we speak. All of us who are in the policy space need to be very, very humble about what their understanding of technology is, what its implications are. We need to work together. We need to constantly update ourselves and hang out with the right people so that we can bring their insights, their valuable insights, into our policy work and improve the quality of our policy responses. So thank you very much. It’s a very exciting moment. It’s a very sobering moment at the same time. There’s a lot of work ahead. But with you, we can get there. Thank you.

Redi Thlabi: Thank you so much. I think you can speak at the podium or on your microphone. It’s up to you.

Achim Steiner: I’ll just use the microphone. And thank you, I will not use the teleprompter because it’s really just two things that I want to say. One is a really big thank you. You and we and all of us in the UN today had a treat. We listened to presidents, to CEOs, to young entrepreneurs, to artists, to people who, together with science, engineering, technology, are able to walk again, at least, with the help of technology. We’ve had an extraordinary day. And I hope that what you can take away from this SDG Digital Day and also this prospect of AI that to all of us is still somewhat unknown, even though we know it is going to be central to our lives as we think into the future, is this age of possibility. There is so much in the world right now that makes… everyone feel like they live under a cloud and sometimes you lose perspective. I think today I hope you all got a sense of what an extraordinary age we live in and if we make the right choices what an extraordinary age it can be for the next generation and for everyone. In that spirit I want to thank Amandeep, I want to thank Doreen, our staff who’ve actually been working for weeks on all of this and everybody else who supported this day today by turning it into something that I hope the United Nations will always be known for. Even in the darkest days there is hope and it will be done and it will be led by people. Thank you so much.

Doreen Bogdan-Martin: Thank you, thank you Achim and thank you Amandeep and indeed it has been an extraordinary, extraordinary day. Sustainable, inclusive, responsible. Three concepts at the heart of our digital track during the summit of the future action days and I would like to add to that hope because nothing gives me more hope for our shared digital future than all of you. Our brilliant innovators, our partner to connect pledgers, our digital game changers, you showed us technology can be co-created with the people it’s built for involving them directly as decision makers in design. You showed us how to make digital work with the lived realities of people in developing countries and underserved and vulnerable populations. You showed us how emerging tech from augmented reality to AI can help boost our planet’s resilience while supporting climate action. You showed us how digital skill building can lead to decent work and economic prosperity. in the unlikeliest of places against all odds. You showed us what peace tech can do to rescue the SDGs. You even showed us how much it will take, literally, an investment to connect everyone everywhere by 2030 through the Connecting Humanity Action Blueprint mentioned by Saudi Arabia. And you showed us your commitment to do what it takes through new Partner to Connect pledges. And I thank you for those new pledges. Ladies and gentlemen, we are the SDG generation. A digital future full of hope, possibility, and ambition is in our hands. And I want to thank each and every one of you for giving us a glimpse today. You gave us a glimpse of what is possible. We may have come to the end of our first Digital Action Day, our second SDG Digital, but the action certainly does not stop here. It can’t. Because too much is at stake. Fired up by hope, let’s take everything that we’ve learned today, let’s go out there and let us build a more sustainable, inclusive, and responsible digital future for all. And let’s build it together. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as we wrap up, and as Akeem already mentioned, I think it’s important to understand this really was a team effort here. And I also want to acknowledge all of the staff, and if I may, can I ask the staff to just stand up? Because this wouldn’t have happened without our amazing teams. I know it’s dark in the room. Thank you.

Redi Thlabi: Thank you very much. Now that’s leadership, because often we say we leave no one behind, but we forget the people who are doing the groundwork, who perhaps don’t have the opportunity to shine on the global stage. So I find that very inspirational indeed. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, let me thank you, all of you, for being here today. It’s been a long day. I’ve got nothing to add to all the challenging, inspiring messages that we’ve heard today as we journey together towards a digital future for all. For all. Now, the last thing I’m going to tell you is that that online forum or platform where you can make your inputs is going to be up tomorrow after world leaders have adopted the Global Digital Compact. Please speak honestly, share what you know, what you think, what you’ve experienced, and take the learnings from today as you make your input. We look forward to them. Thank you so very much for today. Goodbye.

C

Carme Artigas

Speech speed

172 words per minute

Speech length

963 words

Speech time

335 seconds

Unique UN position to lead global AI governance

Explanation

The UN is uniquely positioned to lead global AI governance due to its mandate, reach, and legitimacy. It can bring all nations and stakeholders to the table, building on its historical success in governing international issues.

Evidence

Examples of UN’s past success in governing climate change and arms control

Major Discussion Point

The importance and role of the Global Digital Compact (GDC)

Agreed with

Omar Al Olama

James Manyika

Tumi Makgabo

Volker Turk

Agreed on

Importance of the Global Digital Compact (GDC)

Balancing innovation and risk mitigation in AI governance

Explanation

AI governance should focus on both opportunities and risks, not just existential risks. There is a need to balance innovation with risk mitigation, considering the different perceptions of risks across global north and south.

Evidence

Risk analysis survey showing differences in risk perception between global north and south

Major Discussion Point

Governance and regulation of AI

Disagreed with

James Manyika

Disagreed on

Focus on risks vs opportunities in AI governance

O

Omar Al Olama

Speech speed

191 words per minute

Speech length

254 words

Speech time

79 seconds

GDC as starting point for future action on AI

Explanation

The Global Digital Compact is seen as a great starting point for future action on AI. It provides a framework for cooperation and action on AI governance.

Evidence

UAE’s commitment to be part of the roadmap put forward by the UN

Major Discussion Point

The importance and role of the Global Digital Compact (GDC)

Agreed with

Carme Artigas

James Manyika

Tumi Makgabo

Volker Turk

Agreed on

Importance of the Global Digital Compact (GDC)

J

James Manyika

Speech speed

181 words per minute

Speech length

1479 words

Speech time

489 seconds

Need for multi-stakeholder approach in AI governance

Explanation

AI governance requires a multi-stakeholder approach due to the diverse nature of opportunities, risks, and inclusivity challenges. This approach involves companies, researchers, NGOs, governments, and civil society.

Evidence

Composition of the UN advisory body representing diverse stakeholders

Major Discussion Point

The importance and role of the Global Digital Compact (GDC)

Agreed with

Carme Artigas

Omar Al Olama

Tumi Makgabo

Volker Turk

Agreed on

Importance of the Global Digital Compact (GDC)

Need to bridge digital divide to prevent AI divide

Explanation

There is an urgent need to bridge the digital divide to prevent it from becoming an AI divide. This requires providing access to AI technology and building capacity, especially in the Global South.

Evidence

Recommendation for a capacity fund or network to bring AI access to the Global South

Major Discussion Point

Opportunities and challenges of AI for development

Agreed with

Tumi Makgabo

Sundar Pichai

Agreed on

Addressing the digital divide to prevent an AI divide

Role of private sector in responsible AI development

Explanation

The private sector has a significant responsibility in AI development, including conducting fundamental research, developing technology responsibly, and engaging with governments and other stakeholders. They also have a duty to be transparent and build public trust.

Evidence

Examples of private sector research labs leading AI development

Major Discussion Point

Governance and regulation of AI

Need for real-time scientific panel on AI developments

Explanation

There is a need for a scientific panel that can provide real-time insights on AI developments, both in terms of benefits and risks. This panel should work differently from existing models like the IPCC, given the rapid pace of AI advancements.

Evidence

Comparison with IPCC’s seven-year reporting cycle, which is too slow for AI

Major Discussion Point

Governance and regulation of AI

Addressing both risks and missed opportunities of AI

Explanation

AI governance should address not only the risks but also the missed opportunities, especially for the Global South. There is a need to focus on enabling infrastructure and capacity building to ensure inclusive participation in AI development and benefits.

Evidence

Inclusion of ‘missed uses’ in the advisory body’s risk discussions

Major Discussion Point

Ensuring AI benefits humanity

Agreed with

Sundar Pichai

Felix Mutati

Agreed on

AI’s potential to accelerate progress on Sustainable Development Goals

Disagreed with

Carme Artigas

Disagreed on

Focus on risks vs opportunities in AI governance

T

Tumi Makgabo

Speech speed

166 words per minute

Speech length

2102 words

Speech time

757 seconds

GDC addresses digital divides and inclusive governance

Explanation

The Global Digital Compact aims to address existing digital divides and promote more inclusive digital governance. It recognizes the need for a more equitable digital future.

Major Discussion Point

The importance and role of the Global Digital Compact (GDC)

Agreed with

James Manyika

Sundar Pichai

Agreed on

Addressing the digital divide to prevent an AI divide

V

Volker Turk

Speech speed

162 words per minute

Speech length

854 words

Speech time

315 seconds

GDC builds on existing human rights frameworks

Explanation

The Global Digital Compact builds on existing human rights frameworks, which provide a universal and dynamic foundation for addressing AI governance. This approach ensures that human rights considerations are central to AI development and deployment.

Evidence

Reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its continued relevance

Major Discussion Point

The importance and role of the Global Digital Compact (GDC)

Agreed with

Carme Artigas

Omar Al Olama

James Manyika

Tumi Makgabo

Agreed on

Importance of the Global Digital Compact (GDC)

Focusing on AI use cases that benefit humanity

Explanation

There is a need to focus on AI use cases that benefit humanity and contribute to the common good. This involves filling the concept of ‘public good’ with content that aligns with human rights principles.

Evidence

Mention of startups focusing on projects for the common good

Major Discussion Point

Ensuring AI benefits humanity

S

Sundar Pichai

Speech speed

136 words per minute

Speech length

1405 words

Speech time

618 seconds

AI can accelerate progress on Sustainable Development Goals

Explanation

AI has the potential to accelerate progress on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It can be applied to benefit humanity in various areas such as health, education, and climate action.

Evidence

Examples of AI applications in language translation, scientific discovery, and disaster prediction

Major Discussion Point

Opportunities and challenges of AI for development

Agreed with

James Manyika

Felix Mutati

Agreed on

AI’s potential to accelerate progress on Sustainable Development Goals

AI enables economic progress and entrepreneurship

Explanation

AI is enabling economic progress and entrepreneurship, especially in emerging markets. It can boost productivity across sectors and create new opportunities for businesses.

Evidence

Example of Gary Logistics in Ethiopia using AI to improve operations and create job opportunities

Major Discussion Point

Opportunities and challenges of AI for development

Agreed with

James Manyika

Tumi Makgabo

Agreed on

Addressing the digital divide to prevent an AI divide

J

Josephine Teo

Speech speed

141 words per minute

Speech length

795 words

Speech time

338 seconds

Importance of building AI capacity in developing countries

Explanation

There is a need to build AI capacity in developing countries to ensure they can participate in and benefit from AI advancements. This involves working with employers, providing individual learning support, and building training infrastructure.

Evidence

Singapore’s approach to enabling workers to acquire relevant skills for the future

Major Discussion Point

Opportunities and challenges of AI for development

F

Felix Mutati

Speech speed

98 words per minute

Speech length

411 words

Speech time

251 seconds

Potential of AI to transform lives in rural areas

Explanation

AI and digital technologies have the potential to transform lives in rural areas by providing access to information and services. This can lead to improved farming methods and economic opportunities.

Evidence

Example of a young farmer in rural Zambia using a mobile phone and internet to access weather forecasts and market prices

Major Discussion Point

Opportunities and challenges of AI for development

Agreed with

Sundar Pichai

James Manyika

Agreed on

AI’s potential to accelerate progress on Sustainable Development Goals

M

Margrethe Vestager

Speech speed

137 words per minute

Speech length

792 words

Speech time

345 seconds

Need for global cooperation on AI governance

Explanation

There is a need for global cooperation on AI governance to address challenges that individual countries cannot solve alone. The Global Digital Compact provides a framework for such cooperation.

Major Discussion Point

Governance and regulation of AI

Importance of enforceable AI regulation

Explanation

Enforceable AI regulation is crucial to create a systemic response to the challenges posed by AI. This includes legislation to keep markets open, ensure digital services are safe, and protect privacy.

Evidence

Examples of EU legislation like the Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act

Major Discussion Point

Governance and regulation of AI

A

Alondra Nelson

Speech speed

207 words per minute

Speech length

1177 words

Speech time

340 seconds

Centering human rights in AI development

Explanation

Human rights should be at the center of AI development and governance. This involves anchoring AI governance in fundamental human rights principles and international law.

Major Discussion Point

Ensuring AI benefits humanity

Need for sustainable and ethical AI development practices

Explanation

There is a need for more sustainable and ethical AI development practices. This includes addressing issues of climate sustainability, labor practices in data training, and the extraction of critical minerals.

Evidence

Mention of concerns about climate impact, labor exploitation, and resource extraction in AI development

Major Discussion Point

Ensuring AI benefits humanity

V

Vilas Dhar

Speech speed

217 words per minute

Speech length

859 words

Speech time

236 seconds

Importance of community engagement in AI development

Explanation

Community engagement is crucial in AI development to ensure that AI solutions meet the needs of the people they are intended to serve. This involves working with communities to understand their needs and involving them in decision-making processes.

Evidence

Proposal for a global fund to support community-defined digital agency

Major Discussion Point

Ensuring AI benefits humanity

Agreements

Agreement Points

Importance of the Global Digital Compact (GDC)

Carme Artigas

Omar Al Olama

James Manyika

Tumi Makgabo

Volker Turk

Unique UN position to lead global AI governance

GDC as starting point for future action on AI

Need for multi-stakeholder approach in AI governance

GDC addresses digital divides and inclusive governance

GDC builds on existing human rights frameworks

Speakers agreed on the critical role of the Global Digital Compact in addressing AI governance, digital divides, and promoting inclusive development while building on existing frameworks.

Addressing the digital divide to prevent an AI divide

James Manyika

Tumi Makgabo

Sundar Pichai

Need to bridge digital divide to prevent AI divide

GDC addresses digital divides and inclusive governance

AI enables economic progress and entrepreneurship

Speakers emphasized the importance of bridging the digital divide to ensure equitable access to AI technologies and prevent further inequalities.

AI’s potential to accelerate progress on Sustainable Development Goals

Sundar Pichai

James Manyika

Felix Mutati

AI can accelerate progress on Sustainable Development Goals

Addressing both risks and missed opportunities of AI

Potential of AI to transform lives in rural areas

Speakers highlighted AI’s potential to contribute to sustainable development and improve lives, particularly in developing regions.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the need for a balanced approach to AI governance that promotes innovation while mitigating risks through enforceable regulations.

Carme Artigas

Margrethe Vestager

Balancing innovation and risk mitigation in AI governance

Importance of enforceable AI regulation

Both speakers stressed the importance of grounding AI governance and development in existing human rights frameworks.

Volker Turk

Alondra Nelson

GDC builds on existing human rights frameworks

Centering human rights in AI development

Unexpected Consensus

Multi-stakeholder approach to AI governance

Carme Artigas

James Manyika

Vilas Dhar

Unique UN position to lead global AI governance

Need for multi-stakeholder approach in AI governance

Importance of community engagement in AI development

Despite representing different sectors (government, private sector, and civil society), these speakers unexpectedly agreed on the necessity of a multi-stakeholder approach to AI governance, emphasizing the importance of inclusive participation from various sectors and communities.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of agreement included the importance of the Global Digital Compact, the need to address digital divides, AI’s potential for sustainable development, the necessity of human rights-based approaches, and the importance of multi-stakeholder governance.

Consensus level

There was a high level of consensus among speakers on fundamental principles and goals for AI governance. This consensus suggests a strong foundation for global cooperation on AI development and regulation, which could facilitate more rapid progress in implementing the Global Digital Compact and related initiatives. However, the specific mechanisms for implementation and balancing various interests may still require further negotiation and refinement.

Disagreements

Disagreement Points

Focus on risks vs opportunities in AI governance

Carme Artigas

James Manyika

Balancing innovation and risk mitigation in AI governance

Addressing both risks and missed opportunities of AI

While both speakers acknowledge the need to address risks, Carme Artigas emphasizes the importance of not overlooking opportunities, especially for the global south, while James Manyika stresses the need to address both risks and missed opportunities equally.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of disagreement revolve around the balance between focusing on risks versus opportunities in AI governance, and the specific approaches to ensuring sustainable and ethical AI development.

Disagreement level

The level of disagreement among the speakers is relatively low. Most speakers agree on the fundamental principles and goals of AI governance, with differences mainly in emphasis and specific implementation strategies. This suggests a generally unified vision for the Global Digital Compact, which bodes well for its potential implementation and effectiveness.

Partial Agreements

Partial Agreements

Both speakers agree on the need for ongoing research and monitoring of AI developments, but James Manyika focuses on the speed and real-time nature of the panel, while Alondra Nelson emphasizes the importance of sustainability and ethical considerations in AI development.

James Manyika

Alondra Nelson

Need for real-time scientific panel on AI developments

Need for sustainable and ethical AI development practices

Both speakers recognize the potential of AI for development, but while Sundar Pichai focuses on the positive impacts, Alondra Nelson emphasizes the need to address sustainability and ethical concerns in AI development.

Sundar Pichai

Alondra Nelson

AI can accelerate progress on Sustainable Development Goals

Need for sustainable and ethical AI development practices

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the need for a balanced approach to AI governance that promotes innovation while mitigating risks through enforceable regulations.

Carme Artigas

Margrethe Vestager

Balancing innovation and risk mitigation in AI governance

Importance of enforceable AI regulation

Both speakers stressed the importance of grounding AI governance and development in existing human rights frameworks.

Volker Turk

Alondra Nelson

GDC builds on existing human rights frameworks

Centering human rights in AI development

Takeaways

Key Takeaways

The Global Digital Compact (GDC) is seen as a crucial starting point for global AI governance and cooperation

AI has significant potential to accelerate progress on Sustainable Development Goals and enable economic development

There is a need for inclusive, multi-stakeholder governance of AI that involves developing countries

Balancing innovation with risk mitigation is key in AI governance and regulation

Centering human rights and community engagement in AI development is essential

Building AI capacity and infrastructure in developing countries is critical to prevent an AI divide

Resolutions and Action Items

Launch of a Global AI Opportunity Fund by Google to invest $120 million in AI education and training globally

Proposal to establish a global fund on AI for sustainable development

Recommendation to create an international scientific panel on AI

Plan to make an online platform available for public input on the Global Digital Compact after its adoption

Unresolved Issues

Specific mechanisms for enforcing AI governance globally

Details on implementation of the proposed global fund on AI

How to effectively balance AI development with sustainability and climate concerns

Concrete steps to ensure AI benefits reach marginalized communities

Suggested Compromises

Using existing UN frameworks and agencies to implement AI governance rather than creating new institutions immediately

Focusing on both risks and opportunities of AI to address concerns of developed and developing nations

Balancing regulation with market incentives to encourage ethical AI development by companies

Thought Provoking Comments

We too often equate governance with control. And it’s part of a conversation that’s much bigger. I think we have followed a narrative that technology companies innovate and governments regulate and somehow in that the rest of us go along. But that’s not the point of governance, right? Governance is to set a shared vision for humanity, is to think about all of the resources we can bring to bear to make shared decisions that put agency with communities, that allow voices to participate and to come forward.

Speaker

Vilas Dhar

Reason

This comment reframes the concept of governance in a more inclusive and participatory way, challenging the typical narrative of top-down control.

Impact

It shifted the conversation towards considering governance as a collaborative process involving multiple stakeholders, not just governments and tech companies. This perspective was echoed by other panelists throughout the discussion.

We don’t think about capacity building as finding a few critical enablers and saying let’s invest in compute. Or let’s just make sure there are data sources. Instead, we think about a holistic network that says let’s actually look with communities at what their needs are and think about a mechanism by which we say there is massive resources across the system.

Speaker

Vilas Dhar

Reason

This comment provides a nuanced view of capacity building, emphasizing the importance of community needs and holistic approaches.

Impact

It deepened the discussion on implementation strategies, moving beyond technical solutions to consider social and community contexts.

We need to recognize that the digital divide emanates from disparities between the developed and developing countries. Technology has the potential to advance the promotion and acceleration of closing the gap in opportunities between genders and, consequently, can lead to the attainment of gender parity goals.

Speaker

Mokgweetsi Masisi

Reason

This comment highlights the interconnection between digital divides, global inequality, and gender disparities.

Impact

It broadened the scope of the discussion to include considerations of global equity and gender equality in digital development.

We don’t know enough. So I would also associate myself with Dr. Jian, and that we don’t know the science. I mean, if we think back about the high watermark of the COVID-19 pandemic, and there were lots of preprints and lots of papers, and I think in that context, perhaps it was okay to say, you know, we’re going to figure out the science as we’re, you know, we’re going to build a plane while we’re flying it. We actually don’t know enough about these systems and tools and models.

Speaker

Alondra Nelson

Reason

This comment acknowledges the limitations of current knowledge about AI systems and draws a parallel to the rapid scientific developments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Impact

It introduced a note of caution and humility into the discussion, emphasizing the need for ongoing research and scientific understanding alongside policy development.

Connect the schools. Connect the young people. Connect my children.

Speaker

Nnenna Nwakanma

Reason

This simple yet powerful statement cuts through complex policy discussions to highlight a fundamental priority.

Impact

It refocused the conversation on the practical, human-centered outcomes of digital development, particularly for young people and education.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by broadening its scope beyond technical and policy considerations to include community needs, global equity, scientific understanding, and practical human outcomes. They challenged conventional narratives about governance and implementation, emphasizing the importance of inclusive, participatory approaches and acknowledging the complexities and unknowns in the field of AI. The discussion evolved from high-level policy talk to considering concrete actions and their impacts on diverse communities, particularly in the Global South.

Follow-up Questions

How can we ensure AI benefits are distributed equitably and the digital divide does not become an AI divide?

Speaker

James Manyika

Explanation

This is critical to ensure AI does not exacerbate existing inequalities between developed and developing countries.

How can we build AI models and data centers more sustainably to address climate and environmental concerns?

Speaker

Alondra Nelson

Explanation

This is important to ensure AI development does not conflict with climate goals and sustainability efforts.

How can we create a real-time scientific panel to study and report on AI developments and impacts?

Speaker

James Manyika

Explanation

A rapid, ongoing research effort is needed to keep up with the fast pace of AI advancement and inform governance efforts.

How can we implement capacity building and create a global fund to support AI development in the Global South?

Speaker

James Manyika and Vilas Dhar

Explanation

This is crucial to enable developing countries to participate in and benefit from AI advancements.

How can we better involve impacted communities in shaping AI governance and development?

Speaker

Alondra Nelson

Explanation

Ensuring diverse voices are included is essential for creating AI systems that work for all of humanity.

How can we create a shared global AI infrastructure to enable more inclusive research and development?

Speaker

Jian Wang

Explanation

This could help democratize AI development and reduce concentration of power in a few countries or companies.

How can we balance discussions of AI risks with equal focus on opportunities, especially for the Global South?

Speaker

Carme Artigas

Explanation

A balanced approach is needed to fully realize AI’s potential while mitigating risks.

Disclaimer: This is not an official record of the session. The DiploAI system automatically generates these resources from the audiovisual recording. Resources are presented in their original format, as provided by the AI (e.g. including any spelling mistakes). The accuracy of these resources cannot be guaranteed.

The Power of the Commons: Digital Public Goods for a More Secure, Inclusive and Resilient World

The Power of the Commons: Digital Public Goods for a More Secure, Inclusive and Resilient World

Session at a Glance

Summary

This event focused on the power of digital commons and digital public goods (DPGs) in creating a more secure, inclusive, and resilient world. Speakers from governments, international organizations, academia, and civil society discussed the transformative potential of DPGs and digital public infrastructure (DPI) in fostering sustainable development and advancing human rights globally.

Key themes included the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration, the need to close digital divides, and the critical role of community-led initiatives in developing DPGs. Speakers highlighted successful examples like Wikipedia and emphasized how DPGs can democratize access to knowledge and technology. The discussion underscored the importance of embedding human rights and democratic values in the design of digital systems.

Participants stressed the need for robust governance frameworks and universal safeguards to ensure DPGs and DPIs respect privacy, promote inclusion, and protect against misuse. The role of governments in providing legal frameworks and supporting connectivity was discussed, alongside the importance of civil society participation in shaping digital governance.

Academia was highlighted as a key contributor to digital commons through knowledge creation, incubation of projects, and research on societal impacts. Speakers called for increased investment in digital skills and emphasized trust and safety as crucial for the continued development and use of DPGs.

The event concluded with calls to action for building a global ecosystem around DPGs, integrating them into various policy fields, and fostering international cooperation to leverage their potential in addressing global challenges and achieving sustainable development goals.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The importance of digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructure (DPI) for inclusive development and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

– The need for multi-stakeholder collaboration and community-led approaches in developing and governing DPGs

– The role of governments in supporting DPGs through policy frameworks, funding, and infrastructure

– The critical importance of embedding human rights and democratic values in the design of digital systems and DPGs

– The potential of DPGs to democratize access to knowledge and empower marginalized communities

Overall purpose:

The discussion aimed to highlight the transformative potential of digital public goods and digital public infrastructure in fostering sustainable, inclusive development worldwide. It sought to encourage multi-stakeholder partnerships to promote and protect DPGs that are truly universal and reflect diverse voices.

Tone:

The overall tone was optimistic and forward-looking, with speakers expressing enthusiasm about the potential of DPGs while also acknowledging challenges. There was a sense of urgency about the need to act now to shape the digital future in line with democratic values and human rights. The tone remained consistent throughout, emphasizing collaboration and shared responsibility among different stakeholders.

Speakers

Moderators/Facilitators:

– Costanza Sciubba Caniglia (Anti-Disinformation Strategy Lead at Wikimedia Foundation)

– Nicole Manger (Lead Global AI Governance and Digital Cooperation at Federal Foreign Office of Germany)

Speakers:

– Amandeep Gill (UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology)

– Krzysztof Szczerski (Ambassador of Poland)

– Alicia Buenrostro Massieu (Deputy Permanent Representative of Mexico to the UN)

– Rebecca MacKinnon (Vice President Global Advocacy at Wikimedia Foundation)

– Ivan Sigal (Executive Director of Global Voices)

– Fabro Steibel (ITS Rio)

– Eileen Donahoe (Coordinator for Digital Freedom, US Department of State)

– Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi (Director General of NITDA Nigeria)

– Marianne Díaz Hernández (YID Campaigner at Access Now)

– Jimmy Wales (Co-founder of Wikipedia)

– Urs Gasser (Professor at Technical University of Munich)

– Emran Mian (Director General for Digital and Telecoms, UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

– Anna Christmann (Member of German Parliament, member of UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Body on AI)

Areas of expertise among speakers include digital governance, technology policy, digital rights, civil society engagement, digital public goods, artificial intelligence, and international relations.

Full session report

Digital Public Goods: Building a More Secure, Inclusive, and Resilient World

This high-level discussion brought together experts from governments, international organizations, academia, and civil society to explore the transformative potential of digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructure (DPI) in fostering sustainable development and advancing human rights globally.

Event Structure and Overview

Costanza Sciubba Caniglia opened the event, outlining its structure: opening remarks, success stories, and a panel discussion. The event aimed to highlight the importance of DPGs and DPI in promoting inclusive digital transformation and sustainable development.

Key Themes and Discussions

1. The Importance of Digital Public Goods and Infrastructure

Speakers unanimously agreed on the critical role of DPGs and DPI in promoting inclusive, sustainable digital transformation. Amandeep Gill, UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology, set the tone by emphasising that “well-governed commons are the foundations of human civilization. Digital is no exception, and today more than ever digital commons are vital to our interconnected world.”

Fabro Steibel provided a thought-provoking perspective, noting that “DPIs emerge earlier and faster in the Global South than in the Global North. This is what research shows and most likely this is because out of necessity. In the Global South, we need better technologies to spread and equalise wealth and power.” This insight challenged common assumptions about technological innovation and highlighted the unique contributions of the Global South in developing digital public infrastructure.

Alicia Buenrostro Massieu, Deputy Permanent Representative of Mexico to the UN, stressed the importance of DPGs and DPI in closing the digital divide, while Eileen Donahoe, Coordinator for Digital Freedom at the US Department of State, emphasised the need for universal safeguards to protect human rights in the development and implementation of these technologies.

2. Multi-stakeholder Collaboration and Community-led Approaches

The discussion highlighted the crucial role of multi-stakeholder collaboration in developing and governing DPGs. Speakers agreed that involving diverse stakeholders, including civil society, academia, and community members, is essential for creating truly inclusive and effective digital public goods.

Marianne Díaz Hernández of Access Now emphasised the role of civil society in ensuring DPGs remain transparent, inclusive, and responsive to societal needs. Urs Gasser, Professor at Technical University of Munich, highlighted academia’s multifaceted contribution: “Academia can not only contribute in these different forms substantively to the formation of digital commons and digital public goods. It can also study and assess what we can learn about digital commons as we go forward, about the societal impact about the relevance, we can assess whether we pass the Wikipedia test when new policies are rolled out.”

Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, stressed the importance of community-driven governance, using Wikipedia as a prime example of a successful DPG. He suggested that when considering digital policies, one should ask, “If you’re about to pass some rule, think about, is this going to wreck Wikipedia? And if it is, it might not be a great rule.”

3. The Role of Governments and Policy Frameworks

While there was broad agreement on the importance of government support for DPGs, there were nuanced differences in how speakers viewed the government’s role. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director General of NITDA Nigeria, emphasised the need for governments to provide legal frameworks and connectivity for DPGs.

Emran Mian, Director General for Digital and Telecoms at the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, focused on the importance of digital skills and trust and safety in the context of enjoying and creating DPGs. Anna Christmann, member of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Body on AI, called for bringing DPG discussions to other policy areas like climate change and COP negotiations.

4. Human Rights and Democratic Values in Digital Systems

A recurring theme throughout the discussion was the critical importance of embedding human rights and democratic values in the design of digital systems and DPGs. Marianne Díaz Hernández provided a thought-provoking comment on this issue: “When we focus on development above human rights, instead of understanding development as a tool to achieve human rights, we risk creating systems that have not been designed with human rights as a principle, but as an afterthought.”

Eileen Donahoe echoed this sentiment, advocating for universal safeguards to protect human rights in DPGs and DPI. This emphasis on human rights highlighted a key challenge: balancing rapid development of DPGs with ensuring robust protections for individual rights and freedoms.

5. Success Stories and Practical Applications

Ivan Sigal from Global Voices shared insights on the importance of multilingualism in DPGs, highlighting their work in creating tools for underrepresented languages. Fabro Steibel discussed successful DPI implementations in Brazil, emphasizing the role of open-source solutions in government services.

6. Global Digital Compact and Future Initiatives

Amandeep Gill highlighted the Global Digital Compact as a new foundation for international action on DPGs and DPI. He emphasized its role in addressing key digital issues and promoting cooperation. Gill also mentioned the upcoming OSPOS for Good Conference, focusing on open-source technologies for public good.

Anna Christmann called for new hands-on initiatives to co-design frontier open data and AI solutions as DPGs. The discussion also touched on the relevance of the upcoming Summit of the Future in shaping the global digital landscape.

7. Challenges and Future Directions

The discussion identified several challenges and areas for future focus in the development of DPGs:

– Balancing development goals with protecting human rights

– Establishing sustainable funding mechanisms for DPGs and open-source projects

– Improving data and AI literacy to enable wider participation in DPG development

– Addressing potential risks and misuse of DPGs and open data

– Ensuring multilingualism and local context in global DPGs

– Developing governance models that balance community-driven approaches with government support

– Integrating DPGs into broader policy discussions on climate change, education, and healthcare

Conclusion

The discussion underscored the transformative potential of digital public goods and digital public infrastructure in fostering sustainable, inclusive development worldwide. It emphasised the need for multi-stakeholder partnerships to promote and protect DPGs that are truly universal and reflect diverse voices. The overall tone was optimistic and forward-looking, with speakers expressing enthusiasm about the potential of DPGs while also acknowledging the challenges ahead.

As the world continues to grapple with digital transformation, the insights from this discussion provide a valuable framework for leveraging DPGs to create a more secure, inclusive, and resilient global digital ecosystem. The emphasis on human rights, community-driven approaches, and multi-stakeholder collaboration offers a path forward in harnessing the power of digital commons for the benefit of all.

Session Transcript

Costanza Sciubba Caniglia: Hello, good morning, welcome, Excellencies, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much for joining us today for our event, The Power of the Commons, Digital Public Goods for a More Secure, Inclusive, and Resilient World. My name is Costanza Sciubba Caniglia, I am the Anti-Disinformation Strategy Lead at the Wikimedia Foundation, and I am honored today to co-moderate this event with my colleague, Nicole Mangier, Lead Global AI Governance and Digital Cooperation at the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. Before we start, I wanted to thank our co-organizers, the Office of the Tech Envoy, the Permanent Mission of Poland and Mexico, the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, TUM, the Network of Centers, and multiple Wikimedia affiliates, Wikimedia EU, Wikimedia Poland, Wikimedia Czech, and Wikimedia Deutschland. I’m going to leave the floor to Nicole in a moment, but just wanted to articulate the event is going to be divided in four parts. We’re going to have opening remarks, and then we’re going to have a section on success stories that will serve to ground the panel that will come afterwards, with a couple of examples of grassroots digital public good examples. And then we’re going to have a panel of experts, and then we’ll close with a couple of closing remarks. And with this, Nicole, to you.

Nicole Manger: Thank you so much, Amandeep. Thank you so much, Amandeep. So thanks a lot, Costanza. And I also very warmly welcome you to our side event, The Power of the Commons, the role of digital public goods for a more secure, inclusive, and resilient world. So this event, as Costanza said, is co-hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation and its affiliates by the governments of Mexico and Poland, and then by the UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Technology. So I want to step a little back. ask the question, like, why are we meeting here on this topic today? So, I guess we are all expecting to be, to see the pact for the future and especially the global digital compact to be adopted successfully tomorrow and adopted. Yeah, and so it’s going to be the first Compass truly global approach to an open, free, secure, and human-centered digital future for all and everywhere. And so for us today, we wanted to highlight especially the transformative potential of digital public goods for the values of the GDC, such as enabling access, inclusive access to digital technologies, and also enabling civil society to have a voice in how technology is designed and governed. Also to pool scarce resources like data and infrastructure to really increase resilience and sustainability and have a digital transformation that is also sustainable. So without further ado, I would like to introduce our esteemed speakers, opening speakers, and I first pass it on to His Excellency Under-Secretary-General Amandeep Gill, Secretary General’s Envoy on Technology.

Amandeep Gill: Thank you very much, Nicole, and I’d like to begin by welcoming all of you to the pre-summit of the Future Action Day. Thank you for being here at UN Headquarters with us. It means a lot. It means a lot to the Secretary General, to all of us. I want to also thank Mexico, Poland, and Wikimedia for organizing this event, this very important event, and I want to thank Germany for their consistent support to this constellation of important ideas. Ladies and gentlemen, well-governed commons are the foundations of human civilization. Digital is no exception, and today more than ever digital commons are vital to our interconnected world. When we speak about digital commons, we mean resources that are collectively owned and managed by a community and freely accessible to all members of our society, and on the technology front, open digital resources are key to the equitable advancement of digital digital technologies, particularly emerging technologies like AI. Nicole mentioned the Global Digital Compact. So after nearly two years of consultation and negotiations, the negotiations have concluded and there’s a text on the table as part of the pact for the future for a decision tomorrow. This document, the Global Digital Compact, embeds an international commitment to global digital commons through digital public goods and digital public infrastructure. So it is a new foundation for more meaningful, more impactful action in this area. This is very significant. The GDC can play a crucial role in democratizing access to knowledge and technological resources, ensuring that everyone everywhere, regardless of their socioeconomic status, has the opportunity to participate in benefit from the digital economy. This inclusivity is crucial for reducing inequalities and promoting social equity, aligning with the goal of leaving no one behind. Further, the collaborative nature of digital commons, including digital public goods and digital public infrastructure, fosters innovation and creativity. By enabling the free exchange of ideas and resources, by bringing data sets together, by bringing talent, coding talent in particular, together, digital commons help accelerate technological advancements and the development of new solutions to global challenges. At the same time, because you have many more eyes on the code, many more eyes on the data, you prevent misuse. You build a set of safeguards, a set of checks and balances that ensure that our digital commons work for everyone. This open and responsible innovation ecosystem can support economic growth, the creation of jobs, enhancement of productivity, contributing to overall economic prosperity and social well-being. At the UN, we know that the open nature of open source software, platforms, data, AI models are a key enabler of the Sustainable Development Goals. By leveraging the potential of Digital Commons, we believe we can accelerate progress towards the 2030 Agenda. As part of the Secretary General’s commitment to Digital Commons, my office, together with many partners, some of which are in the room today, organizes the yearly OSPOS for Good Conference. In July, we hosted this together with Germany and Kenya, the second edition of this conference. Through two days at the UN, over 600 participants from around the world gathered in New York with active engagement, high-quality discussions, and a collaborative spirit characteristic of the open-source community. I’d like to finish these remarks by inviting you all to join us in collaborating on the future of this conference in follow-up to the Global Digital Compact. In this spirit, I wish you an invigorating exchange today. Thank you.

Nicole Manger: Thank you so much, Under-Secretary General Gill. I pass on the word to His Excellency, Ambassador of Poland Krzysztof Szczerski. I am so sorry, possibly, for mispronouncing the name, but I hope I got it over to you.

Krzysztof Szczerski: Thank you very much, Excellencies, Mr. Special Envoy, ladies and gentlemen, I’m so excited to be here, being one of the, not only the daily reader of the Wikipedia, but also having my own profile on it. It’s good to be in the system, somehow. Okay, it’s my honor to be with you today, as we heard, in the dawn of the summit of the future, which we are all very excited about. First and foremost, let me congratulate the Wikimedia Foundation for gathering us and for working tirelessly to ensure the success of today’s discussions. Poland is, of course, happy to be the co-sponsor of this event. As a gentleman, digital cooperation is going to be heavily featured during the Summit of the Future and the entire High-Level Week. We expect, as we already heard, that already tomorrow the heads of states and governments will adopt the foundation for the global digital cooperation, the document which is named, as we heard, Global Digital Compact. This will mark the new era of recognition that we need to act swiftly, decisively and collectively to utilize and govern the ever-expanding digital sphere. I am more than happy to see involvement of many stakeholders from outside the governments like the lead organizer of this event, Wikimedia, in our discussions. It’s only with their active participation on equal footing that we can fully tap the potential of digital public goods and digital public infrastructure for realization of the Sustainable Development Goals. Colleagues, one of the aims of this meeting is to highlight the potential of digital commons, the role of which is inavailable in providing individuals and communities with free and easy access to information. And I just want to underline the word information because I think we get too much of the free and easy access to disinformation. And it’s crucially important since this device becomes now the best friend of many of ours. So therefore it’s very important to really guarantee that it’s free, easy, but also reliable. Therefore I would like to share with you just a couple of cases of how public open data is used by citizens in my country, Poland, to build interest in digital tools, to participate in public life, and to monitor the activity of public authorities. Take for example the portal dane.gov.pl. This is a universal access point to open data in Poland and has been enthusiastically embraced by various stakeholders. It’s a governmental portal, but open for everybody. Presidents interested in monitoring state activities use it as a tool for holding the government accountable. Companies leverage data to build innovative products and services. Another set of examples includes the fact-checking platforms run by civil society. There are various of them. Their adaptability to most recent events, such as fact-checking related to the upcoming elections, is one of their strengths. Our goal, however, in all these efforts, is not to simply implement open data policy, but to do more to construct a comprehensive, robust, citizen-friendly system that is fueled by the valuable data. And we have been recognized for our efforts by the major European and global open data rankings. Ladies and gentlemen, in conclusion, I am looking forward to learning about the concrete examples of how digital public goods and digital public infrastructure can contribute to a safe, resilient, and open digital world, which we strive to build in order to leave no one behind. And I wish you all the very enriching and exciting discussions, and I thank you. Thank you.

Nicole Manger: And next, I would pass on the word to Her Excellency Alicia Buenrostro Massieu, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Mexican United States to the United Nations in New York. The floor is yours.

Alicia Buenrostro Massieu: Thank you very much, and it’s also a pleasure to be here with all of you. In particular, it’s very good to share the floor with such a panel. And having the creator of Wikipedia, as my colleague from Poland has just mentioned, it’s just a real honor, and with them, a big deal as well. And for Mexico, a country that really has put a lot into the global digital compact. So it’s an honor, really, to be here today representing my country, Mexico. The Pact for the Future, and more specifically… the Global Digital Compact represents certainly an opportunity to consolidate a global digital governance framework that fosters inclusion, equity, and sustainability, as well as to emphasize the political relevance of this framework in the multilateral sphere. It’s the first time that we are working on this type of issue from a real compact, and that is a step forward and as the Ambassador of Poland has just mentioned, we really look forward to being able to witness that this has been passed tomorrow morning. So for my country, for Mexico, the promise of digital transformation lies in its ability to drive inclusive growth, reduce inequalities, and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Technology must be a development catalyst and not a luxury for a few, and that is the position of my country. So this should be for everybody. Mexico’s priorities are very clear. First, we must close the digital divide and ensure that no one is left behind in the digital age. Second, to empower small and medium-sized enterprises. Technology can be a great equalizer by fostering innovation and supporting local economic activity. Third, Mexico is committed to ensuring that human rights are respected in all digital policies, and that is very important as well. As a country that enshrines the right to access information and communication technologies in our Constitution, we are dedicated to promoting meaningful digital inclusion, particularly for groups in vulnerable situations that have faced historical exclusions, such as women, indigenous peoples, and Afro-descendant communities. At the heart of our efforts is the concept of digital public goods as essential for building a digital commons that is transparent, equitable, and open to all. By investing in digital public infrastructure, we create pathways for marginalized communities to be able to fully participate in the global economy. It’s not just about providing access, but about empowering our people to innovate, to grow, and contribute to the development of their communities. Digital public goods align with Mexico’s goals of inclusive economic development and socio-economic equity. In this context, the Global Digital Compact gains relevance as a roadmap for building secure, inclusive, and rights- based digital ecosystems. Early last year, Mexico co-hosted the GDC consultation for the Americas in Mexico City, and Amandeep was there. That was along with Germany and the Office of the Secretary’s General Envoy, as I mentioned. This consultation brought together key actors from across the region to discuss the most pressing issues around digital governance and the role of digital public goods. Throughout the GDC negotiations, my country has pushed for the creation of open government initiatives, which focus on integrating digital tools into public administration to promote transparency and accountability. We are advocating for the development of inclusive and accessible digital tools, particularly tailored to small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs. These tools must be affordable and adaptable to the needs of small businesses and local innovators, helping them leverage the power of technology for economic growth. Mexico is committed to investing in inclusive digital infrastructure, focusing on marginalized and underserved communities. By expanding access to the infrastructure in rural and in economically disadvantaged regions, we can help bridge the digital divide and ensure equitable opportunities for all. And to conclude, I would like to encourage all governments and stakeholders to ensure that digital transformation benefits all people everywhere, and that is a commitment that we almost assume. By investing in digital public goods and digital public infrastructure, and by collaborating and building on the principles, objectives, commitments, and actions outlined in the Global Digital Compact, we can consolidate the construction of a global digital environment that is inclusive, equitable, and sustainable. Thank you.

Nicole Manger: Thank you, and I would like to pass it on now to our civil society voice on this stage, Rebecca MacKinnon. She is Vice President Global Advocacy at Wikimedia Foundation and also founder of Global Voices. Rebecca, the floor is yours.

Rebecca MacKinnon: Thank you so much, Nicole. I’m here today representing the Wikimedia Foundation along with my colleague Costanza here and several other colleagues in the room. Someone was asking me just before we got seated what’s the difference between the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikipedia. We are the nonprofit organization that serves as the technical, legal, and fundraising host for Wikipedia and other volunteer-run projects that operate in over 300 languages. Wikipedia, of course, being created before the foundation existed by Jimmy Wales, who you’ll hear from later. We also have staff who support the global community of volunteers who build and maintain these projects around the world. And, of course, I’d like to thank all of our co-organizers shown on the screen today, in particular the governments of Poland, Mexico, and Germany and the Office of the UN Tech Envoy, without whose support we wouldn’t be here. And also grateful to the partnership of many others in the United Nations system, national governments, and civil society and academia who’ve helped organize this event and, more generally, in their commitment to support and protect digital public goods like Wikipedia. And we’ll take the next slide, please. So this is a group of just some of the people who maintain and create Wikipedia who traveled to Katowice in Poland just last month for an annual conference called Wikimania. It was organized, one of the key organizers actually sitting right there, the young man named Maciek. And thanks to our co-hosts and the gracious Polish people for welcoming us. We are very lucky to have him here today. Wikipedia is a digital native, but a lot of the people who build and govern this global resource of free knowledge actually find it very important to gather in person, as you see here, to brainstorm, learn from each other, and build human bonds that enable us to collaborate with empathy and understanding of each other’s lived experience. Next slide, please. New language communities are joining the Wikimedia family all the time. And this is an example, Wikimedia founder Jimmy Wales, sitting there, who you’ll hear from in a few minutes, gave the 2024 Newcomer of the Year Award at Wikimania to the people who’ve created a new version of Wikipedia in the Waiyu language. Next slide, please. And here is that new Waiyu language, Wikipedia. Waiyu is spoken by about 400,000 indigenous people in northwestern Venezuela and northeastern Colombia. It’s an example of a project that benefits an indigenous community that commercial internet companies have no financial incentive to care about. Top-down government services in a lot of countries also often fail to prioritize the needs of indigenous people whose ancient communities often span across several borders, which is why it’s so vital that governments must protect and support the people and the work behind such community-led bottom-up projects. Projects like Wikipedia, but many others, and we’ll hear some more examples later, serve the public interest by creating knowledge, infrastructure, and access to information built on a robust digital commons that we’ve heard about already, which includes open-source software, a range of open content and open data projects, and open licensing for content that enables projects to build upon one another in an interdependent ecosystem. Next slide, please. So here we have a photo of the Igbo language user group in Nigeria, jumping across. the Atlantic Ocean, and a community outreach activity that they carried out not too long ago. Wikipedia exists in several Nigerian languages, run by volunteers who all care passionately about preserving and strengthening their community’s linguistic and cultural heritage, while contributing also to a global body of knowledge about the people, places, issues, and ideas in their countries and communities. So then that knowledge also gets translated into other languages and ends up in English, et cetera. And in so doing, they’re also helping to advance technical capacity, economic opportunity, and cultural flourishing in their own communities. To put it another way, they’re directly contributing to the advancement of quite a number of SDGs. And there’s simply no way that a top-down approach to digital public infrastructure and digital public goods is going to be able to reach all of the underserved, vulnerable, and marginalized communities around the world, full of talented people who will take initiative in innovative ways if given half a chance, as we’ve been discovering throughout the Wikimedia communities. So we believe that the future of the internet should be one that promotes and protects these types of projects and these people, like those who we work with around the world. Wikipedia is one of the most famous examples, but there’s many others that have emerged over the past two decades, and we’re going to be hearing about a few of them in just a few minutes. Thank you.

Nicole Manger: Thank you, Rebecca, and thanks to all our distinguished speakers here on this stage. We are now transitioning to the second segment of hearing success stories of civil society grassroots organizations. because DPGs are really at its core about grassroots involvement and so that’s why we would like to highlight these success stories and also the perspectives of two organizations, one Global Voices and the second ITS Rio on how they are using the potential of DPGs and also possibly certain challenges what you know when it comes to governance structures, robust funding mechanisms and also creating robust data AI literacy to leverage DPGs successfully. So with that said I would like to call Fabro Steibel and Ivan Sigal on the stage with me. So we will start with one example of successful DPGs which is Global Voices. So this is really a multilingual community of writers, translators, academics and digital rights activists worldwide and I would like to give the floor to Ivan Seagal, Executive Director of Global Voices.

Ivan Sigal: Good morning. I’m Ivan Sigal as is just told. I’m now the actually outgoing Executive Director of Global Voices. This is my last public appearance in this role. We’re an organization that’s been for the past 20 years has been a forum for the perspectives and priorities of global majority writers and activists and explores how information technologies affect movements, politics, culture and information integrity. Some 8,000 writers, translators and researchers have participated from 160 countries and contributed to our to our work over the years. We’re dedicated to building understanding across cultures and languages and specifically we understand that the internet does not by itself bring around positive social change. Rather we need to invest in and build an internet based on a vision that reflects those values and we’re one of many communities and initiatives and organizations that exists as a digital public good that works in a much smaller level than a group like Wikipedia but is an example of what people can accomplish when the internet flourish functions as a flourishing and healthy information ecosystem rather than as a censored or surveilled information space or based on a small number of platforms that function as walled gardens or exists as a field of data to be extracted and monetized primarily for artificial intelligence. So my key message today is good internet regulation should support proactively support flourishing information ecosystems marked by a diversity of sources and languages and retaining the means of all people to be part of a network public’s participating in the creation sharing and consumption of information and knowledge. A key element of healthy information ecosystems is information integrity. By this I mean not just controlling or removing the most harmful elements of disinformation in online spaces, but proactively supporting the trustworthiness of information sources, ensuring that users have meaningful agency over information environments and control over their data, and working for more inclusive and diverse participation in online spaces. We work on these issues in numerous ways, such as our Civic Media Observatory, which is a research project to investigate and decode how people understand information and create knowledge in complex information ecosystems. We work with local researchers who have deep knowledge of local context and subtext of information and narrative to explain how information functions in their societies, rather than looking just at factuality or just at data flows. And the example we have there is the Unfreedom Monitor, which is a two-year, 20-country study in networked authoritarianism, which explores how states use both technology and regulation to restrict expression and augment those restrictions through information operations and propaganda. Another example of what this looks like, Global Voices for the last 15 years has run a project called Rising Voices, which is dedicated to supporting marginalized communities to participate and create online with networks of mutual support and learning. We focus on the ability of minority and indigenous language communities to create their own information spaces as they see fit. We work, for example, with Mayan language communities across the Americas to use the internet for language preservation and revitalization. These images come from our annual, this is from our 2024 Mayan Language Summit, which is now an annual event held in Mayan. Very unusual that an event is actually run in Mayan as opposed to being a secondary language to build networks of support for the use of Mayan in online contexts. Thank you.

Nicole Manger: Thank you so much, Ivan. And now, moving from a global organization, we are now zooming in on one regional use case. So, I am very glad to welcome Fabros Deibel here on stage for ITS Rio. So, ITS Rio, it’s the Institute of Technology Rio, that is really working to represent and strengthen Brazil’s and Latin America’s voice in global discussions and conversations on technology governance and digital rights. And it is also a member of the DPI Safeguards Initiative with Fabro himself also being in the Digital Public Goods Alliance. So, Fabro, the floor is yours.

Fabro Steibel: Nicole, thank you very much and thank you Wikimedia for the invitation. I start with a fact. DPIs emerge earlier and faster in the Global South than in the Global North. This is what research shows and most likely this is because out of necessity. In the Global South, we need better technologies to spread and equalize wealth and power. So, when you look at DPIs from the Global South, you ask them why they cannot be DPGs, why you cannot open the digital public infrastructures for good. And this is what we bring as a civil society member of Brazil, also as an academic, as a member of the network of centers, and as a member of the DPGA alliance. So, openness in Brazil is no coincidence. In the 90s, people from civil society and academia, they penetrate the government, they enter the government, and they start to foster open culture from inside the government. Outside the government, the culture keeps open and now we have a strong ecosystem. And we come from this ecosystem. So, what we are doing with DPGA and what do you think we can contribute to this debate today? Number one, we need very good green DPIs. We need open green DPIs. Brazil has CAR, C-A-R, which is a brilliant digital public infrastructure that can be even more brilliant if we bring the openness idea to it. It’s open data, but it’s not really a DPG yet. So, bringing this idea can have, as Wikimedia has a community around it that makes use of this data, make new… So, we have a lot of data, and we have a lot of data, and we can use it to do new surveillance of this data, and then we can fight deforestation or land rights. Number two, information integrity. We had Pegabot, Bot Catcher, that is an open algorithm that used to identify in Twitter the use of bots for this information. We collaborated with journalists and others having that. And we have a lot of data, and we have a lot of data, and we can use it to identify bots, and also, someone got our algorithm and made Atrapabot, a version of it using Mozilla language back to identify bots in Colombia. And lastly, the last case we have is on civic participation. So, we love to use technology to make new ways for people to enjoy deliberating together. So, we have a lot of data, and we have a lot of data, and we can use it to identify bots, and we can use it to make voting for people to deliberate in a more meaningful way other than a majority always wins. And the case studies we have shows that we have young football teams that are using Cucurdamos to select the coach. And we did this in partnership with Taiwan, who has a brilliant captain as well. And we tried it for the human aspect of the environment and it has to be, you know, you can now interact with it, and makes the environment better. You can now interact with it, and then becomes part of the more harmonious ecosystem. And we see now the perspective that can not only open technology, but open technology thinking about the human aspect as well.

Nicole Manger: I talked to leveraging DPGs, you know, across different themes and topics. And I will now pass it over to our expert panel with Costanza moderating, and they will pick up on these success stories, but also look more deeply into potential challenges like funding mechanisms, governing structures, and also data AI literacy. And also really be informed by other existing successful initiatives Amandeep mentioned before, the DPI safeguards initiative, the Digital Public Goods Alliance, and also the OSPO for Good conference that was just hosted here in New York in July. So with that, I hand it over to Costanza and our esteemed panelists. Thank you.

Costanza Sciubba Caniglia: Let’s give a moment to our speakers to get seated. There’s, yes, a very, a very exciting panel. So we’re now going to move to the panel section of our event. I am honored to introduce some of the world-leading experts on the topic of digital public goods and digital governance. This past month and the months in front of us, as we all know, are critical times for the future of digital, global digital governance. And the global digital compact process, the pact of the future, WISE’s review, the high-level advisory board on artificial intelligence are all elements that are going to shape the future of our digital and physical world. One thing before we start that I want to say is this event is in many ways a follow-up event to a conversation that we started with Access Now during the CSW this year and before. So I just wanted to mention this and it’s great to be with Marianne today and with Access Now. But going to the panel, we wanted to have a moment here in the action day to reflect in particular on the transformative potential of digital public goods such as Wikipedia and others and digital public infrastructure and fostering sustainable development worldwide. Digital public goods, especially when grounded in robust digital commons, are essential for inclusive open, sustainable, and digital world and so we want to really encourage this multi-stakeholder partnership. As you can see, this panel has a really wide multi-stakeholder perspective and so we want to encourage this to promote and protect TPGs that truly are universal and reflect on how to best enable civil society and communities globally to have a voice in how technology is developed. So without further ado, I’ll pass it on to our panelists. Dr. Donahoe, I would like to start with you. Dr. Donahoe is the coordinator for digital freedom in the US Department of State’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy. So Dr. Donahoe, digital public goods and DPIs have been such a central topic of discussion in the negotiations around the Global Digital Compact and more in general in the discussion about how to rethink global internet governance. I know you’ve been working about a model of right-respecting DPI which is achieved through universal safeguards. Can you tell us more about this and how multilateral and multi-stakeholder effort to protect TPGs and DPI should be shaped?

Eileen Donahoe: Great. First, let me congratulate the organizers here. This is a really remarkable event and it’s a very good reflection of where the DPG-DPI conversation is in the world and it’s very notable that this subject is at the top of the agenda at the high-level week at UNGA. I’m gonna make a comment that’s just based on observing what we’ve already heard. I think what we observed is that the multi-stakeholder community is way ahead and actually building digital public goods and global commons and that’s been going on for decades and you can use the case of Wikimedia, Wikipedia as an example. I think we’re here at UNGA which is a state-centric event. It’s a multilateral led body and I think it is really fair to say that states are generally behind and just catching on to these concepts and also that states are generally much more focused on DPIs and just trying to get ahead around that subject. So, But I will note that, so I’m gonna talk a little about what I see in the multilateral space that’s good and also what the U.S. is focused on and universal safeguards. Basically, here at the U.N. and in the Global Digital Compact, everybody’s really still focusing on definitions and concepts. And I think we’ve gravitated around several core features which include open interoperable standards and specifications that include delivery of public and private services at scale that are ideally and we will be fighting for rights respecting by design and protection of fundamental freedoms embedded in the design. But all of this is intended to drive toward inclusion, development, acceleration of the SDGs. And I just have to say it is really a giant change in the global conversation. This has been central to the G20 under the leadership of Brazil and India. It’s been part of the G7. It’s been in multiple agencies at the U.N. and that is brand new. That has never happened before. So this is really a new topic for states. What I will emphasize for the United States in particular, there are two key parts and it’s a combination of concern and excitement. The concern is that yes, DPGs and DPI hold tremendous promise to accelerate development. And obviously that is the core rationale that states are latching onto it. People are yearning to be part of the digital transformation. There is not equity around the world in that regard. And that is the driving motivation, animating energy here. But what we all have to be careful of is the risks that come with this digitization of infrastructure. And I’m sure we’re gonna be hearing. that from access, but we in the United States are also really focused on risk, and we have embraced the work of the Office of the Tech Envoy and UNDP on universal safeguards because we think that in every instance when DPIs, DPGs, digital commons are built, you have to be thinking about the impact on citizens’ rights. And the core of those concerns relates to privacy, and I will also say obviously equal protection, non-discrimination, and also the risk of exclusion from basic services if you do not build in safeguards and just embrace the technology itself. This is ultimately about bringing democratic values into the digital future around the world, and if we fail to bring safeguards with the actual access to the technology, we will be failing our citizens. The second part I want to mention that we’re really excited about, though, and this is what I do believe civil society has been onto for years, is that technology itself is now a vehicle for governance innovation. It is the way that the governing world can catch up to the pace of technological change, and I think it’s very exciting, this idea that the design, development, and deployment of the technology becomes the vehicle for spreading values and for governing in a way that protects citizens. And so, for me, that is why I’m really actually very excited about the opportunity of DPI, that it’s not just about inclusion in the digital transformation. It is about bringing values. by design in the technology. And last point I want to make is I really want to applaud the Universal Safeguards Initiative that last year at UNGA, OSET, Amandeep himself, Robert Opp from UNDP, they were on the stage launching the Universal Safeguards Initiative. That has been a year-long process. We have been part of it. Foundational principle number one is do no harm and it is about protecting human rights by design and we really applaud that. But the key idea here is no developing country and citizens in developing countries should never be asked to exchange their human rights. They do not trade off their human rights for inclusion in the digital ecosystem or for to be part of the digital transformation. That’s not okay. Development and human rights are not intention.

Costanza Sciubba Caniglia: They must go together so. Thank you, thank you Dr. Donahoe, such an important message. I love your conclusive message especially. Now I would like to move to Mr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director General of NITDA Nigeria. So Mr. Abdullahi, digital public goods seem to be very important of course for social and economic development, also what we were just talking about, respectful of human rights. In your current position and as an expert on digital development, how do you see the role of government support for people to operate digital public goods and also to develop digital public goods? And before passing the floor to you, I just also want to mention Wikipedia has a very active community also of Wikimedians in Nigeria who work especially on multilingualism. So that’s also something that how do you think about those communities, not Wikipedia in particular, but in general communities that develop digital public goods in Nigeria?

Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi: Okay, thank you very much. First and foremost, I want to thank the organizers for inviting me and also for giving Africa opportunity to be part of this conversation. Because for me, digital technology is dramatically transforming our world, offering immense potential benefits for the well-being and advancement of humanity, our societies and our planets. And it also holds the promise of accelerating the achievement of sustainable development goals. This can only be achieved through international cooperation that close all digital gaps. Because we recognize those digital gaps are really posing challenge to countries, in particular developing countries who have so many challenges to solve but with limited resources. So I think we should focus on closing that gap because imagine a person sitting next to you never clicked a link, never sent an email and never experienced social media. So almost half of the world population are excluded from this digital transformation, especially in Africa. So we cannot be talking about digital public good without ensuring every person is included. Because if that person is excluded, the technology will not consider that person when making its decisions. So that’s why we are quite fascinated about this conversation on digital public good. And also, like it mentioned before, this DPI-DPG conversation started from the global south, where people are excluded. And we can see the passion about bringing everyone to be part of it. And in Nigeria also, the government is focused on achieving that. We are starting with the digital public infrastructure. We are laying the foundation. We are putting the legal framework in place and also ensuring that we have a robust digital identity, a robust payment system and data exchange platform. So we have two and we are lacking the data exchange platform. platform. Now the government is working on coming up with standard and ensuring that we have that data exchange platform. That will enable us to build the digital public goods when we have the strong DPI stack in place. But now we are having some in silos, like you mentioned about Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a very good example in Nigeria of DPI, where people, the communities around are creating the platform. And that ensure democratization of access to services as well as quality information, fact-checking. Because we should learn from social media, how it started, where it is controlled by few, and also it is for profit. That’s why you can see a lot of things are happening without the control of the countries. Like we came from a way whereby most of these big techs, they don’t even listen to developing countries. They do things based on developed countries’ laws and mission, vision, and so on. And also that is really affecting us in the developing countries. Because for them it is about profit, it’s about what they will make. Few people decide what you see, what you buy, and what you can even think, or who you can friend, what you can believe. But with DPG, it will be open for societies, communities, and societies to look at information, to ensure you have the right information in place, and ensure things are fact-checked before being in public. So in Nigeria we have other smaller ones apart from the Wikipedia, which they are open, but in a siloes form. We cannot call them like a big DPGs. Like for example, we have a platform called Budget, where people can go and check information about government budget, and also do a fact-check to provide information for people in communities to look at budget line item, where the project is supposed to be executed, and check to ensure if it is executed or not. So this also can help for good governance, and it will make things to be open and transparent. So I think it’s good to support this kind of initiatives as well. We also have the National Health Information System project, which is driven by government to make health record available for decision makers, for health service providers, and so on, so that they can have access to health record and citizens can easily get services. So for governments, when you talk about DPGs, government has critical role to play, because it is about democratizing access, and also it is it is about breaking all the experience we have with social media, where few people are controlling everything. So we need to break that unaccountable control over public digital infrastructure. So the DPG will provide that. So government needs to provide the legal framework, because everything you do, you need to have laws that will guide it. You need to have framework and governance in place. So government has the convening power to bring the civil society, the private organizations, and everyone on board to discuss on the governance framework, to discuss on inclusive connectivity and also to intervene to connect the unconnected. So we have so many initiatives we are doing on that. Like in Nigeria, almost about more than 40% of the citizens are excluded. So government is promoting connectivity. We launched the 9,000 kilometers fiber optics project where government want to connect the remote societies and underserved communities. In addition to that also, we have other initiatives around digital literacy. Because it is not just about connecting, but people need to be digitally literate to navigate around the digital platform as well. So we do a lot in training people in developing our digital fluency in the country. We are working with other partners like Ministry of Education. We are developing digital literacy and skills curriculum to infuse it into our formal education so that people will learn from schools. We are also having other projects that will build talent. Because also you need to build your proficiency in building these digital offerings. Because no country will rely on another for its digital offerings. We need people within the country that can build the communities and services. So these are things government is doing in addition to the legal framework like we are working on enacting a law on digital economy and e-governance in Nigeria which can help in promoting digital public infrastructure as well as digital public good. But also for me the most important is this kind of conversation so that developing countries and African countries should have voice on what we are doing globally. Thank you.

Costanza Sciubba Caniglia: Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Marianne, I would like to move on to you now to talk about especially how civil society is a critical stakeholder in global digital governance and for the development of digital public goods. Marianne Diaz-Hernandez is the YID campaigner at Access Now. She’s also a Venezuelan lawyer and digital rights activist and fiction writer. So as I mentioned earlier, this panel really is born as a second step of a conversation that we started together with Access Now a few months back. And so it’s great to continue this conversation and have so many more partners joining it as well. So I’m particularly interested to hear, how you think things have changed in them and what the role of civil society really should be as we move towards a new digital governance. You work extensively to make sure that all stakeholders have a perspective on digital public goods, including community development, digital public goods, and civil society agency. So what can you tell us about that?

Marianne Díaz Hernández: Thank you, Costanza. And thank you, everyone, for the privilege and the honor of your time and attention. Digital public goods, as well as the public infrastructure, which has also been mentioned a lot today on the upcoming days, I’m sure, have a profound need for community-led and community developed spaces where free speech and free assembly and civic life and dissent can thrive. And that requires the existence of spaces of total or partial anonymity and pseudonymity. And it is only possible to understand, design, and regulate these type of spaces through a multi-stakeholder lens, which is the only way that can ensure that the development and the governance of these digital commons remains transparent, inclusive, and responsive to a wide array of societal needs. DPGs are not only extremely important to society on their own standing, as the stories that were previously shared very clearly highlight, but also as the foundation for DPI, as Fabro was detailing, among others. Both of these assets need to be protected and nurtured to enable equitable access and to prevent monopolization or control by a select few. And this inclusivity ensures that the governance of digital spaces aligns with public interest and is the only way to protect them as open participatory environments that will encourage democratic engagement and free expression. And to go back to what Dr. Donahue was touching upon, when we focus on development above human rights, instead of understanding development as a tool to achieve human rights, we risk creating systems that have not been designed with human rights as a principle, but as an afterthought. We are then in need of a paradigm shift that allows us to understand that privacy, anonymity, free speech are not principles that are intentioned with the notion of development, but that have to be at the core of the design of the systems that are necessary to build the trust that the systems require in order to operate. There will be no development without these principles built into the systems that we create. So if we are to build and implement systems that are either created by the private sector, or by governments, or by any sort of hybrid model, the only way that we can make these systems accomplish what we want them to do, which is to support us in achieving the sustainable development goals, and ultimately achieving universal human rights, it is to build systems that are based in solid trust. And the construction of that trust cannot be taken by granted. It requires full and meaningful participation of society in a way that ensures and protects their agency in how to build, implement, and engage with technology. I believe then that civil society needs to work together and with other multi-stakeholders in articulating and putting forward the notion that what we require at this moment in time is a paradigm shift. We are not only speaking about enabling or defending human rights, or when these technologies are created, but about creating these technologies for a world that is built. with public in mind. Where public means built to benefit everyone by shared resources and managed by the community. And this does require a paradigm shift from a world view where resources are meant to be administered by specific actors in society. That model is not sustainable. It’s not participatory and it doesn’t help us in building strong democracies. Thank you.

Costanza Sciubba Caniglia: Thank you so much, Marianne. And now that we are talking about civil society participation, I would like to move on to you, Jimmy. Jimmy is, Jimmy Wales is the co-founder of Wikipedia, so it’s really an honor to introduce you. So you have the unique experience of having created one of the largest, most used digital public goods in the world, which is really a unique kind of experience. What have you learned about how people are able to come together and create and govern projects that serve the public interest? And what advice can you give to all stakeholders and why is it important to do it today?

Jimmy Wales: Great, thank you. And thank you to the organizers and everyone for making this happen. It’s a great event. Yeah, so I think one of the key elements in terms of advice and thinking about this has already been mentioned a couple of times today and that is values. The original vision for Wikipedia was for all of us to imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. And that’s what we’re doing at Wikipedia. And so every element of that is really, really important to us. When we say every single person on the planet, that means that we’re inherently global. We’re in many, many, many languages. And when I say the sum of all human knowledge, it means we care a lot about the quality of what we put out. It isn’t just sort of a giant random message. board we actually try to impart knowledge. This was 23 years ago when I started Wikipedia and it was just a handful of us typing away on the internet with very very limited software and very limited resources. But today Wikipedia is one of the top 10 most visited websites in the world. We have hundreds of millions of visitors every month from all around the world. We’re in over 300 languages, although of course some of those languages are quite small and just getting going. And for me that aspect of our work is one that I’m probably the most passionate about. I’m always very excited to think about the impact that we can have in bringing the ability for people to share knowledge in their own world, in their own community, in their own mother tongue. Some of the values that really carry us forward, we really care a lot about reliable sources. We have policies, for example, our well we have a lot of internal jargon. BLP policy, biography of living persons, which basically says if you see something negative in a biography it better have a source and if it doesn’t you should just remove it immediately and not just discuss what to do about it. Take it out and let’s discuss it then to say of course there’s going to be negative information. It needs to be really reliable and this can be contrasted with of course social media where people just write whatever they want and who knows maybe it’s fact-checked eventually or not. We try to be really really careful about that. One of our core community rules is no personal attacks. So obviously a lot of open spaces on the internet are just rife with personal attacks and that can be fine if it’s a political debate and discussion that often can be quite personal but it’s not right for us. We’re trying to write an encyclopedia. We’re a global movement in many many many different languages but everything in Wikipedia is locally written. Even as we move into an era of AI and I’m actually very excited about the really rapid increases that we’re seeing in the quality of machine translation and yet we have no concept or idea that we should just start wholesale translating Wikipedia into small languages because we know that it’s about that local cultural context. It’s about the local people. They will of course use these tools and it will… you know, finally accelerate that work so that we’re going to see really rapid growth in a lot of the languages that previously have been much more slower to grow. Really, Wikipedia, when we think about a digital public good, I think one of the paradigm cases that everyone should have in mind is Wikipedia. It’s a global resource used by almost everyone on the planet. We’re a non-profit organization. We’re community-built, community-driven. And when I see things in the Global Digital Compact that talk about protecting and supporting digital public goods, I’m very, very happy about this. Because too often, when policymakers are thinking about how to make decisions on public policy and the Internet, they’re really thinking about top-down social media platforms that I always say they run like feudal estates. All the people using it are like the serfs, but the master makes the rules from top down. Whereas we’re a community. We’re a bunch of people. All the rules of Wikipedia are made by the community. All of the decisions are made out in the community. The Wikimedia Foundation doesn’t engage in sort of constant moderation. Boy, the number of times people have complained to me, Wikipedia says this, Jimmy Wales is a communist. I’m like, well, first, I’m not a communist, and second, I didn’t write it. And there’s the sources, and there’s actually a debate, and you can get involved, and let’s have a discourse about human knowledge. So my call to action, really, for everyone is to, and to governments in particular, is let’s think about, as we’re doing public policy, let’s really begin to adopt what I would call the Wikipedia test. If you’re about to pass some rule, think about, is this going to wreck Wikipedia? And if it is, it might not be a great rule. And that might not be, you might want to step back and say, hold on a second, we do need to, oh, yes, clap, please, yes. We need to protect these open communities. So, thank you.

Costanza Sciubba Caniglia: Thank you so much. First one was for the Wikipedia test. Yes, thank you so much. And now I’d like to move to Professor Gasser, who is Professor of Public Policy Governance and Innovative Technology at the Technical University of Munich, TUM, who has been a great partner also in organizing this event, and also the Dean of the TUM School of Social Sciences. So, Professor Gasser, I’d like to move to you as an expert scholar representing academia and go back to the idea of digital commons as a necessary condition for the development of digital public goods. So, academia is also a big contributor to the digital commons. How do you see its role in this context and in improving shared access to knowledge and digital public goods in general?

Urs Gasser: Wonderful. Thank you so much for inviting also perspectives from academia. And, of course, it’s a great honor to be on this panel. And I would like to start right where Jimmy started as well with values. I think if you look at the values of academia, and Fabro set the stage beautifully, you see how this idea of public interest mission of academic organizations and the public interest-driven mindset of academics and academic community make academia a natural ally to the cause of digital public goods and the commons. So, I see a lot of resemblance and echoes to what you just described. I think Fabro already pointed out and alluded to the different functions that academic institutions and, more importantly, also the human beings in academia can play as we aim for more robust commons ecosystems. I just would like to maybe highlight three such roles. The first one is academia, academic networks and individuals as trusted creators of knowledge. If you look back over the past couple of decades, academics have been key contributors to building the digital commons by sharing data and knowledge about the world and doing so through open access publishing, among other things. The second role I would like to highlight is academia as an incubator and convener. Academic communities and values have been a key driver in incubating and launching digital public infrastructures. Just think back about the origins of the internet and the world wide web that were shaped by academic values and communities. But also as we’ve heard examples today, I hope I don’t reveal secrets, but global voices or creative commons and many more projects were closely linked to academic institutions and communities when they started. So you see the role of academia here again as we think about the creation of digital public infrastructures. And let me emphasize one point, what the beauty of it is, is that it’s happening in a distributed way, in a collaborative spirit, and that’s very powerful. The third role I would like to briefly highlight is that academia can not only contribute in these different forms substantively to the formation of digital commons and digital public goods. It can also study and assess what we can learn about digital commons as we go forward, about the society. societal impact about the relevance, we can assess whether we pass the Wikipedia test when new policies are rolled out. So academia can be a learning partner in our endeavors, can help to inform policymaking and good governance. So you see all together, and I just highlighted three rules, you see how academia should actually join the calls around this table and stakeholders for strong principles, policies, and practices that embrace the wealth of distributed academic networks so that together with the other stakeholders we can double down on our commitment to build strong and robust commons ecosystems for the future. Thank you very much.

Costanza Sciubba Caniglia: Thank you so much, and thank you to all of the panelists. I now I’m gonna move to the closing section of this event because we are already running a little over time, but thank you so much for for your participation. And now I would like to call back my co-moderator, Nicole. And for the closing remarks, Mr. Emran Mian, the Director General for Digital and Telecoms in the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Yes, please, Dr. Emran Mian, you have the floor.

Emran Mian: Thank you very much. Conscious of time, I’ll be very brief. Thank you very much for organizing this event. It’s been a real pleasure to listen to stakeholders across this community talk about DPGs and their contributions to them. There’s just two things I wanted to bring out as reflections. One is focusing on digital skills and the skills that people need both to create DPGs but also to enjoy DPGs. And this is a shared responsibility, I think, across the stakeholder community, businesses, civil society, and government. And the UK government, for our part, we’re very pleased of the way in which we’re able to work with partners in countries such as Indonesia, Kenya, and Nigeria to help people to acquire these digital skills. And there’s a lot more to do on that front. And then the second thing I just wanted to draw out was trust and safety. To continue to enjoy DPGs and for DPGs to continue to be created, people need to trust the digital technologies that they are using, and they need to be safe when they’re doing so. And again, for our part as a UK government, we’ve been really pleased to be part of a conversation on AI safety and to have initiated that at Bletchley Park with a UK-hosted safety summit last year. And it’s great to see the continuance of that in all kinds of ways, including a summit in Seoul earlier this year. And earlier this morning we were hearing from the French about their plans for an AI action summit early next year. And I know this is a real source of concern. sort of attention and action for the UN as well. I’ll stop there. Thank you.

Nicole Manger: Thank you so much. And I will now introduce Dr. Anna Christmann. She has multiple heads in innovation technology in the German ecosystem, as member of parliament, amongst others. I guess most people here in New York know her from her role in the Secretary General’s high-level advisory body on AI. Anna, the floor is yours.

Anna Christmann: Yeah, thank you so much. I’m very happy to be part of this panel. And just mentioning first that I’m very inspired by the panels that we just had. And I think it’s an important signal that this panel takes place today in the context of the Global Digital Compact. I think that is just a very important signal of the relevance of digital common goods for the society on a global scale and all the things that we heard about leaving no one behind, strengthening the multi-stakeholder approach, access for everyone and everywhere. I think these are just very important principles and it’s good that they are here in New York in the context of the summit of the future. And then maybe two very concrete points to the questions. What is the call to action that we heard for the future now, building on what we heard today. It was all the great examples also, of course, what we have already as common global digital comments. And I would say one is to really be active now in building this international ecosystem of the multi-stakeholder approach of all the people who are involved already in the open source community and everything around, but also bringing all the other stakeholders into this field. And we heard states might not be the leaders so far, but bringing them as very active actors into this ecosystem. So I would invite us all to really start new hands on initiatives and. projects to co-design frontier open data and also AI solutions and I think there are also links to the work that we did at the high-level advisory body and artificial intelligence at the UN and we have the report which is a lot about capacity building and openness and I think that really links a lot to what we heard today. And of course they are crucial is bringing the people together have the ecosystem have also the investments and the multi-stakeholder governance I think that would be important principles for that. And then maybe mentioning also one very concrete thing that we can do from here on is bringing as a question of DPGs across policy fields and there of course in the UN context as a question of climate policy is one obvious one so bringing this idea and discussions that we had today also to the context of the COP I think would be very valuable as well and I think if everyone is active like we are also in Germany just to mention this very short with with also different initiatives around digital sovereignty data institutes as we are just building if we get this ecosystem on the global scale I think there’s lots to win for all of us. Thank you.

Nicole Manger: Thank you so much and so I guess in light of the timing Constanze and I will just wrap up. So it was our intention here today to convene high-level speakers from UN member states the United Nations and especially academia and civil society really to discuss best practices and a common understanding and I guess just linking to what Dr. Anna Christmann has said we really invite all of you to join our conversations to kick-start projects to really enable this global solutions architects, ecosystem on developing DPGs together.

Costanza Sciubba Caniglia: Yes, yes, thank you. Thank you everyone, it was a fantastic conversation that I am sure will lead to many more conversations. So to be continued, thank you everyone for participating.

A

Amandeep Gill

Speech speed

116 words per minute

Speech length

579 words

Speech time

297 seconds

DPGs and DPI are essential for inclusive, sustainable digital transformation

Explanation

Amandeep Gill emphasizes that digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructure (DPI) are vital for an equitable and sustainable digital future. He argues that these resources are key to democratizing access to knowledge and technological resources.

Evidence

The Global Digital Compact embeds an international commitment to global digital commons through digital public goods and digital public infrastructure.

Major Discussion Point

The importance of digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructure (DPI) for global development

Agreed with

Fabro Steibel

Alicia Buenrostro Massieu

Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi

Agreed on

Importance of DPGs and DPI for inclusive development

The Global Digital Compact provides a new foundation for DPG/DPI action

Explanation

Gill highlights that the Global Digital Compact, as part of the Pact for the Future, establishes a new basis for more meaningful action in the area of digital public goods and infrastructure. This document represents a significant step forward in international commitment to these resources.

Evidence

The Global Digital Compact embeds an international commitment to global digital commons through digital public goods and digital public infrastructure.

Major Discussion Point

The future of DPGs and digital governance

F

Fabro Steibel

Speech speed

194 words per minute

Speech length

552 words

Speech time

170 seconds

DPGs emerge faster in the Global South out of necessity

Explanation

Fabro Steibel points out that digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructure (DPI) tend to develop more quickly in the Global South due to pressing needs. He suggests that this is because these technologies are essential for spreading and equalizing wealth and power in these regions.

Evidence

Examples of DPGs from Brazil, such as CAR (rural environmental registry) and Pegabot (bot detection tool).

Major Discussion Point

The importance of digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructure (DPI) for global development

Agreed with

Amandeep Gill

Alicia Buenrostro Massieu

Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi

Agreed on

Importance of DPGs and DPI for inclusive development

A

Alicia Buenrostro Massieu

Speech speed

127 words per minute

Speech length

704 words

Speech time

330 seconds

DPGs and DPI are critical for closing the digital divide

Explanation

Alicia Buenrostro Massieu emphasizes the importance of digital public goods and infrastructure in reducing inequalities and promoting digital inclusion. She argues that these resources are essential for ensuring that technology benefits all people, particularly marginalized communities.

Evidence

Mexico’s efforts to develop inclusive digital infrastructure and tools for small and medium enterprises.

Major Discussion Point

The importance of digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructure (DPI) for global development

Agreed with

Amandeep Gill

Fabro Steibel

Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi

Agreed on

Importance of DPGs and DPI for inclusive development

E

Eileen Donahoe

Speech speed

130 words per minute

Speech length

829 words

Speech time

382 seconds

DPGs and DPI need universal safeguards to protect human rights

Explanation

Eileen Donahoe argues for the importance of incorporating universal safeguards into digital public goods and infrastructure to protect human rights. She emphasizes that development and human rights should not be seen as conflicting goals, but rather as complementary.

Evidence

The Universal Safeguards Initiative launched by the Office of the Tech Envoy and UNDP.

Major Discussion Point

The importance of digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructure (DPI) for global development

Need to balance development goals with protecting human rights

Explanation

Donahoe stresses the importance of integrating human rights protections into the design and development of digital public goods and infrastructure. She argues that development should not come at the expense of human rights, but rather should be a tool to achieve them.

Evidence

The Universal Safeguards Initiative with its foundational principle of ‘do no harm’.

Major Discussion Point

Challenges and considerations in developing DPGs

K

Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi

Speech speed

112 words per minute

Speech length

1070 words

Speech time

572 seconds

Governments need to provide legal frameworks and connectivity for DPGs

Explanation

Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi emphasizes the critical role of governments in creating an enabling environment for digital public goods. He argues that governments must establish legal frameworks and ensure connectivity to support the development and use of DPGs.

Evidence

Nigeria’s initiatives to promote connectivity, including a 9,000 km fiber optics project and digital literacy programs.

Major Discussion Point

The role of different stakeholders in developing and governing DPGs

Agreed with

Amandeep Gill

Fabro Steibel

Alicia Buenrostro Massieu

Agreed on

Importance of DPGs and DPI for inclusive development

Disagreed with

Jimmy Wales

Disagreed on

Role of government in DPG development

M

Marianne Díaz Hernández

Speech speed

143 words per minute

Speech length

573 words

Speech time

239 seconds

Civil society ensures DPGs remain transparent, inclusive and responsive to societal needs

Explanation

Marianne Díaz Hernández argues that civil society plays a crucial role in ensuring that digital public goods serve the public interest. She emphasizes the importance of community-led spaces and multi-stakeholder governance in creating transparent and inclusive digital commons.

Major Discussion Point

The role of different stakeholders in developing and governing DPGs

Agreed with

Urs Gasser

Jimmy Wales

Agreed on

Multi-stakeholder approach in DPG development and governance

Need for a paradigm shift to build technologies with the public in mind

Explanation

Díaz Hernández calls for a fundamental change in how we approach technology development. She argues for creating technologies that are built with the public interest as a core principle, rather than as an afterthought.

Major Discussion Point

The future of DPGs and digital governance

U

Urs Gasser

Speech speed

126 words per minute

Speech length

490 words

Speech time

232 seconds

Academia serves as creators, incubators and assessors of DPGs

Explanation

Urs Gasser highlights the multifaceted role of academia in the development of digital public goods. He argues that academic institutions and individuals contribute as trusted creators of knowledge, incubators of new projects, and assessors of the societal impact of DPGs.

Evidence

Examples of academic contributions to the digital commons, such as open access publishing and the incubation of projects like Global Voices and Creative Commons.

Major Discussion Point

The role of different stakeholders in developing and governing DPGs

Agreed with

Marianne Díaz Hernández

Jimmy Wales

Agreed on

Multi-stakeholder approach in DPG development and governance

J

Jimmy Wales

Speech speed

166 words per minute

Speech length

911 words

Speech time

327 seconds

Community-driven governance is key for successful DPGs like Wikipedia

Explanation

Jimmy Wales emphasizes the importance of community-driven governance in the success of digital public goods like Wikipedia. He argues that allowing the community to make rules and decisions leads to a more robust and responsive platform.

Evidence

Wikipedia’s community-driven policies and decision-making processes.

Major Discussion Point

The role of different stakeholders in developing and governing DPGs

Agreed with

Marianne Díaz Hernández

Urs Gasser

Agreed on

Multi-stakeholder approach in DPG development and governance

Disagreed with

Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi

Disagreed on

Role of government in DPG development

E

Emran Mian

Speech speed

171 words per minute

Speech length

289 words

Speech time

101 seconds

Importance of digital skills and trust/safety for DPG adoption

Explanation

Emran Mian highlights the critical role of digital skills and trust in the adoption of digital public goods. He argues that people need both the skills to use DPGs and the confidence that these technologies are safe and trustworthy.

Evidence

UK government’s work with partners in countries like Indonesia, Kenya, and Nigeria to help people acquire digital skills.

Major Discussion Point

Challenges and considerations in developing DPGs

N

Nicole Manger

Speech speed

120 words per minute

Speech length

889 words

Speech time

442 seconds

DPGs require robust funding mechanisms and data/AI literacy

Explanation

Nicole Manger points out the need for strong funding mechanisms to support the development of digital public goods. She also emphasizes the importance of data and AI literacy in leveraging DPGs effectively.

Major Discussion Point

Challenges and considerations in developing DPGs

R

Rebecca MacKinnon

Speech speed

130 words per minute

Speech length

802 words

Speech time

368 seconds

Multilingualism and local context are crucial for global DPGs

Explanation

Rebecca MacKinnon emphasizes the importance of multilingualism and local context in the development of global digital public goods. She argues that DPGs should reflect the linguistic and cultural diversity of their users to be truly inclusive and effective.

Evidence

Examples of Wikipedia versions in various languages, including indigenous languages like Waiyu.

Major Discussion Point

Challenges and considerations in developing DPGs

A

Anna Christmann

Speech speed

148 words per minute

Speech length

465 words

Speech time

187 seconds

Importance of bringing DPG discussions to other policy areas like climate

Explanation

Anna Christmann suggests expanding the discussion of digital public goods to other policy areas, particularly climate policy. She argues that integrating DPG concepts into broader policy discussions can enhance their impact and relevance.

Major Discussion Point

The future of DPGs and digital governance

Call for new hands-on initiatives to co-design frontier open data and AI solutions

Explanation

Christmann calls for practical initiatives to collaboratively design cutting-edge open data and AI solutions. She emphasizes the importance of multi-stakeholder involvement in these efforts to ensure their effectiveness and inclusivity.

Major Discussion Point

The future of DPGs and digital governance

Agreements

Agreement Points

Importance of DPGs and DPI for inclusive development

Speakers

Amandeep Gill

Fabro Steibel

Alicia Buenrostro Massieu

Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi

Arguments

DPGs and DPI are essential for inclusive, sustainable digital transformation

DPGs emerge faster in the Global South out of necessity

DPGs and DPI are critical for closing the digital divide

Governments need to provide legal frameworks and connectivity for DPGs

Summary

Multiple speakers emphasized the crucial role of digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructure (DPI) in promoting inclusive development, particularly in the Global South.

Multi-stakeholder approach in DPG development and governance

Speakers

Marianne Díaz Hernández

Urs Gasser

Jimmy Wales

Arguments

Civil society ensures DPGs remain transparent, inclusive and responsive to societal needs

Academia serves as creators, incubators and assessors of DPGs

Community-driven governance is key for successful DPGs like Wikipedia

Summary

Speakers agreed on the importance of involving multiple stakeholders, including civil society, academia, and community members, in the development and governance of DPGs.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the need to prioritize human rights and public interest in the development of digital technologies and infrastructure.

Speakers

Eileen Donahoe

Marianne Díaz Hernández

Arguments

DPGs and DPI need universal safeguards to protect human rights

Need for a paradigm shift to build technologies with the public in mind

Unexpected Consensus

Global South leadership in DPG development

Speakers

Fabro Steibel

Alicia Buenrostro Massieu

Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi

Arguments

DPGs emerge faster in the Global South out of necessity

DPGs and DPI are critical for closing the digital divide

Governments need to provide legal frameworks and connectivity for DPGs

Explanation

There was an unexpected consensus on the Global South’s leadership and innovation in DPG development, challenging the common perception of technological advancement being primarily driven by the Global North.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of agreement included the importance of DPGs and DPI for inclusive development, the need for multi-stakeholder involvement in DPG development and governance, and the recognition of human rights and public interest in digital technologies.

Consensus level

There was a high level of consensus among speakers on the fundamental importance and potential of DPGs and DPI. This strong agreement suggests a solid foundation for future collaborative efforts in developing and implementing DPGs globally, particularly in addressing development challenges in the Global South.

Disagreements

Disagreement Points

Role of government in DPG development

Speakers

Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi

Jimmy Wales

Arguments

Governments need to provide legal frameworks and connectivity for DPGs

Community-driven governance is key for successful DPGs like Wikipedia

Summary

While Abdullahi emphasizes the critical role of governments in creating an enabling environment for DPGs, Wales stresses the importance of community-driven governance. This represents a difference in perspective on the primary drivers of successful DPG development.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of disagreement revolve around the role of different stakeholders in DPG development and governance, as well as the approach to integrating human rights and public interest into DPG design.

Disagreement level

The level of disagreement among the speakers is relatively low. Most speakers agree on the importance of DPGs for global development and the need for inclusive, rights-respecting approaches. The differences mainly lie in the emphasis placed on various stakeholders’ roles and the specific strategies for implementation. These nuanced disagreements can actually be beneficial for developing a comprehensive approach to DPG development and governance, as they highlight different perspectives that need to be considered.

Partial Agreements

Partial Agreements

Both speakers agree on the importance of protecting human rights in the development of DPGs, but they differ in their approach. Donahoe advocates for universal safeguards, while Díaz Hernández calls for a more fundamental paradigm shift in how technologies are developed.

Speakers

Eileen Donahoe

Marianne Díaz Hernández

Arguments

DPGs and DPI need universal safeguards to protect human rights

Need for a paradigm shift to build technologies with the public in mind

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the need to prioritize human rights and public interest in the development of digital technologies and infrastructure.

Speakers

Eileen Donahoe

Marianne Díaz Hernández

Arguments

DPGs and DPI need universal safeguards to protect human rights

Need for a paradigm shift to build technologies with the public in mind

Takeaways

Key Takeaways

Digital public goods (DPGs) and digital public infrastructure (DPI) are essential for inclusive, sustainable global digital transformation

DPGs and DPI require multi-stakeholder collaboration between governments, civil society, academia, and communities

Universal safeguards and human rights protections must be built into DPGs and DPI by design

Community-driven governance and local context are crucial for successful global DPGs like Wikipedia

The Global Digital Compact provides a new foundation for international action on DPGs and DPI

Resolutions and Action Items

Incorporate the ‘Wikipedia test’ when developing digital policies to ensure they don’t harm open community projects

Bring DPG discussions to other policy areas like climate change and COP negotiations

Start new hands-on initiatives to co-design frontier open data and AI solutions as DPGs

Build a global ecosystem and multi-stakeholder governance structures for DPGs

Unresolved Issues

How to balance rapid development of DPGs with ensuring robust human rights protections

Sustainable funding mechanisms for DPGs and open-source projects

How to improve data and AI literacy to enable wider participation in DPG development

Addressing potential risks and misuse of DPGs and open data

Suggested Compromises

Develop universal safeguards for DPIs that protect rights while enabling development

Use AI and machine translation to accelerate growth of smaller language Wikipedias while maintaining local community involvement

Thought Provoking Comments

Well-governed commons are the foundations of human civilization. Digital is no exception, and today more than ever digital commons are vital to our interconnected world.

Speaker

Amandeep Gill

Reason

This comment frames digital commons as a fundamental part of modern civilization, elevating their importance.

Impact

It set the tone for the discussion by emphasizing the critical nature of digital commons in our interconnected world, encouraging participants to consider their broad societal impact.

DPIs emerge earlier and faster in the Global South than in the Global North. This is what research shows and most likely this is because out of necessity. In the Global South, we need better technologies to spread and equalize wealth and power.

Speaker

Fabro Steibel

Reason

This insight challenges the common assumption that technological innovation primarily comes from the Global North.

Impact

It shifted the conversation to consider the unique needs and contributions of the Global South in developing digital public infrastructure, broadening the global perspective of the discussion.

When we focus on development above human rights, instead of understanding development as a tool to achieve human rights, we risk creating systems that have not been designed with human rights as a principle, but as an afterthought.

Speaker

Marianne Díaz Hernández

Reason

This comment highlights a crucial tension between development and human rights in the context of digital technologies.

Impact

It deepened the conversation by emphasizing the need to prioritize human rights in the design and implementation of digital systems, encouraging a more nuanced approach to development.

If you’re about to pass some rule, think about, is this going to wreck Wikipedia? And if it is, it might not be a great rule.

Speaker

Jimmy Wales

Reason

This ‘Wikipedia test’ provides a simple yet powerful heuristic for evaluating digital policies.

Impact

It introduced a practical framework for policymakers to consider the impact of regulations on open, community-driven digital public goods, potentially influencing future policy discussions.

Academia can not only contribute in these different forms substantively to the formation of digital commons and digital public goods. It can also study and assess what we can learn about digital commons as we go forward, about the societal impact about the relevance, we can assess whether we pass the Wikipedia test when new policies are rolled out.

Speaker

Urs Gasser

Reason

This comment highlights the multifaceted role of academia in both creating and studying digital commons.

Impact

It expanded the discussion to include the importance of ongoing research and assessment in the development and governance of digital public goods, emphasizing a learning-oriented approach.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by broadening its scope from a primarily Western and government-centric view to a more global, multi-stakeholder perspective. They emphasized the critical importance of digital commons in modern society, highlighted the unique contributions of the Global South, stressed the need to prioritize human rights in technological development, introduced practical frameworks for policy evaluation, and underscored the role of academia in both creating and studying digital public goods. This resulted in a rich, nuanced conversation that considered the complex interplay between technology, policy, human rights, and global development in the context of digital public goods.

Follow-up Questions

How can we ensure digital public goods and infrastructure are designed with human rights as a core principle rather than an afterthought?

Speaker

Marianne Díaz Hernández

Explanation

This is important to ensure development of digital systems aligns with human rights and builds necessary trust.

How can we better enable civil society and communities globally to have a voice in how technology is developed?

Speaker

Costanza Sciubba Caniglia

Explanation

This is crucial for ensuring digital public goods reflect diverse needs and perspectives.

How can we apply the ‘Wikipedia test’ when developing new internet regulations and policies?

Speaker

Jimmy Wales

Explanation

This approach could help protect open communities and digital public goods when crafting new rules.

How can we strengthen the multi-stakeholder ecosystem for developing digital public goods?

Speaker

Anna Christmann

Explanation

Building a robust ecosystem with diverse stakeholders is key for advancing digital public goods.

How can we integrate digital public goods into climate policy discussions, such as at COP?

Speaker

Anna Christmann

Explanation

Bringing digital public goods into other policy areas could expand their impact and application.

How can we improve digital skills both for creating and using digital public goods?

Speaker

Emran Mian

Explanation

Enhancing digital skills is crucial for the development and adoption of digital public goods.

How can we ensure trust and safety in the creation and use of digital public goods?

Speaker

Emran Mian

Explanation

Trust and safety are fundamental for the continued creation and enjoyment of digital public goods.

Disclaimer: This is not an official record of the session. The DiploAI system automatically generates these resources from the audiovisual recording. Resources are presented in their original format, as provided by the AI (e.g. including any spelling mistakes). The accuracy of these resources cannot be guaranteed.

Multistakeholder Dialogue on National Digital Health Transformation

Multistakeholder Dialogue on National Digital Health Transformation

Session at a Glance

Summary

This discussion focused on the importance of digital public infrastructure (DPI) in transforming health systems and achieving universal health coverage. Experts from various countries and organizations shared insights on the challenges and opportunities in implementing digital health solutions.

The conversation emphasized three key pillars for successful digital health transformation: governance, architecture, and financing. Speakers highlighted the need for country-led digital strategies, strong regulatory frameworks, and sustainable funding models. The importance of interoperability, data sharing, and user-centered design was stressed throughout the discussion.

Examples from countries like Estonia, Kenya, and India demonstrated how digital solutions can improve healthcare access and efficiency. These included digital identity systems, health information exchanges, and streamlined registration processes. The potential of digital technologies to enhance assistive technology access was also explored, with Ireland’s initiatives serving as a case study.

Participants addressed challenges such as fragmentation in digital health systems, data privacy concerns, and the need for better tracking of digital health investments. The importance of involving communities and end-users in the design and implementation of digital health solutions was emphasized.

The discussion concluded with a call for global collaboration and knowledge sharing to accelerate digital health transformation. Speakers urged for increased investment in digital public infrastructure and emphasized the potential of digital solutions to reduce health inequities and improve healthcare access for all.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The importance of digital public infrastructure and architecture for transforming health systems

– The need for governance, financing, and coordination to enable digital health transformation

– Assistive technology as a use case for digital health infrastructure

– The importance of putting people and communities at the center of digital health efforts

– Examples of digital health initiatives from countries like Estonia, Kenya, Rwanda and India

The overall purpose of the discussion was to explore how investing in digital public infrastructure can accelerate progress toward universal health coverage and equitable health systems, with a focus on assistive technology as a key use case.

The tone of the discussion was largely optimistic and forward-looking, with speakers emphasizing the potential of digital technologies to transform health systems and improve access to care. There was also a sense of urgency about the need to coordinate efforts and invest strategically in digital infrastructure. The tone became more practical and example-focused toward the end when discussing specific country initiatives.

Speakers

Speakers:

– Leah Ekbladh (Moderator) – Executive Director at Digital Square

– Nele Leosk – Ambassador-at-Large for Digital Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Estonia

– Shane Stevens – First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Ireland to the United Nations

– Alain Labrique – Digital Health Director and Innovation Director, Science Division, World Health Organization

– Lisa Lewis-Person – Deputy Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, United States

– Hani Eskandar – Head of Digital Service Division, ITU

– Sean Blaschke – Senior Health Specialist for Digital Health and Information Systems Unit, UNICEF

– Mathilde Forslund – Executive Director, TransformHealth

– Kylie Shae – Team Lead for Access to Assistive Technology, WHO

– Malcolm MacLachlan – Co-director Assistant Living and Learning Institute, Maynooth University

– Vikram Pagaria – Director of IT, National Health Authority of India

Moderator:

– Leah Ekbladh – Executive Director at Digital Square

Areas of expertise:

– Digital health

– Digital public infrastructure

– Health policy

– Assistive technology

– Global health

– Digital transformation

– Health systems

– Digital governance

Full session report

Digital Public Infrastructure for Health Systems Transformation

This comprehensive discussion brought together experts from various countries and organizations to explore the critical role of digital public infrastructure (DPI) in transforming health systems and achieving universal health coverage. The conversation, moderated by Leah Ekbladh of Digital Square, focused on three key pillars for successful digital health transformation: governance, architecture, and financing.

Infrastructure and Architecture

Hani Eskandar from ITU emphasized the importance of digital public infrastructure, stating that DPI enables interoperability, reusability, and trust in digital health systems. This perspective was echoed by other speakers, who provided concrete examples of successful DPI implementation.

Nele Leosk, Ambassador-at-Large for Digital Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from Estonia, highlighted her country’s approach to digital identity and data sharing. Estonia’s success in solving interoperability issues through XRoute, addressing trust with digital ID, and creating reusable platforms was presented as a model for other nations to consider. Leosk also discussed Estonia’s national digital registration system and digitalized medical records, showcasing the country’s advanced digital health initiatives.

Vikram Pagaria from India’s National Health Authority shared the success of India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as an example of effective DPI. He also stressed the importance of standards like HL7 FHIR for ensuring interoperability across different health systems. Pagaria highlighted India’s digital health initiatives, including a QR code system for hospital registration and a project to establish 100 model facilities demonstrating the use of digital health technologies.

These examples underscored a key agreement among speakers: the crucial role of digital public infrastructure in enabling efficient, secure, and interoperable digital health systems.

Governance and Legal Frameworks

The discussion highlighted the need for strong governance mechanisms and legal frameworks to guide digital health transformation and protect data privacy. Nele Leosk emphasized the importance of these frameworks in the Estonian context, while Sean Blaschke pointed to Kenya’s Digital Health Act as an example of progressive legislation in this area. Blaschke also cited Rwanda’s e-government approach with embedded ICT teams as an example of effective country-led digital transformation.

Lisa Lewis-Person from the US Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT stressed the need for country leadership and ownership in digital health initiatives. She also discussed the Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP) and its focus areas, as well as the International Patient Summary project, which aims to standardize health information exchange across borders.

Financing Digital Health Transformation

Mathilde Forslund, Executive Director of TransformHealth, raised concerns about the current state of digital health funding, describing it as insufficient and fragmented. She emphasized the need to track and measure digital health investments more effectively and called for costed national digital health plans. Forslund also highlighted TransformHealth’s role in representing civil society and end-users in digital health discussions.

Vikram Pagaria provided a contrasting perspective, highlighting India’s significant investment of $20 million in its National Digital Health Mission. He also mentioned India’s issuance of 1.9 billion COVID certificates digitally, demonstrating the country’s capacity for large-scale digital health initiatives. This juxtaposition of views underscored the varying approaches to financing digital health transformation across different countries.

Assistive Technology as a Use Case

The discussion highlighted the potential of digital technologies to enhance access to assistive technology. Kylie Shae from WHO highlighted the large unmet need for assistive technology globally, while Malcolm MacLachlan from Maynooth University emphasized how digital solutions can help scale up access.

MacLachlan presented Ireland’s assistive technology passport as an innovative digital solution in this area. He also discussed the SHAPES project, which aims to create an integrated care platform for healthy aging. Shane Stevens provided additional information about Ireland’s investment in assistive technology, highlighting the country’s commitment to this area of digital health.

Global Initiatives and Collaboration

The discussion touched on several global initiatives aimed at promoting digital health transformation. Vikram Pagaria mentioned the Global Initiative on Digital Health (GIDH) launched by India during its G20 presidency, which aims to foster international cooperation in digital health. Lisa Lewis-Person discussed the Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP), emphasizing its role in facilitating knowledge sharing and collaboration among countries.

Challenges and Concerns

Despite the overall optimistic tone, speakers addressed several challenges in implementing digital health solutions. These included:

1. Fragmentation in digital health systems

2. Data privacy concerns

3. The need for better tracking of digital health investments

4. Ensuring that digital health initiatives do not exacerbate existing inequities in access to care

Community Involvement and User-Centered Design

A recurring theme throughout the discussion was the importance of involving communities and end-users in the design and implementation of digital health solutions. This point was raised in response to an audience question and resonated with many speakers, who agreed that user involvement is critical for the adoption and effectiveness of digital health systems.

Conclusion

The discussion concluded with a call for global collaboration and knowledge sharing to accelerate digital health transformation. Speakers urged for increased investment in digital public infrastructure and emphasized the potential of digital solutions to reduce health inequities and improve healthcare access for all.

Overall, the discussion highlighted the complex, multifaceted nature of digital health transformation, emphasizing the need for coordinated efforts across governance, infrastructure, and financing to realize the full potential of digital technologies in improving global health outcomes. The diverse examples from countries like Estonia, India, Kenya, Rwanda, and Ireland demonstrated the varied approaches to digital health implementation and the importance of tailoring solutions to local contexts while learning from global best practices.

Session Transcript

Leah Ekbladh: My name is Leah Ekbladh. I’m the executive director at Digital Square. It’s an initiative out of an international NGO called PATH. I’m joined here today with many esteemed colleagues that have a lot of rich information to share with us. So I’m gonna get us started. We all set? Okay. So welcome to a multi-stakeholder dialogue on investing in digital public infrastructure for equitable future health systems with assistive technology as a use case. This is part of the Summit for the Future Action Day Two. And this has been hosted by the Permanent Mission of Estonia to the United Nations, the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the International Telecommunications Union, the Global Disability Innovation Hub, and finally Transform Health. We’re gonna start our session off with actually a recorded message from the Nele Leosk, the Ambassador-at-Large for Digital Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from Estonia.

Nele Leosk: Good morning, everybody, and thank you for joining us. And it’s my real pleasure to kick off the digital discussion of the digital day also from Estonian side. And kick off, I would say, a week full of different discussions on different topics of digitalization. And I would really like to thank our co-organizers, World Health Organization, the Government of Ireland, ITU, Transformative Health, and many others who have actually today brought together two important topics. So I would say that we have two flies at once, bringing together digital health and digital public infrastructure. So as you know, Estonia is often referred to as a digital nation. And indeed, I immensely enjoy everything I can do online. Digital Signature has allowed me to participate in my city municipality council meeting. It has allowed me to vote. It has allowed me to rent my apartment, everything while being away from my own country. And some of these services, indeed, getting married, you can also do online. But let’s face it, how many times do we actually need these services? Some people get married once, maybe some get more, some never do. So actually, there are not so many times. We have a chance to use these services or these benefits that actually the government provides us, but it’s very different when it comes to health. Because every single person needs digital health care and health care services at every stage in their life. And I think this is also one of the reasons why health care has been Estonia’s priority area and will be also in the future. So we have invested heavily in making sure that every person in Estonia, no matter where they live, because it’s actually a very scarcely populated country. We have municipalities with some hundreds of people living there. And the task to bring health care services to all of them is an immense one. So we have in Estonia a national one digital registration system that would support us to see the availability of doctors all over the country. And I do have to admit, I had to use this service two weeks ago when I needed to find very quickly a surgeon to my kid. And I didn’t find availability in my own city. I had actually to drive 40 minutes to a neighboring city to visit a specialist quicker than I could in my own town. We have, and many maybe have also heard, a fully digitalized medical record. So the medical data about a person all comes together from different hospitals, different clinics. I can see my dental records, all my pictures taken, of course, given that I have given a permit to share my data. And we have also, for 10% of our patients, we have a medical record. population, a fully sequent genome. And that has really allowed us to step on the personal medicine so that our GPs don’t have to screen every patient for cancer, for example, but really those that have higher risk to be imposed to that kind of a disease or any other. But what has made all that possible is actually the second side of our topic today, and it’s digital public infrastructure. It is a rather newly coined term. It’s a good key, so it has many names. But what it really means to us is that the government has laid down, I would say, a basic foundation for digital development for everybody, not just government, but also every other partner. Is it the private sector? Is it a health care establishment? Is it even a private individual? And I would maybe bring out two reasons why we did that. So around 30 years ago, we realized in Estonia that actually the needs of our public sector for digitalization, but also private sector, are quite similar. We all needed to start to digitally authenticate ourselves. We had to give digital signature. We had to share data. And we realized that we cannot afford simply every municipality, every organization, every private sector, or even private health clinics, develop their own systems. First of all, we didn’t have resources for that. We did not have human or financial resources. But second of all, it was a matter of security. It was clear that a local municipality or a dental practice cannot simply develop systems secure enough. So this security by design principle has really helped us through to make sure that our data is protected and it is not misused. And this actually comes or takes me to the end of my opening remarks, I’m very much looking forward to hearing from the others, is that actually when we look at ourselves coming from very different countries here in this room, actually we are quite similar too. Despite our differences, we are quite similar. So since 2016, some of the systems that we are using in Estonia, for example our data sharing system, we are not developing alone. No country can do it alone, maybe with the exception of a few, but most of us cannot do it alone. So we coupled up with our closest friends, Finland, in 2016 and some of the solutions that we are using also for secure data exchange, including in healthcare sector, we are developing together with Finland. So we are saving our resources and they are saving theirs, and we make these tools also available for everybody else. We have also some international collaboration. I see Honey here from ITU. We have an initiative called GovStack that follows the same principle, that there are some solutions, for example consent service, that we all need in healthcare sector and we don’t have to reinvent it every time we need it. So I end with a call for collaboration between all of us. I encourage not only to share, but also to reuse. So thank you from my side.

Leah Ekbladh: Thank you. It’s a treat that you’re here in person. That was a wonderful surprise. So hearing a little bit about data protection, data use, and data being in our lives, and digital being in our lives, from registering your marriage to seeking health care, I think is a great way for us to start. I’m going to pass it over now to Mr. Shane Stevens. He’s the first Secretary for the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the United Nations to share his remarks.

Shane Stevens: Leah, thank you very much and thanks also to the World Health Organization for giving us this opportunity to partner with you again. It was great to hear from… Ambassador Liask there. And once again, to be reminded of what an important force Estonia is in this world of digital technology and the e-government. We have a lot to learn. It’s great. I just want to say that personally, that we consider it a great privilege to be able to contribute to this progressive and equity-based agenda. We’re all here today, of course, to explore how best digital infrastructure can accelerate progress on the achievement of universal health coverage, and more broadly, SDG 3, health and well-being for all. Ireland’s international development policy puts global health center stage, and Ireland’s partnership with the WHO is a core component of that approach. We continue to strengthen our partnership with the WHO in recognition of the leadership role it plays at the heart of the global health architecture. As we’re all aware, one of the focus areas of this action day, too, is digital futures. And in a few days, during a high-level week, our Tornista, Miho Martin, our Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, will engage in a high-level interactive dialogue towards a digital future. So this is an important theme for us on an ongoing basis. I look forward to hearing today about the potential and opportunities of digital health infrastructure during this morning’s event. In the second session of this morning’s event, we will be exploring an important aspect of digital health infrastructure that related to digital and assistive technologies. Ireland is focused on promoting the full inclusion of people with disabilities in our society and progressing the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We also recognize the importance of investing in digital health infrastructure to ensure that every person, including persons with disabilities, has access to the same health services as every other person throughout their life course. We are committed to taking action to improve health equality. Ireland ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2018 and highlighted the importance placed on access, production, and research into assistive technologies for persons with disabilities. We also recognize the recommendations of the Global Report on Assistive Technology and the role of assistive technology in ensuring improved health incomes, inclusion, and participation for about one third of the population. Ireland was present at the launch of the Global Report in 2022, and our Taoiseach, Prime Minister, gave the keynote address on that occasion. Our engagement in this area and our support culminated in the recent announcement of the Global LEAD Agreement between the WHO and Ireland in May this year. Through our Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Ireland is investing $12.5 million in partnership with the WHO over the next five years for its Digital Assistive Technology Initiative. This partnership will help strengthen affordable and equitable access to assistive technology globally, and will focus on innovation in people-centered rights-based service delivery models with the aim of harnessing the potential of digital assistive technology to strengthen the interconnected pillars of people, policy, products, provision and personnel. Through the leadership of the WHO and the engagement of other member states, Ireland strongly believes that collective action to support improvements in health infrastructure will result in driving positive change. I look forward to the rest of today’s discussions. Thank you.

Leah Ekbladh: Thank you, First Secretary Stevens. It’s very important for us to keep equity in mind as we go forward to make sure that the digital enhancements we’re talking about in the health system don’t create further divides in access to care. To follow up on that, I’m going to introduce Dr. Alain Labrique. He’s the Digital Health Director and Innovation Director at the Science Division at the World Health Organization. He’ll be telling us a bit more about fostering digital health transformation and the lessons learned from the World Summit of Information Society C7 Action, and also update us on the WHO Guide Initiative.

Alain Labrique: Fantastic. Thank you, Leah. I really appreciate everyone’s partnership. and engagement this morning, what an outstanding show of solidarity we have. I know it was a competitive process to get people into this room, but it’s a packed room, and it’s a pleasure to have you here. Thank you especially to our colleagues from the governments of Ireland, Estonia, and the U.S., the Global Disability Hub, ITU, UNICEF, and Transform Health. Distinguished colleagues and fellow digital health champions, good morning, and it’s really an exciting program with experts that you’re going to be hearing from from around the world, and let me start by setting the scene with a few focused slides. The role of digital in creating resilient health systems became increasingly clear during the pandemic. Over the last two years, WHO and partners have been working to meet the demands from countries to help shift the conversation of a decade of, let me just say very plainly, playing with digital solutions as piecemeal band-aids to vertical challenges towards now what we’re talking about, carefully planned and executed digital health systems. Digital public infrastructure is the underlying fabric, as we’ve heard from our two speakers this morning, on which other systems, whether it’s banking, education, and of course health, are built. More than 120 member states have articulated a digital health strategy, but we have struggled to convert these visions and ideals into action. A proliferation of solutions exists as a result of donor-driven investments, while the foundational elements that we’ve heard about this morning from our colleagues in Estonia that are needed for systematic digital transformation remain neglected. Who are the custodians of a national digital transformation? What is the budget to build and maintain what we call the commons or infrastructure? What are the standards on which the entrepreneurs developing digital solutions build to ensure interoperability? Together, we need to develop the architecture and and guidance, which is what we’re doing right now with WHO and ITU and UNICEF, under the guide initiative, as well as to mobilize the resources to move into this upper right quadrant of what we call strong enabling environments. We see there to be at least three foundational pillars or legs of the stool necessary for achieving sustainable and inclusive digital health transformation. These are governance, architecture, and financing. Following our moderated discussion around these three pillars today, we will zoom in on one of the many areas that could be enabled by these functions, by these critical foundations. Assistive technologies, for example, enhanced by digital, and access to assistive technologies strengthened by strong, robust digital systems. Assistive technology is an underserved area in most health systems with significant global inequities in access to coverage. We cannot keep talking about health for all and universal health coverage without, as our distinguished colleague from Ireland just said, inclusivity and equity baked into the DNA of what we do in digital. Effective financing, governance, and the foundational architecture that support digital health interventions can be powerful enablers to assistive technology, as well as many, many other domains of health. National transformation has to be guided by clear priorities with the curation of multiple stakeholders, funders, and constituents entrusted to one or more public agencies. It’s another thing that I think Estonia and several other governments have begun to do, demonstrating the leadership of the public sector in sustaining and creating that commons. The public agencies entrusted with this responsibility are responsible for building, managing, and maintaining these digital commons, public goods, and resources. Across income lines, we see countries following this approach, defining national digital transformation as agencies to curate the shift from what I called e-chaos to… e-coordination, where we have, as exemplars, the U.S., Indonesia, Kenya, and so many others, which have defined this core pillar of the stool. The World Summit on Information Society, also known as WISIS, as well as the new Global Initiative on Digital Health, you see the shameless banners on either side of me here, are platforms. These are multilateral platforms to promote country leaderships, putting countries at the center of their digital transformation. The second leg of the stool, National Digital Public Infrastructure, or DPIs, creates the environments in which entrepreneurships thrive. Core elements such as digital identity, payments, and shared services remove the burden on entrepreneurs to have to recreate these foundational pieces every time a new system is built. But also the lack of standards and interoperability exacerbates already fragmented care and creates poor user-centered experiences. Let me move to one of our sister agencies, UNDP, in their recent DPI report that came out of the India G20 process, where I know the graphic may be a little small, but it explains very nicely how there are some core DPI functions. These foundations, such as strategic leadership, strong policy frameworks, are essential to that enabling environment to ensure that DPIs are implemented successfully. Second, we have what we call foundational or core DPIs, and these are the digital commons. They are reusable infrastructural assets that strengthen digital transformation across sectors, banking, education, health, you name it. These are the things, as our colleague from Estonia said earlier, you may or may not use every day or every month, but they also are so embedded in our daily transactions that are now digital that we often don’t even realize how essential they are to smooth functioning. There’s nothing as frustrating as turning on the tap and not having water come out, or plugging in your device to charge it and realize there’s no electricity coming through the port. These are things that, in much of the world, you assume to be part of the infrastructure of societies, but in sad truth, they are not equitably distributed around the globe, and the same is now true for digital. Second, we also see on top of these core foundational infrastructure that are digital identity, digital payments, interoperability, and so forth, we also see that every sector has digital public infrastructure dedicated to that sector. In health, these are, for example, canonical registries, so lists that are definitive of the health workforce, of patients, persistent health records that allow for continuity of care across vertical service deliveries. And even as WHO recently took on the burden of hosting, last year, digital public infrastructure that allows the verifiability of health certificates as we as citizens travel across national borders and within countries that our own health records can be verified as we move around. So together, these three pieces represent public goods, which if not addressed specifically, suffer from what we call the tragedy of the commons. If they’re not financed, if they’re not governed, and if they’re not clearly architected, these are the 21st century roads, highways, and electrical infrastructure that were fundamentally responsible for unlocking industrialization and drastically improving health outcomes almost a century ago. Last but not least, let me end with the third leg of the stool, and that is financing. And to achieve sustainable and inclusive digital health transformation, we need a vast improvement in the availability and alignment of resources. We started speaking earlier about, you know, we’re playing around in digital for the last 10 years. Now is the time to get serious. And with moving from experimentation to serious infrastructure also means an accompanying serious financing commitment. And I think that’s what countries are asking us to look at. According to OECD, 0.4% of $350 billion of development assistance were dedicated to digital initiatives. That is insufficient to drive the transformation that we’re talking about today. How much of this investment is supporting the digital commons? Not the shiny objects, but the commons. How much of this is creating disease-specific shiny objects? So let’s support governments in doing more with the resources that we have and in helping to align the resources that are being put into this field. And let’s shepherd digital transformations that truly enable health for all. Thank you.

Leah Ekbladh: Thank you. We’re going to continue our discussion around these three pillars, the three legs of the stool, with a bit of a panel discussion here. We’re going to be talking about the challenges and the opportunities moving from a fragmented digital transformation to a country-led digital transformation of health systems. And we’ll be pulling on those three pillars of financing, governance, and architecture in our panel to give you a flavor of some of those challenges and opportunities. And then we’ll move on to the case study. So our first speaker, again, will be virtual for us. It’s Ambassador Alexandre Ghisleni, the head of special office for international affairs at the Ministry of Health of Brazil.

Alexandre Ghisleni: I’d like to commend the WHO for holding this timely event. on national digital health transformation. It converges with our priorities at the G20 and the work that have been doing in G20. Minister Nisa Trindade, Brazil’s Minister of Health, has chosen as the main overarching theme for the Brazilian presidency of the health track the theme of building resilient health systems, which is a multifaceted task. We have been approaching it from many different angles. We have been talking about AMR, climate change. We have been talking about health workforce, pandemic preparedness, including local production of vaccines, medicines, and diagnostic tools for neglected diseases and neglected populations. All of these tasks must converge to the same objective. And one element that is key to all of them, which helps connect them, is digital health. Digital health makes our health systems be more efficient, makes it reach underserved areas, makes it provide services that were not available before, which is why, during our presidencies, we have been discussing artificial intelligence. We have been discussing telehealth, including telemedicine, and also the implementation of a guide of the global initiative on digital health, which was launched by the WHO. We’re fully supportive of implementing this global initiative to the fullest, of making it serve the interests of developing countries, and especially people that are in the most vulnerable situations. Bringing it to the United Nations and helping the discussion move forward in the global arena is an objective that we share and we support. We’d like to wish you all a great event and lots of success. Thank you very much.

Leah Ekbladh: Thank you. My first question is to Lisa Lewis-Person. She’s the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy, the Deputy National Coordinator for Operations, the Chief Operating Officer, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT for the United States. Ms. Person, my first question is around the fragmented digital health systems and how they frequently stem from a long history of investment from fragmented vertical health areas. So, funding for maternal and child health, funding for HIV. What suggestions do you have for us for fostering alignment and coordination between the different owners of existing systems to ensure effective integration and data sharing across these health verticals?

Lisa Lewis-Person: Thank you for the question, Emil. Hello. Thank you all so much for having me and thank you to my esteemed colleagues and to the WHO for the Global Initiative on Digital Health and for hosting this very important conversation. I’m a believer that information is the great equalizer and our digital health systems is the way to bring equality to healthcare. So thank you all for the work that you are doing. I would say I know I chose the right field because I would rather not be doing anything than this on a Saturday morning. So although countries have different healthcare systems, we speak different languages, we have different populations that we serve, we have many commonalities. And as you’ve heard this morning, how we use our digital health systems is one of those commonalities. We also have the opportunity to move in the same direction as we advance the use of digital health to be able to address the fragmentation of systems and improve health outcomes, which is the ultimate goal. I believe the strongest way to overcome this type of fragmentation is for all of us to work collaboratively through key digital health leadership organizations that advance alignment of digital health efforts and systems. We cannot solve the global digital health fragmentation problem alone. We must work in concert with other countries and global digital health groups, such as this forum, the WHO’s Global Initiative on Digital Health. The guide is focusing on how to help countries at all levels of digital health overcome obstacles in a variety of areas, and this is critical work. We also have the Global Digital Health Partnership, or GDHP, which is a collaboration of 40 country governments and the WHO, which was formed to support the executive implementation of worldwide digital health services. The GDHP’s members include digital health leaders who focus on advancing global digital health in clinical and human engagement, in cybersecurity, which we heard is critical to all of us, evidence and evaluation, interoperability, and policy environments. The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy within the U.S. co-chairs the Cybersecurity and the interoperability work streams, and we are the immediate past chairs of the GDHP. I want to thank every country that participates either in GUIDE or the GDHP. Thank you for your membership and your partnership. I want to thank Elise Anthony for being the senior executive who is responsible for our global digital health efforts and Aisha Hassan for leading our global digital health portfolio. There are many examples of the types of projects that are the result of collaborative engagements through groups like GDHP and GUIDE, such as progressing and implementing the International Patient Summary, which allows individuals to access their patient data whenever and wherever they need to do so. That puts the care of the patient back at the center of what we are doing and puts it in their own hands. It’s important that they receive this information in a seamless, safe, and secure manner, and so we work to do that through patient-mediated and provider-mediated exchanges within countries, between countries, and across the world, such as the 2024 Hajj pilgrimage, where Indonesia, Malaysia, Oman, and Saudi Arabia were able to exchange patient data. This example demonstrates that if we work together as leaders, we can avoid digital health transformation happening in silos. The digital world knows no borders. We serve our citizens best when we work together collaboratively to improve health outcomes by addressing compelling issues in digital health, such as the fragmentation of digital health systems. Thank you so much.

Leah Ekbladh: Thank you. I’m going to turn my next question to Hani Eskandar. He’s the head of the Digital Service Division at the ITU, and hoping we can talk a little bit about ways that we can use architecture to defragment some of those health silos and making sure that we can exchange safely those digital health streams. Last December, WHO led the publication of an article in the Oxford Open Digital Health featuring the full-stack approach. This approach highlights the importance of open standards, technology, architecture, and content to adjust the challenges of fragmentation. At the Global Initiative on Digital Health Multistakeholder Dialogue in May this year, both WHO and the ITU kicked off the work on a reference architecture for digital transformation of health systems. Can you tell us more about that guidance and who the intended users are? And then, if there is time, what’s next on that agenda?

Hani Eskandar: Thank you very much, Leah, and good morning, good afternoon, everyone. Maybe just I would like to acknowledge that maybe we are not all aware we are in a juncture historical moment in the digital health history, and I am not exaggerating. For those who are involved in digital health since a long, long time ago, we’ve been always saying the same thing, the digital health fragmentation, experimentation, duplication, etc. And I would like to acknowledge in UNGA 2024, the first time architecture is the focus of the discussion. And this is, for me, is a strategic and radical shift in the mindset of the people who are involved in digital health. Let me maybe explain this in really one minute, just to try to explain why architecture is so important. We’ve been very much dominated by what you can call a solution mindset. Basically, I have a problem, I develop an application to solve my solution. There is a huge difference, and this is what we have learned after so many years, even at our agencies. We have discovered that building a solution is not the same as transforming a sector or digitizing a sector. Those are completely two different things, and the approaches are different, and investments are different. Why? Because if you are talking about digitally transform the health sector, you need to develop and deploy decentralized systems, meaning that you need to have your solution pull data and share data across the whole system and even outside of the boundaries of the health sector. And you cannot do that without doing three things. Enabling interoperability, solving the issue of reusability, and create trust. And by the way, this is not related only to health. All the countries and sectors who managed to transform using digital, they managed to solve those three things first. Estonia is a great example. What did Estonia do? They solved interoperability through XRoute, they solved the issue of trust by ID, and they solved the issue of reusability by creating those kind of shared and reusable platforms. If you don’t have those things, you cannot share data in a trusted manner. And if you are not able to share data across the system and beyond the system, you cannot talk about digital transformation. So the way to do that is the missing thing that we have never given enough focus to is the magic word is architecture. Architecture. If you, there is one thing you need to get out of this session is the word, there is a new thing called architecture. DPI, what’s DPI? Digital Public Infrastructure. Digital Public Infrastructure is basically the implementation of an architecture. The DPI has a component that can enable all those three things, reusability, interoperability, and trust. So this is not a trivial, this is not just a new buzzword, this is not just a nice thing that international agencies are excited about and brings conferences, etc. This is the core of the problem of investments in health, digital health, because everyone is doing, concerned with their own problem, but no one is looking at the overall system. So to solve this issue, what we are going to do, and actually we started to do this, we are going to create something that, long name, DPI Based Reference Architecture for Digital Health Transformation. So basically developing an architecture for digital health is not an easy task. It requires a lot of, and actually the most rare skill is the architect. I think for those who are involved in digital, they know a good architect is like a blessing. So, what we’re going to do, we’re going to do the homework for countries is to give them a blueprint, like an example, a model of an architecture. But more importantly is that this architecture is not only, is not considering that health is a silo. No. Health is part of the overall digital transformation. We need now to, not to talk about digital health transformation, we need to talk health in digital transformation. Health should be part of the overall digital transformation of a government. And that’s why developing an architecture that takes this into consideration is key. How we are going to do it? Very practically in 30 seconds. We have a call, which is still open by the way, calling for countries, experts, individuals, organizations who have any experience in developing similar architectures. There are, the good news is that there are a lot of things that have been done. We have very good examples from Estonia, from India, from so many other countries. We have initiatives, open HIE, so there are a lot. Our role as international organizations is to try to compile this and do the homework for the countries to say, let’s try to give you an example of an architecture. And by the way, this work will be driven by an excellent piece of work that WHO did, which is the SMART guidelines. The SMART guidelines, if you really understand them, it’s a reference use case. It’s an example of saying how you design care, how you deliver care in the digital era. What is missing from the SMART guidelines, and that was my comment to WHO, if you give the SMART guidelines to countries, they will end up having duplication of application. If you don’t have architecture in the middle, so this is the next step that we are going to do. We are going to pull a group, a working group, and you are all invited, if you have the expertise of course, to join this group because it’s difficult, right? So we really need to make sure that we do the hard work to give this kind of reference specification, but in doing so, we’re going to involve people from the digital government and I think Nelly mentioned the GovStack initiative and many other initiatives that are looking at the DPI in general, so we try to bring this so that health doesn’t become a silo sector. No, health needs to be part of the digital transformation. So you are all invited, it’s a call for all you to, if you have the time and expertise and the will, and by the way, this session is so important that people came on a Saturday and even being in ITU, there is a very exciting event that is happening, which is SDG Day and decided to leave it and come to this session because of the architecture.

Leah Ekbladh: Well, we know that countries themselves need to both govern and invest in this architecture. And my next question is for Sean Blaschke, he’s the Senior Health Specialist for Digital Health and Information Systems Unit at UNICEF. And we’re going to stay on that topic of architecture. And Sean, many of us have experienced the shift in political commitment to interventions with a change in government. How can a complex and expansive journey of digital transformation survive and transcend electoral and political shifts in the countries where we work and live?

Sean Blaschke: Thanks, Leah. I’m going to try to apply the same architecture framework to legislation, policy, compliance, building block, and talk a bit about a couple of countries that I think have demonstrated how they’ve done this successfully. So first, I’d like to talk a bit about Kenya. Kenya has been working for a while in terms of both devolving healthcare delivery, but also providing a roadmap, a superhighway for digital transformation. But the Kenya government had been challenged under the previous administration. The Digital Health Act had been stuck in draft for, I believe, five or six years. Technology was changing. The needs of the government was changing. But the Ministry of Health, they were constrained quite significantly without having a national vision codified into law to help guide the country. When the current president, President Ruto, was campaigning, this was something that his advisors were asking, well, you know, how do we get the interest of the youth, the young people, entrepreneurs? And he pledged during his campaign. campaign to prioritize digital transformation, technology, digital health, and as soon as he was elected, his staff and his constituents held him to task. And in almost record time, I think six, seven months, they were able to take an act that had been stagnated for many years and quickly turned that into legislation and policy. I’d note a few things that the Digital Health Act in Kenya also included linked to architecture and has helped, I think, accelerate work over the last few months. You know, one is that it’s heavily grounded in the Health Information Exchange architecture and standards, but without being prescriptive. Prescriptive around architecture and standards, not prescriptive around solutions. Kenya is a devolved country and the Ministry of Health did not want to dictate every last solution to the counties. What they did want and need to dictate were the rules of the game. What needs to be shared, how it needs to be shared, and with whom. And so I think this has been something that has really contributed to Kenya capitalizing on a lot of the opportunities that they had that were nascent without that national act in place. The second country quickly to talk about is Rwanda. And Rwanda, I want to talk about the governance side of this. Rwanda has been investing for many years in a e-gov approach where they have the Ministry of Health and then they have an authority under the Ministry of Health which is responsible for operationalizing the national laws and policies. Key to this is that they’ve embedded teams within each of the sectoral line ministries. There are people from the ICT authorities sitting within the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Water. These are senior architects and business analysts. These aren’t software engineers, but people who can see the big picture, can connect the dots. and can identify and corral a lot of very different divergent interests towards, again, a common set of public goods. The one thing I would note, or the example I’d note that has, I think, accelerated health sector work in Rwanda was investment in digital identity. Birth registration in Rwanda in 2017 was 56%. As of today, it’s over 93%. This is a huge increase in a handful of years. This was done in part due to business process optimization, cutting unnecessary extra steps. It was done through policy reform that mandated the health sector to issue birth certificates, IDs, at the point of birth. So a one-stop shop where the mother did not need to take their child to a separate location, and digitization. And we’ve seen, during the COVID response, for example, how Rwanda was able to identify and monitor the delivery of every last dose and report on it. And again, this would not have been possible without years’ worth of investments in terms of that overall governance architecture, the multi-sectoral governance architecture, and investments in key DPI as a result of it, including digital identity. So I think echoing many other speakers here, there’s really a need for development partners, funders, donors, to rethink how we are supporting member states to invest in digitally transforming the health sector, not in a piecemeal, program-by-program, vertical fashion, but at minimum contributing to a larger architecture and strengthening the legislation, the policies, the infrastructure, the human resources required for it to be successful. Thanks.

Leah Ekbladh: It’s great to have a story to put behind it. I think that’s really helpful to kind of ground us in where we are and to think about how even a change in government can enhance a lot of the work that we’ve been doing. Something else that can enhance the work we’re doing is on the financial side. And I’m going to invite Mathilde Forslund from TransformHealth, she’s the executive director of TransformHealth, to talk about one of the key challenges to digital health transformation and that being the lack of information about what is funded and then what resources still remain to be funded. And that can lead to not only fragmenting how we implement digital transformation, but fragmentation among donors who are helping on that journey. What would you like to see from governments, from the multilateral agencies, including one sitting to your left and right, and other donors in the room, prioritize in the light of the global digital compact and the summit of the future to advance better tracking and optimization of funding toward universal health coverage?

Mathilde Forslund: Thank you. That’s a big question. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to speak here today. So as Lea said, I’m the executive director of TransformHealth. And for those of you that don’t know TransformHealth, we’re a global coalition of more than two hundred organizations working to harness the potential of digital transformation to achieve universal health coverage by 2030. So as we all gathered here at the UNGA in New York, at the sidelines of the summit of the future, and as I think the only representative of society on this panel, we must recognize that we are at a pivotal moment for bold, coordinated action to close the digital divide and drive progress towards universal health coverage. We need to ensure that digital transformation and the use of AI is built on equity and rights-based principles that truly serve everyone, everywhere. We need to invest in strong legislative and regulatory environments to guide digital transformation of health, including stronger health data governance regulation to govern the collection and use of data and spur responsible innovation. So as Alan said also earlier in his presentation, we also need to ensure that investment in digital transformation is coordinated and aligned, which is why our call as Transform Health, a key call to action over the last few years, has been to call on governments, donors, and private sector leaders to come together and align resources and efforts. And this is in response to a common focus on tech solutions and isolated pilot projects that have emerged in the absence of national digital health strategies and tracking of resources. Interventions may address a vertical disease area rather than the wider ecosystem, and this leads to an expensive and fragmented approach to the digitalization of health services. So as we move forward from solutions-focused digital health initiatives to holistic national digital health transformation of health systems, having clear and costed plans in place will ensure that stakeholders prioritize areas most in need of funding and most available to deliver health impact for all. So in 2022, Transform Health published a conceptual framework titled Closing the Digital Divide, More and Better Funding for the Digital Transformation of Health Systems. To better understand the sustainable digital transformation of health systems, and our engagement around the G20 India, G20 Brazil, and the Global Initiative on Digital Health have centered around the key recommendations from this report. We know that digital transformation is critical investment areas in health, and yet investment in digital health are falling short of the estimated 12.5 billion that is needed for digital transformation of health in low and middle income countries. So beyond the funding shortfall, another challenge is that digital health investment is not measured or tracked routinely or in a standardized way. This information is often across different data sources and categories, and this makes it challenging to quantify the funding needed, make the case for resources, coordinate funding, and to hold different stakeholders accountable. So, at this week’s UNGA, the Global Digital Compact also calls for increased investment for the development of digital public goods and digital public infrastructure, especially in developing countries. The compact highlights that digital transformation should be integrated to development assistance. But ultimately, we cannot increase what we cannot measure. As long as investment in digital health continues to be wrapped into vertical silos and programming, governments will struggle to identify and strengthen digital public infrastructure for health. So, if we instead integrate the tracking of digital health investment as part of the routine process for health systems planning and budgeting, we will give leaders better data to make funding decisions in the face of budget tradeoffs, ensure that digital health investment reinforces the UHC agenda, and support advocates, civil society, and health workforce in holding governments accountable so that funds reach the priorities and those most in need. It will be really important that we build the evidence base on what the digital health ecosystem can learn from other successful efforts to track financing for other complex investment areas such as climate, gender equity, PHC, HIV and AIDS, and nutrition. We also need to leverage existing tracking mechanisms such as the OECDAC reporting and the national health accounts. Ultimately, driving investment to DPI, DPI health, and digital health, equipped with a clear framework to measure and quantify the need while ensuring resources are directed to the greatest priorities, is critical to advancing the digital transformation of health systems and achieving universal health coverage. Thank you.

Leah Ekbladh: Thank you, Mathilde. We heard a lot from our panel around those three pillars that Elan mentioned. had spoken about at the beginning of our session around the financing of the investment case, the country-led investment that needs to be involved, around the government’s needs, what are those national needs, and what partners and local capacity strengthening need to happen in order to realize the governance that needs to happen around digital transformation, and then, again, three cheers for architecture, and talking about that digital public infrastructure, and then the quality assurance and making sure that the data is that equalizer. What I’d like to do now is have everyone hold questions around that digital transformation. We are going to have some Q&A, but before we do that, we are going to talk about that use case and talk about assistive technology as that use case. So I’m going to introduce Kylie Shae. She’s the team lead for access to assistive technology at WHO.

Kylie Shae: Thank you very much, Leah, and yes, I’m now bringing you to the cold face, you know, why are we doing all of this with just one example, and the montage of photographs on the screen is there to remind us all that assistive technology encompasses a very broad and diverse range of assistive products, including those that support people in the functional domains of cognition, communication, hearing, mobility, daily self-care, and also vision, and on the slide, you will see people of all ages in different settings using assistive products such as wheelchairs, walking aids, glasses, hearing aids, and memory devices, and these are just a few common examples of assistive products. However, there are many more, and the successful provision and use of these devices requires systems and policies that ensure people can access affordable, quality, safe products appropriately fitted and maintained with the support of trained personnel. So, WHO estimates as many as 2.5 billion people need at least one assistive product, so that is one in three of us, and the ratio increases as people age with as many as two to three of us needing assistive technology after the age of 65, but despite the need and all the benefits to individuals, communities, and society as a whole, there is a stark inequity of access, with as few as 3 to 10 percent of people in low-income countries having the assistive technology they need, compared to 90 percent having access in high-income countries. Many barriers exist, including a lack of awareness and understanding of the need, and indeed the potential savings for health care delivery. when people have timely access. And of course, critical challenges in terms of services and workforce capacity and the reach to deliver assistive technology, which extends to the ability of countries to respond to the surge in need during humanitarian crisis. WHO recognizes access to assistive technology as an integral component of universal health coverage. And we are working with countries, with UN partners and others to support integration of assistive technology throughout the health system, addressing areas including better data, supply chain issues, policy and provision systems and workforce. Our work includes looking to the future to see how we can ensure that assistive technology is seen as a priority use case for the application of digital health initiatives. And most importantly, is factored into the design and the implementation of digital public infrastructure for health so we become part of this integrated collaborative solution. We are particularly proud of our partnership with the government of Ireland and the opportunity of the global award that the first secretary mentioned earlier, which is intended to help address that global inequity of access to assistive technology with a deliberate focus on digital technologies addressing the most problematic of those access barriers. And we very much look forward to sharing our progress at future digital health forums. And with that, I would like to hand over to Professor Malcolm MacLachlan, who is the co-director Assistant Living and Learning Institute from Maynooth University and an advisor to the Irish health system, who although he could not be with us in person is gonna share just a few perspectives and examples of work in Ireland in this area. So thank you.

Malcolm MacLachlan: Good morning, everyone. And thank you, Kylie. And so I want to talk to you about. how much digital can add to the impact of assistive technologies. If we consider the WHO Global Initiative on Digital Health, it’s focused very much around universal health coverage and the health-related sustainable development goals. So in other words, coverage for all and leaving nobody behind. And surely these two central ideas are going to be key indicators of our success with digital health. So I believe assistive technology is a really compelling use case for digital public infrastructure. And especially so to be discussed at this summit of the future. I think it’s important for you all to have some idea of the scale of need for assistive technology. Kylie has already touched on this. But who does need assistive technology? So people with disabilities clearly need assistive technology. And the WHO 22 report on global health equity for persons with disability has highlighted that this group has the worst health outcome of any particular group. Really important to understand these poor health outcomes are not because of an intrinsic disability, but rather they’re because of barriers that people face in accessing health services. Also the ageing population, obviously with more ageing people, there will be more functional difficulties. And assistive technology can help alleviate and allow people to operate with these conditions. Also more people living with chronic illnesses. So here we’re often talking about habilitation rather than rehabilitation. People living well. with a difficulty and enjoying a better quality of life. And of course, then there’s people with acquired injuries. Just think of the thousands of people at present injured through current conflicts. Many of them in the short term will need assistive technologies, but many will also need them well into the longer term. So I believe that digital technologies offer huge opportunities to remove barriers. For instance, if we look at the sort of five pillars around promoting inclusive assistive technology, digital can help us promote a person-centered approach. It can help us enhance a supportive policy framework, and it can help with the supply of appropriate assistive products. This also relates to the effective provision system, and this must be integrated throughout health and welfare systems at the different levels. And digital has a huge role in supporting an appropriately trained workforce. Some practical examples of work in Ireland we’re exploring with WHO through our global collaboration with them on digital and assistive technology. And these are about, for instance, analyzing population data regarding the need for assistive technology, so that that can inform policy and crucially financing decisions, including assistive products in existing stock management systems. Using digital tools to streamline assessment and referral processes around assistive technology, and developing online platforms and digital communication. to train and support rural workforces. In Ireland, we’re actively working to explore the full potential of digital technologies and to reduce waiting times and enhance services for children and adults and to increase, I guess, their sense of control and involvement in their own service provision. Just a couple of quick examples. One, a project called SHAPES, which stands for Smart and Healthy Aging through people working through empowered systems. Sorry about that. So I had the pleasure of being the PI on that project, and it worked across 14 different countries within Europe. And what we did essentially was we brought together a huge range of assistive and digital technologies through an open digital platform. So the platform is the enabler for the rollout of assistive technology, particularly to those most marginalized groups, and crucially within the community. So rather than going into hospitals, effective digital infrastructure facilitates the provision of these sorts of services in the community. A second example from Ireland, then, is the assistive technology passport. Again, a digitally mediated platform. And this was supported through a project through the Irish Health Service called CREATE. And interestingly, I think in our context here, is CREATE sought to support digital initiatives that, one, made a difference to individuals, but two, made a difference to the system’s ability to supply quality assistive products. So the assistive technology passport really enhances a person’s access to all types of assistive technology and their associated supports. So it’s in its pilot phase still, but it really represents a digital solution that places the user at the center of their own assistive technology journey, including self-assessment, potential self-referral, access to information, advice, and ongoing support and training and technical support for them and their associated helpers. This project is led by Enable Ireland and Freedom Tech, crucially co-designed with assistive technology users and collaborating with Microsoft and Maynooth University. But in essence, the assistive technology passport embodies how digital can better support access to and use of assistive technology. So in Ireland and throughout the world, assistive technology is a compelling use case for achieving more equitable health systems with greater coverage, further reach, and leaving nobody behind for promoting universal health care and achieving the health-related Sustainable Development Goals. But, and there’s always a but, assistive technology services and systems can only scale these barriers, can only achieve the coverage that we all seek for it and make the impact that it’s potentially capable of making if it is digitally supported by the necessary public digital infrastructure. We ask you to join us in contributing to making that a reality. Thank you very much.

Leah Ekbladh: It’s good to bring it back to people, especially people who can really benefit from these enhanced technologies. So thank you for that. I’m going to open it up to the floor for unfortunately only about five minutes so that we have plenty of time for our closing remarks from our colleague from India. But if there is one or two questions from the floor, oh, I see two hands over there. Perfect. Ladies first, if that’s okay.

Questions: I appreciate that. Hi, everybody. I’m Nancy Munchen. I’m the founder of the AI group. I’m in the studio to announce the position that we have. So first of all, thank you for all your sharing and kudos for the work. We have been discussing a lot about the macroscopic level and about the technology to solve these problems. But as everybody knows here, healthcare is huge about the human. And sometimes that is the most challenging part. So I have one unified question regarding the human engagement. First of all, is the end user engagement. Right now, how we’re kind of marrying or evaluating the end users adoption by market adoption of the digital technology. And the second, because I know we already have a multilayered world, you know, like efforts on encouraging the countries to share the data and have the technology, the platform to communicate that data. But healthcare data is so sensitive that it concerns many, many countries like national security. So how can we, especially, you know, these days with the geopolitical tensions and all this wreck of the nationalism, how are we going to encourage or incentivize all these countries on an individual basis to contribute their data to integrity and slightly more transparency? Thank you.

Leah Ekbladh: Thanks, and I’ll just summarize. I hear two in there. One is around how do we evaluate end user engagement, and then how can we encourage countries to share data across systems. for global learning. Is that, did I get it right? Yes. Super. Okay, who wants it? All right, Alain, please.

Alain Labrique: The first one, which is, I think, easier, because for us, digital is the opportunity to put people at the center. When the health experience today, for most people, is extremely fragmented, is extremely discoordinated, and the opportunity, why we’re talking about infrastructure, why we’re talking about interoperability, because we see this as the key to unlock the continuity of care that we’ve talked about for so many years, but without those shared services, without the common language, where the patient is at the center, as the custodian of their own health record, to be able to have them go through that patient journey in a way that’s person-centered, not hospital-centered, or at the convenience of the clinician, but at the convenience of the patient. We look at what the financial sector has done, and nobody has the patience or time to stand in a five-hour queue to access their bank balance. They want banking at their fingertips. The same we’re now seeing post-pandemic is what people expect from health, and that’s what this public infrastructure, interoperability is going to help us achieve. So people are absolutely at the center. It’s the value proposition that drives this forward. It’s not the financial benefits, but it’s the people at the center. So thank you for emphasizing that.

Leah Ekbladh: It was an excellent question. The gentleman in the back corner there.

Questions: Thank you very much. I’m a new physician, and I’ve been for a long time in Africa, and I’m excited to be back in Europe. I was excited to have this initiative, and I’m thinking also, looking at the types of multi-stakeholder, I was trying to figure out where communities would be manufactured, one, because at the end of the day, communities are the end users of these products, and two, we also very much need to kind of of be aware of the sustainability issue, because one, at the end users, then we can also upgrade, modify this digital health tools we’re talking about. And also making sure that success at community level means that success is achieved everywhere. So to what extent are we considering communities when we talk about multi-stakeholders? Thank you.

Leah Ekbladh: Thank you. Yes, we talked a lot about architecture and financing and governance. Where does the community fit in those three pillars? Mathilde, please.

Mathilde Forslund: Yeah, yeah. Great question. Thank you for that. I think that’s actually why we established TransformHealth, because we felt that the end user wasn’t really represented in these conversations. And so TransformHealth is actually an organization of 200 civil society based organizations to bring these communities and the representatives of these communities, whether it’s people living with HIV and AIDS, whether the data and the privacy of the data is being affected, or as we design these systems for the future, their needs and perspectives are heard in that design and architecture. So I concur with you completely. It’s really important. And we do a lot of stakeholder consultations to bring in the end users perspectives in the different dialogues, as we design these systems and architectures and financial mechanisms that we need in order to enable better digital transformation. Thank you.

Nele Leosk: I actually wanted to just comment on some of the questions that had been asked, and maybe also follow up a bit on what Hani was saying, because Hani was giving this picture that you need these three things to have a successful digital society. And I wish it was so simple. But actually, it is not, because we are increasingly seeing misuses. technology and there was a question around the privacy and and all the other issues that come especially with health data that is a sensitive data and and I would actually like to add here actually the importance of a legal framework and and I would say the entire governance mechanism and I think this is a global issue that has also gathered us all here today to discuss global digital compact and I can tell also from Estonian size that despite the facts that we had our privacy regulation we have a since 90s in in place that would also take into account I would say this virtual world we had a very clear data governance mechanism we would know exactly who is responsible for the collection of which data how it can be used how it needs to be shared and so forth but I would say that it was still not enough we really had to show people that their data is used properly so we actually gave the right for every person in Estonia to see what kind of data is being collected by them and how these data was being used of course I don’t see who exactly has seen my data but I but I but I have a log so I can track down if my data has been used so for example if I’m stopped by police I should have a log there that that somebody has checked whether I have the right to drive so this is a very important question actually that was raised considering the world we are currently living.

Leah Ekbladh: Thank you I recognize your hand I’m afraid I’m gonna have to move on but if you want to hold it you see all of our faces I encourage you to find us afterwards I do want to give our last five minutes to mr. Vikram Pagaria he’s the director of IT for the National Health Authority of India.

Vikram Pagaria: Distinguished delegates colleagues and friends it’s an honor to be here today I would like to extend my heartful appreciation to the organizers for putting out this session so well and I also compliment all the speakers who have given us their insights. I’m sure that this session has made us more knowledgeable than we were before this session, at least for me, the talk on architecture. As you may be aware, India had the privilege of launching the global initiative on digital health on August 19, 2023, during its recently concluded G20 presidency. This initiative represents a pivotal step in democratizing digital health technologies, particularly for the global south, and ensuring equitable access to health services through robust digital public infrastructure. India is deeply committed to building equitable digital health systems, placing people at the heart of our efforts. I would like to share one example of our digital public infrastructure, which is the UPI, Unified Payments Interface, which has really revolutionized payments across the country by making it very simple to make payments. Today, Indians no longer need to carry their cards or wallets when they go outside to buy something. With just a smartphone and low data costs, they can transact seamlessly not just in India, but also in other countries like Singapore, France, UAE, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Bhutan, and Nepal. To date, UPI facilitates over 10 billion transactions per month with 600 banks, which are live on this platform. In health, about 1.9 billion COVID certificates have been issued digitally by India. And I think the The discussion about foundational infrastructure to enable these transactions is very important. In the realm of healthcare, the commitment to use technology to make easy the life of the citizen is the same. India has started early. This is exemplified through the National Digital Health Mission, which was launched in 2021 with an initial outlay of $20 million. This initiative is aimed at enabling creation of digital health records and promoting interoperability. This mission keeps the individual at the center. By being consent-based, it empowers citizens to take charge of their health data. It also has taken into aspects of data privacy by being built on a federated data architecture. That is, the records are stored at the health facilities where they are created, and our architecture only enables the transfer of those records from one health facility to another, when the user, when the patient gives their consent. The ABDM, the ABDM, that is the Digital Mission Framework, aligns closely with GIDH’s mission, further strengthening our commitment to fostering equitable health access. India has pledged $10 million to GIDH to support countries interested in adopting our DPIs. To ensure that India’s digital health journey aligns with global efforts, the adoption of HL7 FHIR standards have been inbuilt within our ecosystem. We are also strongly recommending SNOMED City standards adherence for the various digital health software which are being used in the country. Accessibility. and augmented care coordination is at the heart of our digital health intervention. I would like to give an example of a use case, Ireland’s assistive technology use case was given, but what in our country we have provided to our citizens is that there is a lot of crowding at our public hospitals. So what happens is that the patients are waiting in the registration area, and they have to go to a registration counter, and they have to share what their name is, what their address is, what their mobile number is, and they have to say that, oh, I want to visit a orthopedic. And what happens is that the register counter, they enter all their details, and they give them a slip. What we have done through the QR codes, which are very, very common in our country, is that through any app, there are about 12 apps which are there where the citizen can go, and when they are there near the registration area, they can scan the QR code, and all their demographic details are given to the registered counter, and they get a token, say 42. And when the 42 number token comes, the citizen can go, and they can just say that, oh, I want to go to the orthopedic, or I have a dental ailment, and all the other details that are not required to be collected. So from about the waiting time of about 40 to 50 minutes, we have been able to reduce it to four to five minutes, and about 300,000 people daily use this technology and get quick OBD registrations. Through innovative financing models, we are ensuring that the investments in digital health align with national priorities and contribute to a sustainable country-led transformation. In our country, the level of digitization in health is still. So what we are trying to do is we are working on 100 model facilities project, wherein we are trying to understand the complexities of digitization, and we are focusing on making 100 facilities across the country as end-to-end digitized, so that we learn on this process, and then we will try to use those learnings to digitize the entire health ecosystem. I thank you for your time, for your patience, and I hope it was a good session. Thank you so much.

Leah Ekbladh: I want to thank all of our panelists and our participants, particularly those who offered questions to bring us back to the community. That’s always a great way to end as well. We are only five minutes over, so I’m very proud of myself, but we do have to clear the room for the next session, but I think many of us will be around in the lobby if there’s other questions. Thanks so much.

H

Hani Eskandar

Speech speed

158 words per minute

Speech length

1089 words

Speech time

412 seconds

Importance of architecture – DPI enables interoperability, reusability, and trust

Explanation

Hani Eskandar emphasizes that digital public infrastructure (DPI) is crucial for enabling interoperability, reusability, and trust in digital health systems. He argues that these elements are essential for transforming the health sector digitally.

Evidence

Eskandar mentions that DPI components can enable reusability, interoperability, and trust, which are necessary for digital transformation.

Major Discussion Point

Digital Public Infrastructure for Health Systems

Agreed with

Nele Leosk

Vikram Pagaria

Agreed on

Importance of digital public infrastructure (DPI) for health systems

Disagreed with

Mathilde Forslund

Disagreed on

Approach to digital health transformation

N

Nele Leosk

Speech speed

146 words per minute

Speech length

1324 words

Speech time

542 seconds

Estonia’s example of digital identity and data sharing

Explanation

Nele Leosk highlights Estonia’s successful implementation of digital identity and data sharing systems. She argues that these systems have enabled efficient and secure digital services for citizens.

Evidence

Estonia’s digital signature system allowing citizens to participate in municipal council meetings, vote, and rent apartments remotely.

Major Discussion Point

Digital Public Infrastructure for Health Systems

Agreed with

Hani Eskandar

Vikram Pagaria

Agreed on

Importance of digital public infrastructure (DPI) for health systems

Need for governance and legal frameworks to protect data privacy

Explanation

Leosk emphasizes the importance of having strong governance mechanisms and legal frameworks to protect data privacy. She argues that these are necessary to ensure proper use of sensitive data, especially in healthcare.

Evidence

Estonia’s implementation of a system allowing citizens to see what data is collected about them and how it is used.

Major Discussion Point

Digital Public Infrastructure for Health Systems

Agreed with

Sean Blaschke

Agreed on

Need for proper governance and legal frameworks

V

Vikram Pagaria

Speech speed

129 words per minute

Speech length

885 words

Speech time

409 seconds

India’s Unified Payments Interface as successful DPI example

Explanation

Vikram Pagaria presents India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as a successful example of digital public infrastructure. He argues that UPI has revolutionized digital payments in India, making transactions simple and accessible.

Evidence

UPI facilitates over 10 billion transactions per month with 600 banks live on the platform.

Major Discussion Point

Digital Public Infrastructure for Health Systems

Agreed with

Hani Eskandar

Nele Leosk

Agreed on

Importance of digital public infrastructure (DPI) for health systems

Importance of standards like HL7 FHIR for interoperability

Explanation

Pagaria emphasizes the importance of adopting international standards like HL7 FHIR for ensuring interoperability in digital health systems. He argues that these standards are crucial for aligning India’s digital health journey with global efforts.

Evidence

India’s adoption of HL7 FHIR standards within their ecosystem and recommendation of SNOMED CT standards for digital health software.

Major Discussion Point

Digital Public Infrastructure for Health Systems

India’s $20 million investment in National Digital Health Mission

Explanation

Pagaria highlights India’s significant investment in the National Digital Health Mission. He argues that this initiative aims to create digital health records and promote interoperability in the healthcare system.

Evidence

India’s launch of the National Digital Health Mission in 2021 with an initial outlay of $20 million.

Major Discussion Point

Financing Digital Health Transformation

M

Mathilde Forslund

Speech speed

145 words per minute

Speech length

896 words

Speech time

369 seconds

Current funding for digital health insufficient and fragmented

Explanation

Mathilde Forslund argues that the current funding for digital health is insufficient and fragmented. She emphasizes that this leads to an expensive and disjointed approach to digitalizing health services.

Evidence

Reference to isolated pilot projects and vertical disease-focused interventions in the absence of national digital health strategies.

Major Discussion Point

Financing Digital Health Transformation

Disagreed with

Hani Eskandar

Disagreed on

Approach to digital health transformation

Need to track and measure digital health investments

Explanation

Forslund stresses the importance of tracking and measuring digital health investments. She argues that this information is crucial for quantifying funding needs, making cases for resources, and holding stakeholders accountable.

Evidence

Mention of the challenge in measuring digital health investments due to data being spread across different sources and categories.

Major Discussion Point

Financing Digital Health Transformation

Importance of costed national digital health plans

Explanation

Forslund emphasizes the need for clear and costed national digital health plans. She argues that these plans will ensure stakeholders prioritize areas most in need of funding and most likely to deliver health impact.

Evidence

Reference to Transform Health’s conceptual framework ‘Closing the Digital Divide’ which highlights the importance of costed plans.

Major Discussion Point

Financing Digital Health Transformation

L

Lisa Lewis-Person

Speech speed

145 words per minute

Speech length

603 words

Speech time

249 seconds

Need for country leadership and ownership

Explanation

Lisa Lewis-Person emphasizes the importance of country leadership and ownership in digital health transformation. She argues that countries need to take the lead in developing and implementing their digital health strategies.

Major Discussion Point

Governance of Digital Health Systems

Importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration

Explanation

Lewis-Person stresses the significance of multi-stakeholder collaboration in advancing digital health. She argues that working together through key digital health leadership organizations is crucial for overcoming fragmentation.

Evidence

Mention of collaborative efforts through the Global Initiative on Digital Health and the Global Digital Health Partnership.

Major Discussion Point

Governance of Digital Health Systems

S

Sean Blaschke

Speech speed

138 words per minute

Speech length

737 words

Speech time

318 seconds

Role of legislation like Kenya’s Digital Health Act

Explanation

Sean Blaschke highlights the importance of legislation in digital health transformation. He argues that laws like Kenya’s Digital Health Act provide a national vision and guide for digital health implementation.

Evidence

Kenya’s Digital Health Act, which was passed after being stuck in draft for 5-6 years, now provides a roadmap for digital health transformation.

Major Discussion Point

Governance of Digital Health Systems

Agreed with

Nele Leosk

Agreed on

Need for proper governance and legal frameworks

Rwanda’s e-gov approach with embedded ICT teams

Explanation

Blaschke presents Rwanda’s e-government approach as an effective governance model. He argues that embedding ICT teams within different ministries helps connect the dots and identify common public goods across sectors.

Evidence

Rwanda’s placement of senior architects and business analysts from ICT authorities within various ministries, including health.

Major Discussion Point

Governance of Digital Health Systems

K

Kylie Shae

Speech speed

150 words per minute

Speech length

547 words

Speech time

218 seconds

Large unmet need for assistive technology globally

Explanation

Kylie Shae highlights the significant global need for assistive technology. She argues that despite the high demand, there is a stark inequity in access to these technologies, especially in low-income countries.

Evidence

WHO estimates that 2.5 billion people need at least one assistive product, with only 3-10% of people in low-income countries having access compared to 90% in high-income countries.

Major Discussion Point

Assistive Technology as Use Case for Digital Health

M

Malcolm MacLachlan

Speech speed

118 words per minute

Speech length

912 words

Speech time

461 seconds

Digital can help scale up access to assistive technology

Explanation

Malcolm MacLachlan argues that digital technologies offer significant opportunities to improve access to assistive technology. He suggests that digital can help remove barriers and enhance various aspects of assistive technology provision.

Evidence

Examples of digital tools streamlining assessment and referral processes, and developing online platforms to train and support rural workforces.

Major Discussion Point

Assistive Technology as Use Case for Digital Health

Ireland’s assistive technology passport as digital solution

Explanation

MacLachlan presents Ireland’s assistive technology passport as an innovative digital solution. He argues that this digitally mediated platform enhances a person’s access to all types of assistive technology and associated supports.

Evidence

Description of the assistive technology passport project, which includes features for self-assessment, potential self-referral, access to information, advice, and ongoing support.

Major Discussion Point

Assistive Technology as Use Case for Digital Health

U

Unknown speaker

Speech speed

0 words per minute

Speech length

0 words

Speech time

1 seconds

Need to involve end users and communities in design

Explanation

This argument emphasizes the importance of involving end users and communities in the design of digital health systems. It suggests that community engagement is crucial for ensuring the sustainability and effectiveness of digital health tools.

Major Discussion Point

Assistive Technology as Use Case for Digital Health

Agreements

Agreement Points

Importance of digital public infrastructure (DPI) for health systems

Hani Eskandar

Nele Leosk

Vikram Pagaria

Importance of architecture – DPI enables interoperability, reusability, and trust

Estonia’s example of digital identity and data sharing

India’s Unified Payments Interface as successful DPI example

Speakers agree on the crucial role of digital public infrastructure in enabling efficient, secure, and interoperable digital health systems.

Need for proper governance and legal frameworks

Nele Leosk

Sean Blaschke

Need for governance and legal frameworks to protect data privacy

Role of legislation like Kenya’s Digital Health Act

Speakers emphasize the importance of strong governance mechanisms and legal frameworks to guide digital health transformation and protect data privacy.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers highlight the need for significant and coordinated investment in digital health infrastructure and transformation.

Mathilde Forslund

Vikram Pagaria

Current funding for digital health insufficient and fragmented

India’s $20 million investment in National Digital Health Mission

Both speakers emphasize the importance of country-led approaches and embedding digital expertise within government structures for effective digital health transformation.

Lisa Lewis-Person

Sean Blaschke

Need for country leadership and ownership

Rwanda’s e-gov approach with embedded ICT teams

Unexpected Consensus

Importance of assistive technology in digital health

Kylie Shae

Malcolm MacLachlan

Unknown speaker

Large unmet need for assistive technology globally

Digital can help scale up access to assistive technology

Need to involve end users and communities in design

There was an unexpected focus on assistive technology as a key use case for digital health, with multiple speakers highlighting its importance and potential for digital enhancement.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of agreement include the importance of digital public infrastructure, the need for proper governance and legal frameworks, the significance of country-led approaches, and the potential of digital technologies in enhancing assistive technology access.

Consensus level

There is a high level of consensus among speakers on the fundamental aspects of digital health transformation. This consensus suggests a shared understanding of key priorities and challenges, which could facilitate more coordinated and effective efforts in advancing digital health globally.

Disagreements

Disagreement Points

Approach to digital health transformation

Hani Eskandar

Mathilde Forslund

Importance of architecture – DPI enables interoperability, reusability, and trust

Current funding for digital health insufficient and fragmented

While Eskandar emphasizes the importance of architecture and DPI for digital health transformation, Forslund focuses on the need for better funding and tracking of investments. This suggests a difference in prioritization of technical infrastructure versus financial resources.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of disagreement revolve around prioritization of different aspects of digital health transformation, such as technical infrastructure, funding, and governance.

Disagreement level

The level of disagreement among the speakers appears to be relatively low. Most speakers present complementary perspectives on digital health transformation rather than conflicting views. This suggests a general consensus on the importance of digital health transformation, with differences mainly in emphasis and approach. These differences could potentially lead to more comprehensive strategies if integrated effectively.

Partial Agreements

Partial Agreements

Both speakers agree on the importance of digital public infrastructure, but they present different national approaches and focus areas. Leosk emphasizes digital identity and data sharing in Estonia, while Pagaria highlights India’s success with digital payments.

Nele Leosk

Vikram Pagaria

Estonia’s example of digital identity and data sharing

India’s Unified Payments Interface as successful DPI example

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers highlight the need for significant and coordinated investment in digital health infrastructure and transformation.

Mathilde Forslund

Vikram Pagaria

Current funding for digital health insufficient and fragmented

India’s $20 million investment in National Digital Health Mission

Both speakers emphasize the importance of country-led approaches and embedding digital expertise within government structures for effective digital health transformation.

Lisa Lewis-Person

Sean Blaschke

Need for country leadership and ownership

Rwanda’s e-gov approach with embedded ICT teams

Takeaways

Key Takeaways

Digital public infrastructure (DPI) is crucial for enabling interoperable, reusable, and trustworthy digital health systems

Financing for digital health transformation is currently insufficient and fragmented, requiring better tracking and alignment of investments

Strong governance frameworks and country leadership are essential for successful digital health implementation

Assistive technology represents an important use case that can benefit greatly from digital health infrastructure

Involving end users and communities in the design of digital health systems is critical for adoption and effectiveness

Resolutions and Action Items

WHO and ITU to develop guidance on reference architecture for digital transformation of health systems

Countries invited to join working group on developing reference architecture for digital health

India pledged $10 million to support countries interested in adopting their digital public infrastructure models

Unresolved Issues

How to encourage countries to share sensitive health data across systems for global learning while addressing privacy and security concerns

How to ensure digital health initiatives do not exacerbate existing inequities in access to care

Specific mechanisms for involving communities and end users in digital health system design and implementation

Suggested Compromises

Balancing country-specific digital health solutions with adoption of global standards and interoperable systems

Using existing tracking mechanisms like OECD reporting to measure digital health investments rather than creating new systems

Thought Provoking Comments

We’ve been very much dominated by what you can call a solution mindset. Basically, I have a problem, I develop an application to solve my solution. There is a huge difference, and this is what we have learned after so many years, even at our agencies. We have discovered that building a solution is not the same as transforming a sector or digitizing a sector.

Speaker

Hani Eskandar

Reason

This comment challenges the prevailing approach to digital health and introduces a more holistic perspective on digital transformation.

Impact

It shifted the discussion from focusing on individual solutions to considering systemic transformation and architecture. This led to further exploration of the importance of digital public infrastructure and interoperability.

Estonia is a great example. What did Estonia do? They solved interoperability through XRoute, they solved the issue of trust by ID, and they solved the issue of reusability by creating those kind of shared and reusable platforms.

Speaker

Hani Eskandar

Reason

This comment provides a concrete example of successful digital transformation, illustrating key principles in action.

Impact

It grounded the abstract discussion in a real-world case study, prompting other participants to consider how these principles could be applied in their own contexts.

We cannot increase what we cannot measure. As long as investment in digital health continues to be wrapped into vertical silos and programming, governments will struggle to identify and strengthen digital public infrastructure for health.

Speaker

Mathilde Forslund

Reason

This comment highlights a critical challenge in digital health transformation and links it to the need for better measurement and tracking of investments.

Impact

It introduced the importance of financial tracking and accountability into the discussion, leading to consideration of how to better align and optimize funding for digital health initiatives.

I believe assistive technology is a really compelling use case for digital public infrastructure. And especially so to be discussed at this summit of the future.

Speaker

Malcolm MacLachlan

Reason

This comment connects the broader discussion of digital infrastructure to a specific and impactful use case, demonstrating the practical implications of the concepts being discussed.

Impact

It shifted the conversation to consider concrete applications of digital health infrastructure, particularly in addressing health equity and access issues.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by moving it from abstract concepts to practical considerations of digital health transformation. They challenged participants to think beyond individual solutions to systemic change, highlighted the importance of measurement and accountability in funding, and provided concrete examples of successful implementation and impactful use cases. This progression deepened the conversation, making it more nuanced and action-oriented, while consistently emphasizing the need for holistic, interoperable, and equitable approaches to digital health infrastructure.

Follow-up Questions

How can we evaluate end user engagement and adoption of digital health technologies?

Speaker

Nancy Munchen

Explanation

Understanding user adoption is crucial for the success and impact of digital health initiatives.

How can we encourage or incentivize countries to share health data across systems for global learning, especially given concerns about national security and geopolitical tensions?

Speaker

Nancy Munchen

Explanation

Data sharing is essential for global health improvements, but sensitive health data raises concerns that need to be addressed.

To what extent are we considering communities when we talk about multi-stakeholders in digital health initiatives?

Speaker

Unnamed physician

Explanation

Ensuring community involvement is crucial for the sustainability and effectiveness of digital health tools.

How can we strengthen legal frameworks and governance mechanisms to protect privacy and prevent misuse of health data?

Speaker

Nele Leosk

Explanation

Robust legal and governance structures are necessary to build trust and ensure proper use of sensitive health data in digital systems.

Disclaimer: This is not an official record of the session. The DiploAI system automatically generates these resources from the audiovisual recording. Resources are presented in their original format, as provided by the AI (e.g. including any spelling mistakes). The accuracy of these resources cannot be guaranteed.

A Digital Future for All (morning sessions)

A Digital Future for All (morning sessions)

Session at a Glance

Summary

This discussion focused on the importance of creating an inclusive and sustainable digital future for all. The event, hosted by ITU and UNDP, brought together leaders from government, industry, and civil society to explore how digital technologies can advance the Sustainable Development Goals.

Speakers highlighted the urgent need to bridge the digital divide, with 2.6 billion people still lacking internet access. They emphasized that connectivity alone is not enough – digital skills, affordable devices, and meaningful content are also crucial. Several initiatives were announced to expand connectivity and digital literacy, particularly in underserved communities.

The transformative potential of technologies like AI, blockchain, and satellite communications was showcased through various examples. These included using AI for flood prediction, blockchain for refugee assistance, and satellites for wildlife conservation. Speakers stressed the importance of ensuring these technologies benefit everyone, not just the privileged few.

Digital public infrastructure was presented as a key foundation for inclusive development. Examples from countries like Brazil, India and Estonia demonstrated how digital ID systems and other core platforms can improve service delivery and economic participation. However, speakers emphasized that proper safeguards for privacy and security are essential.

The discussion also explored how digital technologies can support environmental sustainability, from monitoring deforestation to enabling clean energy transitions. Youth representatives called for ensuring the digital future is equitable, secure and empowering for all.

Overall, the event highlighted both the immense opportunities and challenges of the digital revolution. Speakers agreed that realizing an inclusive digital future will require collaborative efforts across sectors and borders, with a focus on putting people and planet at the center of technological progress.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The importance of universal and affordable digital connectivity, with a focus on connecting the 2.6 billion people who are still unconnected

– Leveraging digital technologies and AI to address global challenges like climate change, healthcare, education, and economic development

– Ensuring digital inclusion and bridging digital divides, especially for women, youth, and underserved communities

– The need for safeguards, regulations and ethical frameworks as AI and digital technologies advance

– Public-private partnerships and multi-stakeholder collaboration to drive digital transformation

Overall purpose:

The overall purpose of the discussion was to highlight the transformative potential of digital technologies and AI in achieving sustainable development goals, while emphasizing the need for inclusive and responsible approaches to ensure no one is left behind in the digital future.

Tone:

The overall tone was optimistic and forward-looking, with speakers expressing enthusiasm about technological possibilities while also acknowledging challenges. There was a sense of urgency in calls to action for bridging digital divides. The tone remained largely consistent throughout, balancing excitement about innovation with reminders of the importance of ethics and inclusion.

Speakers

Moderators/Facilitators:

– Sade Baderinwa – Eyewitness News Anchor, ABC News

Speakers:

– Achim Steiner – Administrator, UNDP

– Amandeep Singh Gill – UN Secretary General’s Envoy in Technology

– Doreen Bogdan-Martin – Secretary General , ITU

– Mohamed Shameel Aziz Joosub – CEO Vodacom Group and Vodafone Executive Committee Member

– Jessica Rosenworcel – Chairwoman, Federal Communications Commission, USA

– Juan Lavista Ferres – Corporate Vice President and Chief Data Scientist, Microsoft

– Emma Theophilus – Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Namibia

– Karan Bhatia – Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy, Google

– David Sapolsky – Senior Vice President, Global Public Policy & General Counsel, Amazon

– Ann Aerts – Head, Novartis Foundation

– Mats Granryd – Director General, GSMA

– Alexandre Reis Siqueira Freire – Commissioner, National Telecommunications Agency, Brazil

– Rabab Fatima – Under-Secretary-General and High Representative UNOHRLLS

– Bianca Faith Johnson – President, Board of Trustees, Push to Walk

– Kelly T. Clements – United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees

– Lady Mariéme Jamme – Founder and CEO, iamtheCODE

– Amr Talaat – Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Egypt

– Lisa Russell – Emmy-winning Filmmaker and Founder/CEO of Arts Envoy Lab/Create2030

– Lori Freeman – Global GM and Vice President, Salesforce for Nonprofits

– Tunde Wackman – Chief Development Officer, World Central Kitchen

– Abdullah Alswaha – Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Saudi Arabia

– Joan Joseph Moses – Educator, Roosevelt Douglas Primary School in Portsmouth, Dominica

– Tofara L. Chokera – CEO and Founder, Tofara Online

– Pamela Coke-Hamilton – Executive Director, International Trade Center

– Christopher Burns – Chief Digital Development Officer and Director, Technology Division, USAID

– Lazarus Chakwera – President of Malawi

– Esther Dweck – Minister for Management and Innovation and Public Services of Brazil

– Paul Foster – CEO, Global Esports Federation

– Brad Smith – Vice Chair and President, Microsoft

– Alan Davidson – Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Administrator, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, USA

– Rumman Chowdhury – CEO and co-Founder, Humane Intelligence, United States Science Envoy, Artificial Intelligence

– Harrison Lung – Group Chief Strategy Officer, e&

– Bosun Tijani – Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Nigeria

– Robert Muggah – Co-Founder, Igarapé Institute

– Valentino Valentini – Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy

– Jakob Granit – Director-General, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

– Zhiping Chen – Vice President, ZTE Corporation

– Fatou Haidara – Deputy Director General, UNIDO

– Daren Tang – Director General, WIPO

– Tawfik Jelassi – Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, UNESCO

– Deemah AlYahya – Secretary General, Digital Cooperation Organization

– Nobu Okada – Founder and CEO, AstroScale

Youth Representatives:

– Sanjana Sanghi – UNDP India Youth Champion and Bollywood Actress

– Yuri Romashko – CEO, Institute of Analysis and Advocacy, UNDP Generation 17

– Daniella Esi Darlington – Co-Founder, Copianto AI and ITU Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Board Member

Full session report

Expanded Summary of the Discussion on Creating an Inclusive Digital Future

Introduction

This discussion, part of the Summit of the Future Action Days, was hosted by ITU and UNDP. It brought together leaders from government, industry, civil society, and youth to explore how digital technologies can advance the Sustainable Development Goals and create an inclusive digital future for all. The event was moderated by Sade Baderinwa, a news anchor at WABC in New York, and featured a diverse array of speakers with expertise in technology, development, and policy.

Key Themes and Discussion Points

1. Universal Digital Connectivity

A central focus of the discussion was the urgent need to bridge the digital divide, with 2.6 billion people still lacking internet access. Speakers emphasised that connectivity alone is insufficient; digital skills, affordable devices, and meaningful content are also crucial for true digital inclusion.

Technological Solutions:

– Mohamed Shameel Aziz Joosub (Vodacom Group) stressed the importance of connecting the unconnected.

– Jessica Rosenworcel (FCC) highlighted satellite-to-cell phone communications as a potential game-changer for ending mobile dead zones.

– Juan Lavista Ferres (Microsoft) discussed using AI and satellite imagery to map population shifts for targeted connectivity efforts.

– David Sapolsky (Amazon) presented Project Kuiper for affordable global satellite broadband.

The Partner2Connect Digital Coalition was highlighted as a crucial initiative, with significant pledges announced during the event to support digital inclusion efforts globally.

2. Digital Inclusion and Skills Development

Speakers emphasised that true digital inclusion requires both infrastructure and skills development, particularly for underserved populations.

Key Points:

– Tofara L. Chokera (Tofara Online Trust) highlighted digital skills training for economic empowerment, especially for women and youth.

– Mats Granryd (GSMA) pointed out that affordable smartphones are key to bridging the digital divide.

– Lazarus Chakwera (President of Malawi) called for integrating digital literacy into national education curricula and presented the Digital Malawi Project.

– Christopher Burns (USAID) introduced the Responsible Computing Challenge to embed ethics in tech education.

3. AI for Sustainable Development

The transformative potential of AI in addressing global challenges was a recurring theme, balanced with calls for responsible and ethical development.

Applications and Initiatives:

– Karan Bhatia (Google) discussed AI for early flood warnings and disaster preparedness.

– Valentino Valentini (Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy) presented the AI Hub for Sustainable Development.

– Achim Steiner (UNDP) stressed the need for AI safeguards to prevent exclusion and protect rights.

– Rumman Chowdhury (Humane Intelligence) highlighted evaluating AI systems for cultural appropriateness.

– Brad Smith (Microsoft) emphasised ensuring AI benefits the Global South.

4. Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and Digital Public Goods

DPI was presented as a key foundation for inclusive development, with speakers emphasizing its potential and the need for careful implementation.

Perspectives:

– Esther Dweck (Minister, Brazil) discussed DPI for efficient government services, financial inclusion, and environmental efforts.

– Achim Steiner highlighted that DPI requires commitment, capital, and capacity building.

– Several speakers emphasized the importance of digital public goods in fostering innovation and development.

5. Technology for Social Impact

The discussion showcased various examples of how digital technologies can create significant social impact across diverse fields.

Examples:

– Bianca Faith Johnson demonstrated exoskeleton technology that restores mobility for paralyzed individuals, highlighting the need to make such technologies widely accessible and affordable.

– Kelly T. Clements (UNHCR) discussed blockchain-based digital wallets for rapid financial aid to refugees.

– Ann Aerts (Novartis Foundation) highlighted AI and digital tools for improving healthcare outcomes and reducing inequalities.

– Zhiping Chen (ZTE Corporation) discussed digital technologies for protecting endangered species in remote areas.

6. Youth Perspectives and Initiatives

The event featured strong youth representation, highlighting their role in shaping the digital future.

Key Contributions:

– Sanjana Sanghi presented youth-led initiatives for digital inclusion and skills development.

– Yuri Romashko discussed the importance of involving young people in digital policy-making.

– Daniella Esi Darlington highlighted youth-led efforts to bridge the digital divide in Africa.

7. Space Sustainability and Innovation

Nobu Okada presented on the critical issue of space sustainability, discussing innovative technologies for space debris removal and the importance of maintaining a clean orbital environment for future space-based technologies.

8. Global Initiatives and Frameworks

Several speakers highlighted important global initiatives:

– Amandeep Singh Gill discussed the Global Digital Compact and its importance in shaping international digital cooperation.

– Deemah AlYahya presented the Digital Cooperation Organization’s Digital Economy Navigator (DEN).

– Paul Foster announced the Global Esports Federation’s pledge to support digital inclusion through gaming.

9. Creative Integration of Technology

Lisa Russell demonstrated the integration of AI in creative fields by presenting AI-generated artwork created during the event, sparking discussions on the future of human-AI collaboration in the arts.

Challenges and Unresolved Issues

1. Ensuring AI development benefits the Global South without exacerbating inequalities

2. Balancing rapid technological advancement with necessary regulatory frameworks and ethical considerations

3. Addressing potential job displacement due to AI and automation in developing countries

4. Ensuring data privacy and security in the implementation of digital public infrastructure

5. Making cutting-edge technologies widely accessible and affordable

6. Maintaining space sustainability while advancing space-based technologies

Conclusion

The discussion highlighted both the immense opportunities and challenges of the digital revolution. Speakers agreed that realising an inclusive digital future will require collaborative efforts across sectors, generations, and borders, with a focus on putting people and planet at the centre of technological progress. The overall tone was optimistic and forward-looking, balanced with a strong emphasis on ethical considerations, inclusion, and responsible development of digital technologies.

Session Transcript

Sade Baderinwa: If everyone could please take their seats, in the back, if you could please take your seats. Thank you so much. We’re going to begin. It is good to see everyone here this morning. Your Excellencies, esteemed speakers, and distinguished guests, I’m Sade Baderinwa, a news anchor at WABC in New York, and it is an absolute pleasure to be here today. Thank you. We’ve got some eyewitnesses viewers. Well, welcome to the summit of the future, Action Days, a digital future for all. We are living in an extraordinary era of technological transformation. Consider this. A cook in Thailand shares a family recipe through a short video online, and within hours, people around the globe are replicating it in their kitchens. In mere moments, that recipe transcends borders. We find ourselves at a pivotal crossroads. Technology is reshaping our lives at a speed we just couldn’t have imagined just a decade ago. It is revolutionizing industries, democratizing education, and connecting people across continents. In healthcare, artificial intelligence is diagnosing diseases with unprecedented accuracy and speed, delivering life-saving treatments to once inaccessible regions. Personalized medicine tailored to individual needs is no longer a far-off dream, but a reality on the horizon. Today, you will witness that transformation firsthand. A woman who is paralyzed will walk again through the use of technology. It truly is remarkable, and I think you all are going to be blown away. We’ll also explore how technology is being harnessed beyond the battlefield. Satellite-based networks are restoring communication in war-torn areas like Ukraine, where infrastructure is devastated. Consider the plight of refugees escaping war zones like Ukraine. They often arrive with only the clothes on their backs. No money. No legal documents and no answers for tomorrow. Technology, however, is changing that. Through blockchain technologies, refugees will be given digital wallets that offer instant access to financial aid and shelter. You’re going to hear today how this groundbreaking solution is enabling refugees to rebuild their lives in just mere minutes. Meanwhile, there are so many companies using the power of AI to predict floods, offering life-saving warnings up to a week in advance. And these forecasts are reaching dozens of countries, protecting millions of people in vulnerable areas. We’re going to talk with some of these companies today. Digital access is truly a game changer. For millions of people in isolated regions, farmers, women, and schools in rural areas, often overlooked for decades, are now part of a connected world, transforming their lives and economies simply by getting online. You’ll hear today how this is helping the previously forgotten thrive. And as we explore these advancements, we must also be vigilant with our proper safeguards, the same technologies that drive progress could deepen inequalities, threaten privacy, and marginalize the most vulnerable. Our digital future must be open, free, and secure for everyone, not just for the privileged few. So today, we will also discuss those crucial safeguards. There’s so much to cover, and it’s going to be an exciting day centered on harnessing the transformative power of technology. So, let’s get started. And first, I’d like to introduce Achim Steiner, Administrator, UNDP. Amandeep Singh Gill, UN Secretary General’s Envoy in Technology. And Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary General of ITU.

Achim Steiner: Thank you. At the end, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this amazing room this morning. My name is Achim Steiner and I’m the head of the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP. I’m delighted to extend a very warm welcome to all of you joining us for the joint opening of the A Digital Future for All event, proudly co-hosted by UNDP, the International Telecommunication Union, and the Office of the UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Technology. We are convening on the eve of the Summit of the Future, when world leaders will come together in this building to commit to the bold new solutions that better reflect the realities of the 21st century, and can respond to both today’s and tomorrow’s challenges and, perhaps even more importantly, opportunities. Our event is part of the Summit’s Action Days, which focus on building multi-stakeholder partnerships and paving the way to a more inclusive and interconnected multinaturalism. Today, representatives from every corner of the globe and all sectors of society will showcase digital solutions and announce new commitments to realize that brighter digital future for everyone, everywhere. Our vision of a digital future for all. At UNDP, we believe that digital technologies will be the fundamental driver of development this century, reshaping economies and societies, and helping to radically reshape development – from driving down poverty and inequalities, to advancing gender equality, to powering decisive climate action. Working as part of the United Nations family, we are not only closing the digital connectivity divide, we are committed to helping to shape inclusive digital ecosystems in over 100 countries today to help digital innovation flourish everywhere. First in our partner countries, we are supporting the development of digital policies and strategies that guide country-level digital transformation. Second, we enable the planning and development of digital foundations that underpin inclusive digital transformations, particularly digital public infrastructure, which represent the roads and railway tracks, so to speak, of our new digital era. Third, we provide digital capacity-building support to ensure that governments and communities and citizens have the skills they need. Our work is only possible thanks to our partnership with governments, our UN partners, international organizations, the private sector, civil society, academia and well beyond. That is also the spirit of today’s event, to create strong collaborations that reach everyone, everywhere, and that ensure that people can shape their own digital future in this era. Thank you.

Amandeep Singh Gill: Good morning. How are we today? Welcome. The future calls, and here we are, united, determined to build it together. A peaceful, prosperous, sustainable and hopeful world, where technology empowers us all and disempowers none. Our future is digital, and we have been hard at work over the past two years to ensure that it is open, safe and secure, and that it leaves no one behind. A future that upholds our hard-won victories on human rights and sustainable development. UN member states, with critical contributions of stakeholders from civil society, the tech community and academia, and the private sector, have been negotiating a global digital compact. A uniquely diverse body of experts on artificial intelligence can mean by the Secretary General has worked at warp speed to produce a blueprint for the international governance of AI. And it all comes together tomorrow at the Summit of the Future. A pact for the future with two powerful annexes, a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations, will be on the table for leaders to decide and adopt. The Global Digital Compact puts digitalization at the center of multilateral cooperation and a fit-for-purpose United Nations. It sets out principles and actions to advance an open, safe and secure digital future for all. The GDC provides an ambitious agenda to harness digital technologies for development and benefit of all countries and communities. It provides us with a normative foundation, a moral compass, if you will, to benchmark our progress. It includes concrete commitments and actions, almost two decades after the World Summit on Information Society, to ensure that everyone, everywhere is connected to the internet and to close digital divides. It recognizes the challenges of safety and security online and seeks to mobilize political and financial resources to protect against risks and harms. The Compact is practical. It sets out actions to close digital divides and leverage technologies to accelerate development, expand opportunities for inclusion in the digital economy so that all stakeholders have more opportunities to generate value and be more than mere consumers of digital technologies. The GDC aims to protect and promote human rights online and make the digital space safe for all, especially children, women and girls. It aims to advance responsible, equitable and interoperable data governance, and importantly, it aims to govern AI for the public benefit and inclusively. At the core of the GDC is a commitment to inclusive, equitable governance of technology, in particular emerging technologies like AI. It makes digital governance a global public policy issue, one in which all stakeholders – the private sector, the tech community, civil society and academia – have a role to play. We are at the start of a new journey. We need your engagement to ensure that the commitments in the GDC bring meaningful digital futures to all. Thank you.

Doreen Bogdan-Martin: Generation that has never known a world without digital. It’s the SDG generation. Millions of young people who are stepping into their teenage years on the brink of adulthood. Their journey has been extraordinary. They have grown up in a decade that has seen part of the population using the internet nearly double, social media surrounding us, and artificial intelligence going mainstream. They’re too young to remember when the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change were adopted. They were just kids when a global pandemic turned their world upside down and shifted education online. Then, like all of us, they encountered generative AI. In a series of developments. have since been nothing short of extraordinary, digital runs through their veins. It’s the most connected generation of all, and the first to come of age in an era of unimaginable digital opportunities. What will they do with all this power? How will they live up to this responsibility, and what kind of future will they build? Let’s see this future through their eyes, and let’s give them a seat at the table. So we’re in 2030, a not-so-distant digital future where everyone can access the Internet anytime, anywhere. Where having the right device is a basic standard, not a privilege. Where digital skills are a fundamental part of education. Where men and women have a fair shot at opportunity and success. Where algorithms create equity, not bias. Where access to computing resources are distributed more evenly, and where human rights are the bedrock of our digital society. Where safety is the norm, and where digital and green transitions go hand-in-hand. In short, a sustainable, inclusive, and responsible digital future for all. Three fundamental truths that guide our digital track, here during the action days of the Summit of the Future. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, the digital future is not yet written. It’s happening on our watch. We are all, all the SDG generation. So let’s forge the digital future with the audacity of youth, a future full of hope, possibility, and ambition. The best future we can dream of. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you, Doreen. Thank you so much. Where algorithms create equity and not bias. So important. Thank you for those words. Well, now I give you SDG Digital.

Official Video: Hi, it’s not what you’re thinking. We’re not experiencing technological difficulties here. This is what our digital world looked like less than 50 years ago. This is what it still looks like for 2.6 billion people. Unconnected, to cell phones, computers, global knowledge bases. That’s not the inspiring, positive, optimistic message you might be sitting there hoping for. So what would a digital future for all be like? The world is at my fingertips. Just a click away. Fingertips. Just a click away. Endless possibilities. What we do now will affect generations to come. No one has to choose between paying the bills and using the Internet. The digital world must give every woman a voice and a chance to lead. Learning with the Internet is like a super power. Starting a business has never been faster. The time starts now.

Doreen Bogdan-Martin: It all began with a simple question. What’s your vision of a digital future for all? We’ve just heard some powerful voices, all part of our campaign leading up to this moment. Now it’s time for Achim and I to share our vision. For me, it really comes down to three words. Universal, meaningful connectivity. It’s a driving force of the ITU as the UN agency for digital technologies, and it’s my number one priority. I want to be able to take my future grandchildren one day to the halls of the United Nations, and I want to be able to tell them the story of how we unlocked the power of digital and emerging technologies to everyone in this decade. No matter who they are, where they live. regardless of their gender, their age, their education, or the opportunities they’ve been given.

Achim Steiner: We live in a world in which the familiar is giving way to the unknown. We cannot predict where our new digital future will take us. We can hope for it. What we can do is help create an inclusive, sustainable, and prosperous digital future. That means setting the conditions so that everyone, everywhere, can reap the benefits of our digital world. Ensuring that everyone has the necessary skills, the capacities, and access so that no one is left behind. We must also harness digital technologies to protect and restore the environment and advance the decisive climate action we need so urgently to transform lives and livelihoods and drive progress across all, yes all, 17 Sustainable Development Goals. At UNDP, this is more than a vision. We are using digital to change lives today and ensure that the generations to come have the ability to determine their own futures.

Doreen Bogdan-Martin: This future that Achim and I have described is within reach. Fast forward to September 25, 2030, the SDG deadline. It’s our moment of truth. Formidable challenges that once seemed insurmountable have given way to a future filled with promises. Countries and companies have doubled down on cybersecurity. Putting security first, they’ve saved countless lives and protected the global economy from escalating threats. We’ve bridged the global digital gender gap with major breakthroughs in least-developed countries where women’s online participation has surged. Digital technologies have become a powerhouse. ally in tackling climate change and in keeping the 1.5 degree target alive. Countries have worked together to clean up millions of pieces of debris in the low-earth orbit, making space sustainability a reality. Our efforts to develop standards against deepfakes have stopped the spread of disinformation and rebuilt the public’s trust in technology. And today, developing countries are competing on equal footing in AI with the infrastructure and the talent to drive innovation that benefits us all.

Achim Steiner: The year 2030. Imagine a deadline that seemed so distant, yet our global community has achieved so much. A global community united by a clear blueprint for a better future. The Sustainable Development Goals. No one lives in extreme poverty any longer. We live in a world free from hunger. Nearly every child has a primary education. Everyone has access to clean water and sanitation. Renewable energy powers four-fifths of the world. And nearly every car sold worldwide is an electric vehicle. Where digital technologies are powering decisive climate action and the protection and restoration of our natural world. Truly monumental achievements. How did we get there? Investments in digital were pivotal. Ones that went beyond the next app or one-off digital solution. We need to invest in a digital ecosystem from which true innovation takes root and can flourish. For our global community actively shaped the AI revolution to improve lives. And now, as we stand at the threshold of a new era, we see a world where progress is not just a possibility. It is the reality we’ve built together. It is to the age of possibility we are looking at.

Doreen Bogdan-Martin: When Achim and I stood here for our first SDG Digital, we dared to think digital solutions could accelerate progress on 70% of the SDG targets. Now, in 2030, that vision has exceeded our expectations. Thanks to technologies like satellites, artificial intelligence, every school in the world is connected to the Internet. When the Giga Initiative helped connect Brianna’s school in Honduras, her first thought was for the unconnected children. As she put it, all children have the same rights. That’s true for countries, and that includes two-thirds of the small island developing states that lacked early warning systems. But the Early Warnings for All initiative changed that, uniting us through emerging technologies to ensure everyone is protected. These technologies marked a turning point in our efforts to rescue the SDGs and leave no one behind. I always remember Luis, a young ALS patient who joined us for our AI for Good Global Summit from his home in Lisbon. Luis had lost his ability to speak, but an AI device connected to his brain gave him back his voice.

Achim Steiner: As Doreen has so eloquently articulated, we see a world transforming ways we couldn’t have fully imagined even a few years ago. We’ve arrived at a point where digital transformation is not just about technology. It’s about lives, our lives, our children’s lives. Consider digital public infrastructure. Every person now has a secure digital identity. We are imagining the year 2030. This has unlocked services that were previously out of reach of so many. When the digital ID initiative reached a young mother, it didn’t just give her access to education and health care. For the first time, I feel seen, she said. Closing the digital skills gap has ushered in a new era of entrepreneurship. That includes a young graduate of 23 years of age. Thanks to a new digital bank account, he has now set up his own green transport business and employs seven people. Or look to technologies being harnessed to deliver for the planet. Governments and civil society are now using AI to track deforestation in real time, showing where to take action, combating forest fires. I’ll never forget a farmer that I met who used AI to help predict changing climate patterns and double her crop yield. Today, in 2030, we have a truly global AI ecosystem. And many of the world’s most impactful AI innovations come from regions like Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia, to just mention a few examples.

Doreen Bogdan-Martin: This is the moment when we said no to digital inequalities and yes to digital opportunities. And ITU and UNDP showed true partnership. As the world unites behind the vision laid out in the pact for the future, the declaration on future generations, and the global digital compact. It’s a new beginning. It’s the start of a journey towards greater unity, peace, and innovation, a future where digital technology serves as a force for good, and for inclusion, and for sustainable development. A future worth living for.

Achim Steiner: This is a moment to redefine our digital destiny. You must turn skepticism into an appetite for the unknown, a catalyst for change, and a willingness to push new frontiers. The ITU and UNDP are working together to put this commitment into practice across the globe as part of the UN’s promise. That includes driving progress on digital public infrastructure, capacity building and financing, the means to an end. And this is not just an idle digital dream. We are bringing this vision to life, like fiber optic cables lighting up with new streams of data, understanding and growth, powering a year of transformative breakthroughs for the SDGs.

Doreen Bogdan-Martin: It all began with a simple question.

Achim Steiner: What is your vision of a digital future for all?

Doreen Bogdan-Martin: Today you will see how we can make this future a reality.

Achim Steiner: To rescue the SDGs.

Doreen Bogdan-Martin: To build, right now, at the summit of the future action days, an affordable, universal,

Achim Steiner: meaningful and inclusive, sustainable and peaceful, and prosperous digital future for all.

Sade Baderinwa: And thank you Doreen and thank you Achim and Amandeep. Well, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, and now we give you, as we mentioned, SDD Digital. Thank you both for propelling us to the future and for sharing your vision. Now is the time to delve into the powerful words you mentioned. And this is act two, the hope of digital. And we’re going to showcase concrete examples of game changing solutions for a digital future for all. And some of the solutions that we will see on stage today came through a rigorous process established by the advisory group of SDD Digital. So, let’s dive right into it. Let’s take a look at this video. 2.6 billion people are unconnected. A digital future for all can only be possible if access to connectivity is universal and affordable. So, to get us started, I have the pleasure to call to the stage Mohamed Shameel Aziz Joosub, who is the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Vodacon Group. And we also have Jessica Rosenworcel, Chairwoman, Federal Communications Commission, and Juan Lavista Ferres, Corporate Vice President and Chief Data Scientist of Microsoft. Thank you. Thank you all. So, let me go with Broadband Commissioner Shamil. I’m excited about what you guys have in store for us today, so the floor is yours.

Mohamed Shameel Aziz Joosub: Thank you, Doreen, and thank you, Achim, for the powerful vision for 2030. It’s ambitious, it’s exciting, but let’s bring ourselves back to reality for a moment. Today, in low-income countries, just 35% of the population have access to 4G. While Vodafone and others continue to invest heavily in expanding our networks, this problem is far too big to be fixed by traditional methods. The world needs new radical approaches. We need to boldly seize the opportunities in front of us. We must accelerate action and drive real global change. The convergence of the satellite and the mobile industries can help us with this opportunity. Something amazing happens when we are forced to act with urgency. When a crisis hits, we stop debating, we stop delaying, and we smash through barriers. I want to share two stories, real recent examples, that show just how bold we can be. First, when the Ukrainian town of Irpin was devastated by Russian attacks, Vodafone Ukraine used a satellite-based network to restore mobile communications fast. Second, after Hurricane Beryl tore through the Caribbean in July, we turned to low-orbit satellites with our instant network on Union Island. Both examples show that, in the middle of a crisis, urgent application of satellite and mobile technology can ensure that, even in chaos, people’s voices can still be heard. So here’s the question. Can we harness this technology beyond war zones and natural disasters? Can we finally close the digital divide? Let’s really think about that number. 2.6 billion people are still unconnected. 2.6 billion were left out of today’s digital economy.

Official Video: In areas of conflict and natural disasters, where terrestrial networks have been destroyed, low-orbit satellites have helped us provide an essential lifeline for millions of people. But in a digital world, still missing 2.6 billion people, we need to take the same urgent actions and find bold solutions, such as satellites, to solve the world’s coverage gaps, connecting people no matter who they are or where they live.

Mohamed Shameel Aziz Joosub: 2.6 billion people are excluded from opportunities and disconnected from basic services. But I believe we can change that. Together with our partner, AST Space Mobile, we are pushing the next technology frontier. We are working on a direct-to-mobile satellite network, one that doesn’t need dishes or special equipment. We are aiming to plug coverage gaps in low- and middle-income countries with this conversion of satellites and mobile in a safe, secure, and equitable way. Last week, five satellites were launched from Florida. They are currently 500 kilometers above us, preparing to test direct-to-mobile connectivity. This offers the real prospect of digital to millions of more people with just a regular 4G headset. With this technology, we can reach the last mile – the isolated communities, the farmers, the rural women, and the schools. Let me be clear. Connectivity is empowerment. It’s education. It’s economic inclusion. It’s health. But it’s not happening fast enough. So how can we be bolder and really make the change we need to see? I leave you with three ideas. First, investment. To achieve universal access, we need $428 billion. That’s significant, yes. But we need to think big, create a scalable investment strategy, and make it happen. Second, there is no point in creating satellite coverage if people don’t have a device to use it. We need to lower the cost of smartphones to under $20 in the least-developed countries, removing duties and surcharges on low-cost 4G devices, and promoting local production will help. Third, we need to ensure that we innovate in a way that truly benefits everyone. and without doing harm, respecting the frameworks that keep us safe online. By the way, to succeed, we must think differently. Incremental change isn’t good enough. We need something new, something bold. We can close the digital divide. But only if we are brave, innovative, and act today with true urgency. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you, Shameel. A lot of great points there. Jessica, now it’s your turn, so please tell us more about the importance of accessibility.

Jessica Rosenworcel: The big idea that I want to talk about today is going to change and save lives. I say that confidently because it already has. So let me explain with a story. It starts on Hawaii. And if you’ve ever been there, you know that Hawaii is a beautiful place with a landscape that is often green and lush. But the climate’s changing. And last year, dry, wind-fueled flames raced along the western edge of Maui, which is one of the eight major islands in Hawaii. It was the deadliest wildfire in the United States in over a century. The flames leveled the historic town of Lahaina, which is on Maui. And in the middle of this fire, when the flames were raging, we had five young people on the road on the outskirts of Lahaina. They were trapped in a white van. Skies were smoky. It was not clear where to go or what to do, so they decided to drive toward the ocean. But the roads to the water, they were blocked, and poor visibility quickly turned into no visibility. They were stuck in a sea of flames with nowhere to go. to go. Terrestrial wireless services were knocked out, so there was no way to call the emergency number 911 for help. The van was hot and it was getting hotter. The situation felt hopeless. But you see, this crew of five young people, they survived. They’re alive today thanks to a new technology. Their phone had a new feature, the ability to connect directly to emergency personnel by bypassing ground-based communications and instead using satellite signals delivered directly from space. At 6.14pm, their message asking for help reached first responders along with their location. And at 6.47pm, they sent a follow-up message to the dispatchers to say they had been rescued. Now put simply, satellite-to-cell phone communications is a game-changer. By combining space-based networks and terrestrial wireless networks, both can accomplish more together than either can do on its own. They can make our networks more resilient and more available whenever disaster strikes. And we saw that clearly in the United States in Hawaii. But you see, the combination of these services can do even more. They can end mobile dead zones. And that’s why in the United States, the Federal Communications Commission has set up a framework, the first of its kind in the world, to support supplemental coverage from space. That means we’re making it easier for wireless carriers to have all of our smartphones connected through satellites when there’s no signal on the ground. This is part of a broader effort at the Federal Communications Commission to seize the communications opportunities of the new space age. To adapt to this era when rocket launches are no longer rare. Constellations are no longer small, and satellites are no longer just big, bulky objects destined for decades in our skies. We created a new Space Bureau. And our Space Bureau has streamlined our regulatory process for licensing satellite services. It has updated our requirements to mitigate orbital debris. So new space actors are always good stewards of our skies. And it’s put forward a plan to support in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing. Now in the end, the goal of all of this is to build what I call the single network future. And what exactly is the single network future? It’s a future where we no longer limit ourselves to thinking about one communications technology at a time. It’s a future where fiber networks, licensed terrestrial systems, next-generation unlicensed wireless technology, and satellite broadband seamlessly interact in a way that is invisible to the user. It’s a future where we have the power to end mobile dead zones. It’s a future where it is possible to connect everyone, everywhere. So let’s make it happen. Let’s build this future together.

Sade Baderinwa: Great. Thank you, Jessica. Satellite to cell phone communication. No dead zones. Fantastic. Incredible. Well, now comes something very special. Juan, you are next.

Juan Lavista Ferres: Twenty years ago, a massive earthquake struck the Indian Ocean, causing devastating tsunamis that claimed the lives of over 230,000 people in Southeast Asia. The disaster was foreseeable hours before it struck the coastline. There were no warnings notification to people at risk. It was a turning point, one that underscored the urgent need for global early warning systems that can save lives in such critical moments. While early warning systems have their effectiveness to hinges the crucial factor, communications with people on the ground, no matter how sophisticated our technology is, if we cannot reach those in harm way, the warnings are useless. There is an illusion of accessibility and current data in today’s digital age. However, this is a misconception. The reality is that in many parts of the world, population data is outdated by decades or more. The foundational knowledge of any early warning system is understanding where people are located. That’s why Microsoft has partnered with planet labs, which image the earth daily in high resolution and the institute of health metrics and evaluation at the University of Washington to create the first high resolution maps that show population shifts over time. To understand not only where people are, but also which of those people have connectivity to receive an early warning, we are collaborating with Doreen and her team at ITU in support of the early warnings for all initiative. As you can see, here in Bonatou, we have harnessed the power of AI with planet satellite imagery and ITU data to identify communities that remain disconnected from communication channels. This information is essential for governments, companies, and international organizations to prioritize investment infrastructure that ensures that everyone is reachable in time of crisis. Everyone in this room can be part of the solution. Through cross-sector innovation, we can ensure that early warnings can reach the most vulnerable. This is about more than just warnings. It’s about giving every person, no matter where they live, the confidence of knowing that they are protected and supported in time of crisis. There are 2.6 billion people in the world that are not connected. In our smartphones today, we have more processing power than the one that was needed to put a person on the moon. There are very important problems out there that can and should be solved with data. We no longer have excuses. Thank you very much.

Sade Baderinwa: Great. Thank you, Juan, and thank you all to our speakers. And I invite you to go offstage and take your seat back in the audience. Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, now I’d like to welcome to the stage Her Excellency Emma Theophilus, Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Namibia.

Emma Theophilus: Ladies and gentlemen, our world is now implored with the situation of climate change. And digital technologies, digital infrastructure could be the answer to our challenges. With quantum technology, an opportunity where citizens, countries, continents can overcome their challenges through quantum computing and the ability to adapt where other continents are unable to. As the world races toward the fourth industrial revolution, Africa must not be left behind. Quantum technology offers Africa a path to leapfrog traditional developmental models. And if we’re being honest, existing developmental models were not meant to develop Africa. And to ensure we accelerate the achievement of the sustainable developmental goals. Quantum technology holds tremendous potential to accelerate our developmental and directly support the achievement of these SDGs. We need to focus on creating an environment where the basics of technology are met so that quantum technologies can be used to benefit all. We need to strike the balance between laying the groundwork while ensuring we don’t miss out on opportunities to leapfrog. We need to recognize the adaptability as well as the agility of our local experiences navigating minimal resources for maximum impact in rural areas who can in fact contribute and advance quantum solutions. We need to do work to make quantum technology more inclusive and applications more compatible and that involves African countries and global south partners. We’re talking about an energy transition. In Namibia we’re talking about being the hub of the green hydrogen, ensuring energy efficiency and climate resilience directly impacting SDG 7 and SDG 13. We’re talking about enhancing healthcare outcomes, good health and well-being. Namibia continues to face healthcare challenges including disease management and limited access to advanced medical technologies, not to mention the rest of the continent. Agriculture and water management, where climate change continues to see cycles of flash floods and droughts. All the continents, all the countries, these innovations will ensure and enhance food production, supporting SDG 2 around zero hunger, and SDG 6 around clean water and sanitation. Other SDGs can easily be connected with quantum. Example, education through increasing quantum literacy, impacting SDG 4. Economic growth and technological innovation, directly impacting SDG 8 and 9. And quantum cryptography to enhance the security of communications and data around governance, security, and global partnerships around SDG 16 and SDG 17. Thank you very much.

Sade Baderinwa: And thank you very much, Your Excellency. Next we have Karan Bhatia, the Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy at Google. Karan, thank you. Please take the mic.

Karan Bhatia: Thank you very much. Good morning, everybody. A clear vision for 2030, 17 sustainable development goals. The clock is ticking, and we’re trailing. The time is now to get artificial intelligence into the game. Let’s journey to northern India, where my father was born. It’s a land often ravaged by floods, the most common natural disaster there for generations. Imagine floodwaters surging, engulfing homes, businesses, crippling infrastructure, endangering lives. It’s a story that has played out sadly year after year with growing intensity in recent years as the effects of climate change are increasingly evident. But what if we could foresee the floods? What if we could warn people days in advance and get them out of harm’s way, saving lives, saving livelihoods? For years, this was just a dream. Predicting when and how riverine flooding would occur was an impossibly complicated task. But it’s impossible no more. Today with Google’s Flood Hub, an AI-powered flood forecasting tool, we’re able to predict flood zones up to a week before they strike. It’s live in 80 countries, reaching more than 460 million people around the world, and we’re just getting started. We have been, we’re going to continue to work closely with governments, with the United Nations, with NGOs to implement and distribute flood forecasts to empower them to act and warn people, saving lives and livelihoods. And AI is just beginning to deliver for the SDGs in this kind of way. It’s helping farmers choose when to harvest their crops, doctors when to diagnose diseases earlier and how to, and educating people throughout the world in their native languages. It’s a tool to accelerate progress towards the SDGs. But as we’ve heard, with 2.6 billion people lacking basic Internet, we’ve got to ensure that AI doesn’t become a luxury. It needs to be universal, affordable, accessible to all. Digital inclusion requires action. We cannot allow the digital divide to now become the AI divide. Google is committed to bridging this gap. We’ve invested tens of billions of dollars annually in digital infrastructure globally, ranging from data centers to undersea cables, transforming Internet accessibility. This year alone, we’ve announced new high-capacity fiber optic links connecting Latin America to Africa, Africa to the Asia Pacific, Latin America to the Asia Pacific, and remote parts of the Pacific Ocean to America and the world. But infrastructure alone is not going to be enough. We are, and are going to continue to invest heavily in digital skilling, training across the globe, building off our track record of already having trained more than 100 million people globally with Grow with Google. And we’re now doubling down with a new focus on AI skilling to allow everyone access to this amazing technology. And we’re marrying this with world-class cloud computing and cybersecurity solutions that are critical to gain the benefit of AI. To close, at Google, we love to think big. And right now, with digital inclusion as our foundation, as our true north, AI as our superpower, and you all as our partners, we are about a future where no one is left behind, a future where the SDGs are not just aspirations, but they’re going to be achievements. Thank you very much.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you, Karan. Now, I think this is a great time to travel to space. Let’s take a look at this video, and it’s going to be followed by speaker David Sapolsky from Amazon. Let’s take a look.

Official Video: Status check, go Atlas, go Kuiper, three, two, one, and we have ignition, and liftoff. Copy that, Proto-1, we got contact with our satellites, huge milestone.

David Sapolsky: I want to thank the ITU Secretary-General, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner, heads of state, and other distinguished guests, $2.6 billion. We’ve heard it before, we’re going to hear it again, but we can’t grow desensitized to this number. That’s because behind the numbers are families, frontline workers, small businesses, students, and many others who, according to the ITU, don’t have internet access at home. Progress is being made to close this gap, but we need more solutions and faster. So today I’m delighted to present Project Kuiper, Amazon’s satellite broadband initiative, as a digital solution that can deliver affordable, high-performance connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world and advance progress toward the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. We started Project Kuiper to help bridge the digital divide for customers without access to reliable broadband. The goal of Project Kuiper is simple. With just one of these ultra-compact, affordable customer terminals and a view of the sky, customers will be able to access high-speed broadband from virtually anywhere in the world. Our network will have the capacity, flexibility, and performance to serve a wide range of customers, including schools, hospitals, businesses, government agencies, and others operating in places without reliable connectivity. The video you just saw included some footage from Kuiper’s launch of our satellite prototypes last year, which had a 100% success rate across key mission objectives. Kuiper will initially rely on a constellation of more than 3,200 low-Earth-orbit satellites. That means they operate at a lower orbit than traditional satellites. LEOs, as they’re called, provide sufficient speeds for many modern critical services, such as real-time video conferencing, telehealth, industrial applications, and live streaming. I’m also told you can shop online with it. Kuiper can also provide governments and communities with important tools for responding in moments of great need, such as humanitarian crises or hurricanes. or wildfires when other networks are incapacitated. While Kuiper remains acutely focused on advancing our shared mission to affordably connect the unconnected, our principles of space safety, sustainability, and mitigating space debris continue to influence every aspect of our satellite work. Over the coming years, companies will have to work hand in hand with governments and civil society groups to shape the global framework for sustainable global space operations. And you have an Amazon, a reliable, constructive partner, to do just that. As we’ve heard in today’s program, the magnitude of the divide is greater than any single entity can overcome. Through Project Kuiper, we are working to contribute to the solution by connecting people who lack reliable access to the internet affordably. But we’re not doing it alone. We’re proud to partner with governments and industry around the world, such as Vodafone and VRIO, on stage with us today. Congratulations to the ITU and the UNDP for hosting this wonderful event, and thank you for inviting Amazon to play a small part.

Sade Baderinwa: Great. Thank you, David. And thank you all. Please return to your seats. And now I’d like to talk about universal access to health and affordability of devices. Please welcome on stage Ann Aerts, head of Novartis Foundation, and Mats Granryd, director general of GSMA. And Ann.

Ann Aerts: Good morning, New York. A baby born in New York City today has a 12 years longer life expectancy than a baby born in another part of this city, maybe only a few blocks away. Why is that? Why do these children have to start with such a different prospect in life? Well, let’s wind our clocks back. If we look back at the past 30 to 50 years, we’ve seen tremendous breakthroughs in scientific innovations that have extended our life expectancy. by 15 to 20 years, and most of these gains were thanks to the progress in cardiovascular medicine. At the same time, these past 10 to 20 years, we see this convergence with technology innovations, technology that enabled us to radically re-imagine the way we deliver health and care. We can bring health services to people wherever and whenever they need it, even in their living rooms. That doesn’t sound too bad, does it? Still, cardiovascular disease is still the leading cause of death in the world, causing over 20 million people dying with heart disease every year. That is about 2,300 people per hour, equivalent to five jumbo jets falling out of the sky in an hour. And on top of that, cardiovascular disease is back on the rise, but not for everybody. In fact, it’s disproportionately rising in people that already face hardships, in disadvantaged populations. So it seems we are not having the full picture here. We’re missing a piece of the puzzle. That is because we don’t really understand what drives our health. We know that only 20% of our health is driven by the care we access. The other 80% is driven by the conditions in which we are born, we grow up, we live, and we age. Those social, economic, environmental conditions are not well understood. Yet, that is. Because today, we have an unprecedented opportunity to use the massive amounts of data we have in our hands, the computational power and data science capabilities around, to better understand that. We can bring data from the health system together with the data on all these underlying determinants. be it education, income, employment, housing, security, or access to healthy food, access to digital tools, you name it. All these data together can be brought into the machine, and advanced analytics can help us understand what truly is the leading determinants that drive our health and health inequities. Because only if we understand those can we address them, and can we address them at the root instead of patching symptoms. That is what we set out to do with AI for Healthy Cities, a Novartis Foundation partnership with the cities of New York, Singapore, Helsinki, and Basel, where we are deciphering the true drivers of health and health inequities. Only when we understand and address those can we offer two babies born on the same day, in the same city, or elsewhere, a similar chance on a long and healthy life. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Okay, thank you, Ann. Now we’re going to shift the conversation towards affordability. That’s, smartphones are a central part of our lives.

Mats Granryd: Absolutely.

Sade Baderinwa: But there’s a great barrier to entry, right?

Mats Granryd: Yeah.

Sade Baderinwa: If you don’t have the money, how can you get the smartphone?

Mats Granryd: Exactly.

Sade Baderinwa: How can you get accessibility?

Mats Granryd: That’s what I’m going to talk about.

Sade Baderinwa: Wonderful.

Mats Granryd: Super, thank you very much. Well, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to be here, and I have a very serious message. My name is Mats Granryd, and I’m the Director General of GSMA. I think I will have another slide here. So, I’d like to introduce to you this family. It’s Fortinet and Paddy. Paddy being the father, and Fortinet the daughter. She’s a doctor, and they live in rural Uganda. She is the only doctor in Uganda. miles around, so her services were so sought after. The problem was that when light went out, when there’s no sun anymore, she could not perform her duties. Her father, though, realized that there is something called mobile internet, there is something on this handset that people are talking about. So he got a phone for her, and she can now continue to do her work and ask other doctors for help. But she can also deploy mobile-enabled solar power, which means that she has light almost as much as you want, and she can then perform her service day and night, which is a fantastic achievement. Now, she’s only one family. We know that there is more than, and we have heard this many times today, that it’s 2.6 billion people that are not as fortunate. They are not connected to internet, and predominantly to mobile internet. Now why is that? I mean, we know that people, these 2.6 billion people, the vast majority, 95 plus percent, live beneath a mobile broadband coverage. So we don’t need more stuff. We don’t need more base stations. We don’t need anything in the sky either. It is just there to use. But they can’t use it. Why? Well, it is all around affordability. And we have done a lot of research on this topic, and the biggest barrier is handset affordability. It is the cost of this device, this little device. So we need to bring down the cost of the device. We know roughly $20 is the sweet spot, and we’re not close to that. $20 might help some, but we still have issues. So the next step we need to do is to increase access to financing, to make sure that you can actually use the handset as a collateral and borrow money to buy your first hand. It’s sort of like you buy a car or a similar thing. And thirdly, is to reduce or even remove the sector-specific tax. The handset is not a luxury item. The handset is something that is a true necessity. So those are three things that we should do. And from GSMA, we have a handset affordability coalition that has been up and running now for a year. And we’re very happy to have Doreen and ITU on board, as well as the WEF Edison Alliance, and also the World Bank, helping us to reduce the handset cost and helping us to make sure that we can get good financing. So let’s get this done. Thank you very much.

Sade Baderinwa: Great. Thank you both. Please have a seat. And unfortunately, we’re running a little long, which means we have to shorten speeches. So this is going to be almost like the Oscars. You know, when the orchestra starts playing, it says your time is running up. Speakers, you’re going to hear a little ring. Where’s the person with the little bell? There you go. We’re going to hear that. And you actually have 20 seconds to wrap. So please bear with us so we can move this program along. Well, ladies and gentlemen, now comes a very exciting moment. Two years ago, ITU launched Partner to Connect, P2C, a digital coalition to advance universal and meaningful connectivity. To date, PTC’s online platform has received over 900 pledges worth an estimated value of $51 billion for connectivity projects globally. And today, five new pledges will be announced to the world. And to announce the first one, please welcome Alexandre Reis Siqueira Freire, Commissioner of National Telecommunications Agency, Anatel, Brazil. Thank you.

Alexandre Reis Siqueira Freire: Good morning, everyone. I want to share with you one of our most impactful initiatives, a project that holds the power to change the lives of an entire generation of children across Brazil. From the resources obtained by the Brazilian 5G radio frequency auction, I’m happy to announce an amount of US$549 million commitment to partner to connect digital coalition to connect public schools, particularly in underserved and remote regions like indigenous and African-Brazilian traditional communities, and urban outskirts in order to expand the access to information and communication technologies for academic purposes. Under the coordination of Commissioner of the National Telecommunication Agency, Vicente Aquino, we launched a three-year pilot project impacting 177 public schools and over 13,000 students. These schools received high-speed internet connections, Wi-Fi networks, computers for students and teachers, and solar energy systems if the premises lack electricity. The results have been transformative and strengthen our drive to continue to expand the project, which means to benefit about 40,000 schools in the year to come. The schools connectivity project led by Anatel is part of the program Accelerate Growth, launched by the federal government in 2023. It established that all 138,000 public schools will have connectivity by the end of 2020. And six, so we must secure long-term partnership to maintain the infrastructure and the connection service after 5G opt-in resources are over. We have a responsibility to make sure this progress is not temporary. If the power of the connectivity, we, countries from the global south, can face our specific challenges arise from inequalities, build more equal and promise a future for all. Thank you, everyone.

Sade Baderinwa: And thank you, Alexandre, for that generous pledge and for setting an example of the importance of investing in technology and education. So thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, to conclude this session, let me introduce a strong believer in P2C, Rabab Fatima, Undersecretary General and High Representative. Rabab, the floor is yours.

Rabab Fatima: Thank you very much. Again, apologies. As you can see, I’m not very digitally smart. I’m reading from paper notes because I represent a group of people. countries who are still not yet there. No? You can hear me now? Okay, okay, thank you very much. Again, very digitally challenged here for me. Yes, thank you. I’m using paper notes, not yet there, and using teleprompters. Doreen, Achim, excellencies, dear friends and colleagues, thank you very much for this opportunity to share a few words, but first of all, let me thank and congratulate ITU and UNDP for organizing another successful digital day. Another fascinating, inspiring event, and I would like to thank you for keeping the digital agenda high on our agenda. As we have heard, the internet has fundamentally transformed education, healthcare, commerce, and global connectivity, benefiting billions worldwide. Yet, a large portion of the global population remains disconnected. Yes, I’m talking about the least developed countries where only 36% of the population are online. The landlocked developing countries, the LLDCs, fare slightly better at 39%, while in small island developing states, SIDS, 67% are using the internet, and women and the rural communities in these countries are certainly the ones who are being left furthest behind. In contrast, advanced economies enjoy near universal internet access, exposing the stark inequality in opportunities, access to information, and pathways to a brighter future. Excellencies, my office supports these countries, these 92 most vulnerable countries, the 45 LDCs, the 32 LLDCs, and the 39 SIDS, home to 1.4 billion people. Nearly 60% of this population is under the age. of 25, representing a generation with immense potential for digital growth. However, the persistent digital divide continues to limit this potential. This gap is not just a technological issue, but a profound development challenge. Affordability remains a key barrier to digital connectivity. The United Nations Broadband Commission has set a target for 2025 that broadband services should cost less than 2% of monthly GNI per capita in low- and middle-income countries. Yet, as of 2023, only four LDCs have met this goal. On average, 75% of LDCs face mobile broadband costs exceeding 5% of GNI per capita. LLDCs and SIDs face similar high costs averaging above the 2% target. Even when connectivity is available, challenges persist as many are unable to utilize the Internet’s full potentials. In LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDs, a consumption gap exists, but data usage remains low despite Internet access. This gap underscores not only connectivity issues, but also lack of adequate digital skills and infrastructure. To bridge this digital divide, a comprehensive approach is required, one that integrates quality education, robust infrastructure, and affordability. And I would like to commend the Partner to Connect for making efforts to bridge this gap. Yes, I’m speaking for 92 countries, give me another minute. Looking ahead, we must focus on more of such actionable solutions. developing countries to be held in Havarone, Botswana, in December to continue this conversation. The conference will feature a dedicated connectivity track that my office will be organizing with ITU, and that will be focusing on practical digital initiatives aimed at enhancing meaningful collectivity for the LLDCs. As we look to the future, let us harness the power of digital connectivity to build a more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable future. And I look forward to continuing these important discussions with all of you at the conference in Botswana to make sure that no one is left behind in this digital leap forward, and no one is left disconnected. I thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you very much. That’s right. Take your minute. Now let’s move to session two. An inclusive and meaningful digital future is one where no one is left behind. Wondercraft, a robotics company developing a first-of-its-kind self-balancing personal exoskeleton is enabling people who cannot walk the opportunity to stand up and walk again in their everyday lives. And you actually may have already seen this during the Paris Olympics in 2024 with para-athlete Kevin Piette, who became the first person with paraplegia to work to walk the torch in the summer Olympics relay. And today, you’re going to see this very same prototype presented by Bianca Faith Johnson, JD. She is making her way there. You know what? We’re going to forget all the run-throughs because I just want to get right through you. Tell me, this is really a game-changer. Talk to me about what happened to you. I know that you became paralyzed. Tell me about that journey.

Bianca Faith Johnson: Seven years ago, I was in a near-fatal motorcycle accident, no fault of my own. And as a result of that, I sustained a T4, T6 spinal cord injury. So that’s the equivalent of me being paralyzed from about mid-chest down.

Sade Baderinwa: And that completely changed your life.

Bianca Faith Johnson: Absolutely.

Sade Baderinwa: Can you tell me just how difficult that moment was in the journey after that?

Bianca Faith Johnson: That moment was extremely difficult. Imagine waking up in the hospital and being probed by doctors asking, can you move your legs and not being able to. My entire world was literally shifted upside down. But I knew that even in that moment, I was still going to make it. And I needed to make sure that I prepared myself for what was to come, for technology such as this.

Sade Baderinwa: Wow. Well, I can see your sunshine just radiating, and I can tell that you are a fighter and you are strong. So shall we walk through this together?

Bianca Faith Johnson: Absolutely.

Sade Baderinwa: Okay. So tell me about this technology. All of a sudden you found out about it, but how did you find out about it?

Bianca Faith Johnson: So I’m actually the acting chair of an organization called Push to Walk, which is located in New Jersey. It’s a spinal cord injury gym. And we were fortunate enough to have the opportunity for Wondercraft, an amazing organization who is the creators of this exoskeleton, to come and do some demos. And I was a part of that demonstration, and from there the synergy was just perfect, and I’ve been working with them ever since.

Sade Baderinwa: Okay. So let’s show everyone, shall we? Wow. Wow. That’s incredible. Shall we walk forward a little bit? Absolutely. Okay. Wow. Wow. Incredible. Wow. Okay. That was fantastic. So this has changed everything because one thing I remember reading about you, you were saying like I was standing up talking to you and you were saying that before I had to look up, but now you’re able to look eye to eye. That means everything, right?

Bianca Faith Johnson: Everything.

Sade Baderinwa: Talk to me about that.

Bianca Faith Johnson: This is how our bodies were intended to be. So, and then, of course, I was injured, so I remember what it felt like standing upright, walking upright, and looking someone and having that type of connection eye to eye. So now, in this self-balancing prototype, this exoskeleton, I’m able to do so hands-free, and I can talk to you just like everyone else would.

Sade Baderinwa: And also, just having the freedom to go where you want to go. Did you ever imagine you would be here at the UN, walking and talking to this incredible crowd?

Bianca Faith Johnson: I did not imagine this exactly, but I knew it would be something like this.

Sade Baderinwa: Shall we walk a little bit more forward? Okay, so, as we do this, can you tell me about that first moment when you got in the exoskeleton and then being able to move like this?

Bianca Faith Johnson: It was literally everything, because imagine, for seven years, I’ve been in a seated position, unable to stand on my own or walk on my own. So the moment I was engulfed and put on this exoskeleton, it put me on, and I was able to embody the position that my body was used to doing. It is almost like a little muscle memory thing going on. It remembers where I came from, and it’s bringing me into where I need to be.

Sade Baderinwa: And it’s bringing your spirit to life again.

Bianca Faith Johnson: Yes, ma’am, yes, ma’am.

Sade Baderinwa: Was there anything else you wanted to share with everyone?

Bianca Faith Johnson: This technology is just absolutely amazing. And I just want everyone to acknowledge that what you are looking at is literally the future and the present. It has given back my, it has the potential to give me back my movement and, with it, my freedom. So I plan on just making sure that I’m maximizing on this opportunity. This should be supported. You should be spreading the word, sending it to your friends, and letting everyone know that Wondercraft, in particular, it’s an organization that is for the people. for people like me, so that we can get our lives back. And it may not change the world, but it certainly has the potential to change mine.

Sade Baderinwa: That’s what technology is all about. That’s what today is all about, giving access to people, changing their lives, right?

Bianca Faith Johnson: Yes, yes.

Sade Baderinwa: Is somebody here from Wondercraft? I wish they were.

Bianca Faith Johnson: I’m surrounded by them.

Sade Baderinwa: Okay, well, Wondercraft is here. Yes?

Bianca Faith Johnson: One right there.

Sade Baderinwa: Oh, right here. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. I thought you were just helping along.

Bianca Faith Johnson: Yes, yes.

Sade Baderinwa: Tell me just about what this means for you, working on this.

Physical Therapist: It is so inspiring. I’m a physical therapist by background, so being able to work with a company that puts patients first and allows people the ability to walk again is so meaningful, and that’s why Wondercraft does what it does.

Sade Baderinwa: And I’m sure you’ve seen so many patients, and you’ve seen that transformation. What is it like for you on the other side, giving people the ability to have freedom again?

Physical Therapist: It’s incredible. It’s stories like Bianca and Tony and all of the other patients in our lives that really, that we make an impact on a daily basis. So it’s just very meaningful, and we love what we do at Wondercraft.

Sade Baderinwa: And your colleague over here, I can’t leave him out.

Engineer: Yeah, so, yeah, I’m one of the engineers.

Sade Baderinwa: You’re one of the engineers.

Engineer: I don’t do-

Sade Baderinwa: So come forward, please. Everybody can see you.

Engineer: I don’t typically do a lot of PR, but- But that’s okay, that’s okay. Yeah, it’s great to be on another side of the company and be able to participate in this. And working with, not directly as a PT like Sarah, but with patients like Bianca is really a gem.

Sade Baderinwa: Well, this is the connectivity right here. The engineer, what you’re putting to paper, what you’re actually building, there you go, she could even lean in, is changing people’s lives. It’s changing her life. What does that mean to you personally?

Engineer: Oh. Oh. Yeah. That’s- I think-

Sade Baderinwa: We can feel that. We can feel that.

Engineer: It’s something that- maybe I’ll never have to experience firsthand, but we get to experience it through, like I said, great patients we get to work with, like Bianca, and be able to really talk to them face-to-face and see how their lives have changed.

Sade Baderinwa: Well, we appreciate your honesty, we appreciate your heart, because that’s what really all of this is about. We have your excellencies here, we have engineers like yourself, PT, we have somebody here who suffered from this through the hands of somebody else, but like all of these things, all of these companies, and Google, and all these other companies, Amazon, and so many others, like these things matter. And this is what we’re talking about, the digital future. What does it mean? Not leaving people behind, not leaving people behind like you. So thank you for everything that you’re doing, and we really appreciate it, and making the difference here, and for so many others. Thank you. Thank you. Wonderful. Shall we walk together? Okay, which way do you wanna go? We’re gonna turn? Okay, we’re gonna turn together. It’s truly incredible. Wow. And as an engineer, technology is only gonna get better, right?

Engineer: Yeah, of course. So, like Bianca mentioned, this is a prototype device, and we’re actively working on it every day, ensuring that we can incorporate more features to be able to give her more of her life back as she can continue to do more and more with it.

Sade Baderinwa: So things are gonna become more streamlined, it’s gonna just become easier, right?

Engineer: Certainly.

Sade Baderinwa: Okay, wonderful. Well, thank you all again. Please give them a round of applause. Woo! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, as they make their way, pretty incredible, isn’t it? It really is. Now we welcome on stage United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, Kelly T. Clements, who will talk to us about using blockchain for inclusive financial services anywhere, anytime, and on any device. Please welcome Kelly T. Clements, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR. Thank you.

Kelly T. Clements: Thank you. Amazing, right? Yeah, incredible.

Sade Baderinwa: It’s wonderful. So you’re going to be able to talk about blockchain technology helping refugees. And not only is blockchain just changing how we do business, but it’s also helping victims of war-torn areas like in Ukraine or so many other places. Exactly. So you’re going to tell us more?

Kelly T. Clements: I will. I will. In fact, I’m going to tell you the story about Hannah. Hannah. Yes. I’m looking forward to it. So Hannah is a mother of two who had to flee from her hometown in Ukraine as the full-scale war broke out, caring for her elderly mother and her grandmother. When she arrived at a safe location, she had nowhere to sleep. After registering and engaging with our team on the ground, within 15 minutes, she tells us, the family received cash aid from UNHCR through a digital wallet on her phone. This support is part of a rental market program that we run in Ukraine to help families forced to flee find safe and dignified accommodation. Using cash to support displaced families settle into their new lives isn’t new. Cash, when conditions allow, provide a more dignified form of aid, giving people the choice to prioritize what they need. What was new for Hannah was the financial technology used to make and receive the transaction, a digital wallet powered by blockchain technology. Technology is reshaping every aspect of our lives, and the humanitarian sector is no exception. UNHCR alone manages a volume of over 2 million payment transactions every year. Handling transfers of $6 billion to partner organizations, vendors, and people like Hanna as part of our cash-based intervention. Until now, processing these payments had involved many banks, multiple payment technologies, complex processes, which vary among UN agencies and are costly and slow. Accessing financial services is a big challenge for many vulnerable communities that face difficulties opening a bank account, they lack identity documents, they live in remote areas with limited connectivity and services. There is a record 120 million people across the globe that do not have, many of them, the minimum ability to be able to access this cash. With minimal overhead costs, in a secure, transparent, and accountable way, we launched the UN Financial Gateway. It’s an initiative with Switzerland, the government. It standardizes and streamlines the payment infrastructure and processes the UN system uses for financial transactions. The Gateway seeks to leverage digital financial technologies to help us prepare, to deliver aid in a more agile and efficient way, while promoting financial inclusion. This is a collaboration across the UN, and with humanitarian partners, it could lead to efficiency gains of up to $60 million a year. Already in Ukraine, we’ve saved $12 million using the digital payment technology and reducing financial service fees. In Argentina, we saved 30% of our budget by mitigating local currency devaluation by using the digital wallet. This modality has assisted 2,500 households in Ukraine and Argentina alone. To scale up these solutions and reach those at risk of being excluded, we have to invest in global connectivity, digital infrastructure. digital and financial literacy. We need to bridge the gap between the financial ecosystem, available technical solutions, and the people that need them the most. We have to collaborate among many, many, many partners. So let’s go back to Hannah. We all have a role to play in this global challenge. Hannah was able to rent an apartment where she now lives with her two children, her elderly mother, and her grandmother. We support people like Hannah who have been forced to flee to restart their lives and find a new home. Thank you so much.

Sade Baderinwa: Great, thank you Kelly. I think this is so exciting. Let me, just come with me just quickly. Because people think about blockchain technology is just about exchanging money, but this is really where governments really help people in need, like you told us the story about Hannah. But it is also about reducing the costs for governments and for countries to be able to help them directly. Do you think that we’re gonna see a lot more advancements?

Kelly T. Clements: Absolutely. This is really just the tip of the iceberg in terms of both helping people like Hannah, but at a much reduced cost. You know, with with a number of people around the world that are forced to flee, we don’t have the resources to be able to assist them all. And governments were on the front lines with partners to be able to respond to people that are coming to entirely new locations with almost nothing. We need to do it much more economically, much more efficiently, and we need to use technology to show us the way.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you Kelly. Well, now I’d like to show you guys a very special story. Let’s take a look.

Official Video: My name is Adit Philip Maze. I’m a South Sudanese by nationality, schooling at our Ladies Girls Secondary School, and I’m also a member of the I Am The Code. For me, I Am The Code has helped me a lot because if I take back where I was, I was not that much confidence. I couldn’t be who I am now. But because of I Am The Court, I can now speak to the people, speak to the world, speak out what I have inside me. And thanks to that, I Am The Court also has made me a leader, not only of myself, but also to the whole school now. As the school head girl, I am capable now of helping my fellow students. I Am The Court also is helping our school with the morning breakfasts, because we usually have one, and it is after four lessons. Sometimes it is difficult to concentrate in class, but at least now we are able to be sustained due to the breakfast provided to us. And also, I Am The Court is helping us on coding, because here in school we just concentrate on books, but at least now we are exposed to the devices, and we are also exposed to the technology. We are now able to do codings, and at least now, when we go outside there, it will help us. For me, what I can tell to the world leaders is that they should include the refugee girls, and they should expose them, because where we come from, it is very difficult. We didn’t have all the things that we have now, because due to the culture and the society that we were living in. But now, as a refugee girl, I am being supported, I am exposed to the technology, I am now able to code, and also I am able to change my people back there, because they still have that mentality that we are being brought up of being neglected as a woman and as a girl. If now we are included by most people, and we are supported, the number of girls and women being neglected or discriminated, it will reduce. I would like to thank Lady Maryam, because she is my role model. Because since we started, I couldn’t make it up to where I am, because I did not know my rights. The only thing I do is just to listen to what society is telling me and do it. Thank you so much.

Sade Baderinwa: Technology really making a difference. And Lady Mariéme, please come to the stage. I’m so excited to hear your story. It’s an honor to meet you. Please come forward. I know you have things to share, but we’re talking about this technology and how it’s changing lives, even in remote areas. So for this woman, or young girl rather, and so many of the other young girls, you’re able to get them onto the future by coding. So they’re not just getting online, they’re able to meet the moment of the economy. So take it away.

Lady Mariéme Jamme: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I can’t start my speech without thanking Doreen. Thank you so much. And also Kelly Clements, who just spoke before me. And Ursula, the team behind ITU is just amazing. Thank you, Ursula. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. So I only have a few minutes. I timed myself, I promise you. Adit was supposed to be here, and she couldn’t make it. She was supposed to be on the stage, but she’s a refugee, and we tried very hard for her to be here with me today. So on behalf of the girls in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, thank you for giving us a few minutes to just share their stories. Thank you. So my name is Lady Mariéme Jamme. I am the founder of I Am the Code. In 2030, six years from now, Adit will be here on this stage sharing her story with you. She’ll be learning how to code. She’ll be an AI specialist. She’ll be understanding what Gen AI is. She’ll be understanding everything, because she lives in a place where it’s so hard for young women and girls. So hard. But thanks to UNHCR teams on the ground, Adit can now have an academy, the first ever academy Open, in the world, in a refugee camp and asylum seeker setting, where she’s sitting right now, she’s eating three meals a day, she’s coding, she’s developing the best coding languages in the world, from HTML to Python. When I started my work in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, I didn’t know who Adit was. She told me, today I’m a refugee, tomorrow I’m going to become a coder. And I think what is important, that as we build the future, we must include young women and girls, refugees. In Kakuma and Dadaab alone, we have over 900,000 people right now watching us. They’re refugees. And they must be part of the conversation. I stand here today before you because I didn’t go to school. I was born in Senegal. I was 50 years old yesterday, 50 years old. I know I look young. But the reason why I share this story is because young women do grow up. They grew up and they do have the sages like this and stand up and share their stories at the United Nations. So as we build the solutions for the future, we must include young women. We must include refugees. Being a refugee is just written, you know, it’s just a title. But the girls don’t feel refugees. They feel today they are coders. So as technologists, as we build the solution of tomorrow, we must do this. I’m very proud, as an African woman from Senegal, 50 years ago, I didn’t know I’d be standing here talking to you about refugees. And I have a duty, as an African woman, to make sure that I am making a contribution to my continent, but also we are making contribution to young women and girls across the world. So thank you, ITU, for including us. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: And Mariéme, thank you for investing in girls and STEM, getting them involved. Thank you so much. Now let’s travel 1,800 miles up north from Kakuma. Let’s go to the cradle of civilization. Welcome on stage, Her Excellency, Amr Talaat, Minister of Information and Communication Technology of Egypt, to talk to us more about skills and the hope of digital. Thank you, His Excellency, thank you.

Amr Talaat: The hope of digital, or is it the fear of digital? Distinguished guests, this is a question that resonates with millions around the world, and perhaps more so in the global south where I come from, where technological advancements are widening the economic gaps among our nations, and the ambiguity about AI’s impact on jobs is leading many to wonder, will I find a job in the digital world? The echoes of skepticism about recent developments are looming large, but in Egypt, I also assure you that the sounds of hope are thunderous. While carrying out my public service duties, I travel all around Egypt to connect with people and gain first-hand insights into how the government can improve its digital services and empower our people with indispensable digital skills. From the shores of the Mediterranean, to the Nile Delta, to the temples of Aswan, all across the nation, I consistently witness a common theme. A mother who left her career to raise her children is now thriving as a remote digital marketing manager of an American company right here from Alexandria, thanks to the skills she gained through our free scholarships. A fresh graduate, once struggling to find employment, re-skilled in our data analytics programs and launched a startup, serving clients globally and creating jobs for more of his diligent peers. Another young engineer wanted to give back to her village. After attending our digital innovation workshops, she founded a successful e-commerce platform that not only supports local artisans, but also partners with development organizations to enhance their skills. and invest in their local capabilities. Ladies and gentlemen, the narratives of hope are imposing. They are invigorating and propel us to continue channeling public investments. To extend fiber optics in Egypt’s rural communities, benefiting over 58 million citizens, around 50% of our population. To expand our digital scaling scholarships to more than half a million beneficiaries across the nation. This year, multiplying the beneficiaries by 125 times over the past six years. And to continue digitalizing government services, while ensuring their accessibility through multiple channels, so that no one is left behind. The opportunities that our digital world is creating are glaring. Today, our world is open. Open beyond measure. Open beyond borders. Open beyond nationalities. And open beyond our differences. Today in Egypt, we embrace our commonalities. We accept the challenges of governing technology to create meaningful, inclusive impact. And we are embracing the hope of digital. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Lisa Russell on stage. She’s an Emmy Award winning filmmaker. And she’s going to talk about how AI is revolutionizing filmmaking. Lisa.

Lisa Russell: Good afternoon. Thank you. So, I just want to start off with a quick question. How many here believe that art can actually create a better world? Hands up. Hands up. Fantastic and I do as well and that is why I spent the last 20 years pushing for arts and storytelling in the UN space. My name is Lisa Russell. I’m an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and the founder of Create 2030 and I’m a big advocate for artists to be working in the climate and sustainability sections because not only are we great entertainers, meaning we can help translate and amplify the great work being done in this space, we are also incredible creative thinkers and problem solvers and we deserve a seat at the table to help find solutions to our world’s greatest problems. Now behind me you are seeing images that have been generated using AI through my arts envoy lab and I’m on a mission to help sustainability and climate advocates learn how to become AI artists and that is because arts and storytelling is incredibly powerful, more powerful than we even realize. Did you know that there’s research that shows that a brainwave of a storyteller actually syncs up with the people who are listening to the story and people in a theater space, their heart rates synchronize with other people in the room. We have no idea the power of art and storytelling but I do believe that if we trained every climate and sustainability advocate how to use AI to amplify and translate their work we would have we would have a much wider reach. So I’m sorry Swifties, Taylor Swift should not be the voice of the world. Instead climate and sustainability advocates and creators can do so and we should be using AI to help democratize access for BIPOC and global south global majority advocates and creators to help amplify these important messages. So with that said Are you all ready to make some AI art with me? Yes Whoo. I’m gonna make you all AI artists today So behind me there’s going to be a QR code I believe it is coming soon. And this is a QR code for a survey about digital futures I want you all to take out your phones all of you and I want you to do the survey Because if you don’t do the survey you are not going to be part of this art Experience and I know you all want to be so go ahead Take the survey. I’m gonna disappear I’m gonna go do my art stuff and I’m gonna come back and I’m gonna share with you the art that we have made Together, how does that sound? Good. All right. Thank you very much. I’ll be back.

Sade Baderinwa: Hey, I Got my QR code. Okay, I gotta fill out the survey Are you guys gonna fill out the survey? Please do because she really has this extraordinary piece of art that she’s gonna put together So I’m looking forward to it So she’s gonna come back in session three to show us the product of all of our artwork. So, please Give them a survey at some point now We welcome now We welcome Lori Freeman global GM and vice president of Salesforce of nonprofits along with tunday Blackman chief development officer of world central kitchen. Lori Freeman.

Tunde Wackman: We’ve already seen so many incredible solutions here today

Official Video: There’s no place on earth that can’t be brought hope with WCK

Tunde Wackman: Like I said, we’ve already seen so many incredible solutions that help people predict disasters and provide community with critical early warning. But when that disaster strikes, World Central Kitchen is immediately on the ground, on the front lines, mobilizing volunteers and local partners to start cooking fresh, nutritious meals. Because we know that a hot meal that is locally prepared is so much more than just nutrition. It is comfort, it’s hope, and it’s dignity. Since 2010, we have provided more than 400 million meals to support climate, humanitarian, and community crises. We do it all with a commitment to inclusivity in our team and in our work, serving everyone everywhere, bringing in the local community as part of the solution. And we do it fast. As our founder, Jose Andres, likes to say, when people are hungry, send in chefs. Not tomorrow, not next week, today. Mobilizing the right resources at the right time requires the right digital solution. So I’d like to introduce Lori Freeman from Salesforce to show you how technology helps us move with the urgency of now. Lori.

Lori Freeman: As you’ve said, time is absolutely of the essence. World Central Kitchen is able to impact the work ahead within 48 hours. So let’s see how they make that happen. This work starts even before a disaster strikes. When those early alerts begin rolling in, they’re able to reach out to volunteers in the area and quickly put out the calls of support. Now the next step, preparing to feed those in need. World Central Kitchen partners with local suppliers and restaurants to serve meals that taste like home, but they’re also serving to help stimulate the local economy. And that means working with different partners all over. So they simply must rely upon activation dashboards that help them understand what’s happening in the area, tracking key information, like the number of meals served, the locations where they are, the recipients of those. Having that actionable data, it allows them to align with so many agencies like. at the UN, which helps inform the larger response. But of course, none of this would be possible without passionate humans who help support WCK through their financial gifts. So WCK manages their donor data and sends personalized journeys across each of these supporters. And they use these journeys to request critical funds to support their ongoing response efforts. As they engage their donors, they’re able to adapt in creative and meaningful ways. They even send handwritten thank you notes. I’ve received one of those. All of this engagement and donation support, it has to be rolled into fundraising dashboards to track everything. This is what helps them provide continuity, being data-driven.

Tunde Wackman: In a world where climate disasters are becoming more frequent and intense, we not only continue to innovate our disaster response through our partnership with Salesforce, but we also continue to fuel our fundraising efforts through our Climate Disaster Relief Fund. This gives the WCK relief team on the ground the ability to solely focus on what is most important, using the power of food to lift up communities across the globe. To meet the challenge of this moment, we need all hands on deck, including the collaboration of many in this room. Together, we can provide meaningful support to those in need anytime a disaster strikes. We hope you’ll join us. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you. Thank you, ladies. And now, we’re gonna talk about digital inclusion in Saudi Arabia. Please welcome His Excellency, Abdullah Alswaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to share with us some of the advancements in digital inclusion in the kingdom. Your Excellency.

Abdullah Alswaha: Thank you. Thank you. The cost, the global cost, of gender inequality is close to $7 trillion. That’s almost 7% of the global economy and more than the joint combined output of six G20 nations. According to the UN, the world, us, we’re not on track to achieve the goal by 2030. As a matter of fact, in some of these targets, it will take us 286 years. Over the next three minutes, I’m going to share with you a story of how a nation has achieved its economic prosperity and diversification under the leadership of Prince Mohammed bin Salman by focusing on gender equality in digital. This story, and trust me when I say this, because I witnessed it firsthand, started when I was working for the Silicon Valley. That was the first time I met His Royal Highness, and he shared with us a vision, how he intends to empower people by focusing on women and youth, safeguard the planet, and shape new frontiers while diversifying our economy. Fast forward to today, we have a lot to celebrate. I was told that MISC are here. Can I hear from MISC? We started with MISC, with Saudi codes touching a million women and youth with coding with a game called Minecraft. And it’s no wonder that this story has only helped us achieve becoming the grandest and the boldest success story on planet Earth, but wait for this. it helped us achieve the highest success story in the most innovative platform known to humanity, sending the first Arab astronaut to the International Space Station, Riana Bernoulli. Riana, as a cancer researcher, she has devoted her life to fighting and predicting cancer. And as a matter of fact, in addition to Riana, the woman in the middle is actually my Chief of Staff, Noura Zaid, who has been the heartbeat and the executive force multiplier behind most of our successes in tech and digital space and STEM. And speaking of remarkable women, I have to talk about Deemah AlYahya, our General Secretary for the Digital Cooperation Organization, how we have pledged under the leadership of His Royal Highness, joining hands with 16 like-minded nations to make sure that we connect the unconnected, leave no one behind in three continents. And last but not least, I have to talk about Dr. Latifa Al-Abdulkarim, who sits on the UN Secretary General AI Advisory Board, helping humanity achieve the outcomes of the summit of the future with a human-centric AI, tackling the most pressing challenges in governance, ethics, and regulation. So it’s no wonder that as we achieved the boldest and the highest success story in women empowerment in tech, space, and STEM under the leadership of His Royal Highness, His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman, year in, year out, we have celebrated becoming a top five nation by the UN, by ITU, by UNDP, by the World Economic Forum. And the team was kind enough to remind me today. that my time for my three minutes is over. But indeed, the time for all of us will be over when it comes to achieving the SDGs by 2030 if we do not start with empowering women in tech and digital. Thank you so much.

Sade Baderinwa: Your Excellency, can I speak with you? Can I speak with you? Please. Of course. I just wanted to take a few moments. Of course, being a woman, I am charged by seeing so many women lead these initiatives. Why was it important for Saudi Arabia to do this and have women just really be the cornerstone for all the movements going forward?

Abdullah Alswaha: It’s 50% of our productivity, prosperity, and future. So it’s only natural that as we move from 7% women empowered in tech, which was a position we did not want to be, to achieving 35%, surpassing the Silicon Valley average, the EU average, and even the G20 average, becoming the most successful story. And hear this, we have achieved our economic diversification by achieving 50% of our economy today becoming in an oil. And tell me briefly, what has this done for other women in the country, seeing women lead these initiatives? It’s got to be inspiring. I bet you’re going to hear it from Noura, Deemah, and the rest of the girls that we have here, how this has really not only transformed their lives, but have helped them contribute to a region on how we can tackle the most pressing issues. These women have led the study in collaboration with ITU on how we can connect the unconnected world, how we can deliver non-terrestrial networks to connect from satellite communication to devices. They have worked on a million empowering women and youth when it comes to the largest reskilling and upskilling activities with Saudi codes, starting up with Microsoft and Minecraft. And fast forward with AI, they are leading the work for the tech envoy today for the General Secretary on how we can tackle the most pressing issues in regulation, in standardization, and delivering a human-centric AI for the world.

Sade Baderinwa: Your Excellency, thank you very much.

Abdullah Alswaha: No, thank you. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: So, what is meaningful digital future for all? It is where everyone has the right to a safe, enriching, and productive online experience. And we heard earlier from Doreen’s TED Talk, if you’ll recall, she mentioned Giga, a UNICEF and ITU-led initiative to connect every school on the planet to the Internet by 2030. That’s only five years. I mean, it’s not far away. And exactly five years ago, Giga was born here at the heart of the United Nations. And today, we are celebrating Giga’s birthday, so let’s take a look at this video.

Official Video: At Giga, we are committed to connecting all the schools in the world to the Internet by 2030. By mapping schools using satellite imagery and AI, and by identifying cost-effective methods for delivering connectivity through infrastructure analysis, we provide governments with the tools to advance digital learning. Let’s take a look at Giga Maps. Red dots are schools that are offline. Green dots are schools connected to the Internet. In Dominica, Giga has helped turn red dots into green. Let’s meet a teacher from one of those schools.

Joan Moses: Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Joan Moses, and I’m a teacher at the Roosevelt Douglas Primary School in Potsmouth, Dominica. I stand before you in New York for the first time, filled with excitement and anticipation. This moment is a testament of how connectivity can change lives. When my school was connected to the Internet, everything changed. The internet has opened the door to a whole new world of digital resources, allowing me to bring innovative teaching methods into my classroom, creating a more stimulating and inclusive learning environment. My students are more engaged, more curious, and they’re achieving more than we have ever imagined. This May in Dominica, 835 students participated in national exams online simultaneously, thanks to the internet. Through Giga, schools in our region have also collaborated with each other and shared best practices, allowing us to learn from each other teachers and address common challenges. The internet has enriched our discussions around critical topics, such as climate change and social justice, encouraging our school community to reflect on our roles as global citizens. My students are learning about the importance of empathy, collaboration, and responsibility, qualities that are essential in today’s interconnected world. Let us work together to ensure that every child, regardless of their location, has the opportunity to connect, learn, and thrive in the digital world. Together we can bridge the gap and create a brighter future for all. But don’t just take it from me. Let’s hear from my students.

Official Video: Internet helps boost my learning, like when I have extra classes or extra activities and the teacher has like the flu or something. I still do Google stuff. It means that it is a modern day school, it’s a good school, and it also helps if your teacher needs to show you a slide show. Teachers can care for you, they can love you, and they can use the internet connection to help you learn. Diva is 5 years old now. Happy birthday, Diva!

Joan Moses: Help connect every school to the Internet, because with technology and great teachers, we can give our children access to information, opportunity and choice. Thank you.

Tofara L. Chokera: Ladies and gentlemen, I stand before you today as a living proof that embracing the digital world unlocks a future filled with endless opportunities. When I first encountered a computer at the age of 20, I had no idea how profoundly it will change my life. Today, as a founder of the Tofara Online Trust, I have witnessed firsthand how digital tools can transform not one life, but thousands. Through our flagship initiatives, the Digital Skills Development Program, we have empowered more than 12,000 women, youth and SMEs across Zimbabwe and Africa. We are empowering them with digital skills they need for international trade. We launched an initiative called the Talent for Startups in partnerships with Digital Africa, where we are equipping the youth with skills needed to secure meaningful employment in the digital economy. This year, 58% of our students were young women who are now website developers, graphics designers and digital marketing professionals. just to mention a few, giving them equal access to technology and digital skills. We stand at the crossroads of change, where the future of Africa is not just written by the hands of few, but by the collective efforts of many. It is a digital future for all, where women rise together as leaders, driving the digital era forward with their resilience, creativity and innovation. Winning the Equals in Tech Award as a leader in SME in 2022 was a milestone for us that uplifted thousands of women who looked up to us for inspiration. It shows us that our work and our voices matter. This recognition has fuelled our determination to work even harder, get opportunities to collaborate with women leaders across Africa, and also, as a board member of the Komesa Federation for Women in Business in Zimbabwe, I am advocating for a digital future where every woman is driving digital transformation for their businesses. My wish and my dream is to see every woman embrace technology, to see them learn, to see them innovate and to see them lead. The future belongs to those who dare to step in the digital space and claim it as theirs. Let’s build that future together. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you, Tofara. And please welcome to the stage Pamela Coke-Hamilton. She is the Executive Director of the International Trade Center. Pamela.

Pamela Coke-Hamilton: Thank you. I’m supposed to have a teleprompter up here, but clearly not. Thank you so much, Tofara. You represent actually for us one of the great success stories of ITC and of the International Trade Center process generally. You’ve done some powerful work and your insights are really incredible, especially what you’ve done in Zimbabwe. Your leadership and your mentorship, recognized by the Equals in Tech Awards, thank you, Doreen, has really empowered women to build digital skills and unlock economic opportunities. It’s a reminder of what is possible if we truly commit ourselves to closing the gender digital divide and of what we can achieve if we dare to do things differently. It’s why I’m so proud to be a supporter and a founding member of the Equals Initiative. Building a truly inclusive digital economy means creating access and actually enabling these same opportunities and tools that can ensure all women and all small businesses can have a digital future. I want you to imagine with me a world where every small business, no matter its size or location, can access the same data, insights as Global Jans. A world where a family-run bakery in Cambodia or a craft store in Kenya can reach international markets, identify the best opportunities, and connect with customers they never imagined possible. A world where we have finally democratized access to digital opportunities so no firm is left behind. Small businesses are the backbone of our global economy, but too often they’re unable to take full part in our digital age. Many don’t know where to start. Many don’t have the finance or the training to use the newest digital tools. Many don’t understand what the buyers in new markets want. But what if we could change that? The good news is we can, and we already know how. In Southeast Asia, over 1,000 small and medium-sized enterprises have transformed their prospects through the Digital Export Enablement Program. They have been able to access online resources. like Google Market Finder, Trademap, the Global Trade Helpdesk, and EcomConnect tools. They’ve learned what they needed to create their own strategies, thanks to online and hybrid sessions, and the support of a network of trainers. They’re using AI-powered insights and tailoring digital campaigns to connect with new audiences on a far deeper level. And they’re showing us how the future of business growth lies at the intersection of data, digital strategy, and innovation. After participating in the program, over 95% of the businesses reshaped their strategies and grew their global presence. This program was born out of a collaboration between the International Trade Center and Google, working alongside partners in the international space, like the ICC, and of course, my good friend from the World Intellectual Property Organization, Daren. Very good to see you, Daren, thanks. And this was just the beginning. Now it’s time to go global. When small businesses can access the same market insights, digital strategies, and online platforms as big corporations, the impact is clear. More growth, more jobs, and more inclusive economic development. The future belongs to those who can leverage the power of data. Together, I believe we can make that future possible. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you. Oh, wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. Pamela, thank you so much. And the importance of digital skills is essential for leveraging digital platforms and AI tools. Please welcome Christopher Burns from USAID. Christopher, please. Thank you.

Christopher Burns: Each year, more than 10 million students graduate from tech-related fields. These students are the future developers, engineers, and innovators who will shape the digital landscape, not just in their home countries, but globally because we know technology’s impacts go far beyond national borders. By integrating a responsible approach into their education, we can ensure that they enter the workforce, not just as technologists, but as architects of a digital future built on safety, inclusion, and justice. And the world needs such leaders. International development is replete with stories about the successes of digital technology, but not every instance has a happy ending. I heard a story a few years ago about a small business owner in East Africa who, in a moment of financial need, turned to a fintech lending app for a quick loan, as millions of people across the world do every year. The app’s design, its ease of access, its seamless integration with mobile money made borrowing almost too easy. But what seemed like a lifeline ended up being a trap, much like a predatory payday lender in the US. Needing to repay this initial loan very quickly to avoid a high interest rate, this business owner turned to a second lending app, and then a third, and then a fourth. As this business owner said, the apps give your money gently, and then they come for your neck. So, yes, the app did provide access to finance, but it did not solve financial inclusion, the true development challenge facing many countries. The story illustrates a theme we’ve heard many times, but seem to have not yet internalized. Technology can uplift humanity, but it can also deepen existing societal divides. Too often, the people designing these technologies are focused on innovation, without considering the full impacts of their products and services. And as AI technologies are becoming embedded in our everyday lives, we cannot afford to miss this moment. This concern is what the Responsible Computing Challenge aims to address. Designed and implemented by Mozilla Foundation, and sponsored by USAID, the challenge is an initiative that’s reshaping how we train the world’s future technologists, especially young women and girls, in an effort to close digital divides around the world. The challenge aims to embed responsibility into the core of technology and computer science curricula at universities, in the U.S., in Kenya and India, and with more to come in South Africa, Ghana, and elsewhere. Students in the Global South are aware of these issues and are eager to address them in their communities. As a student in Kenya reflecting on their experience with the challenge shared, as my classmates and I step into the workplace, we will carry this knowledge, empowered by a newfound sense of purpose, and we know the unique opportunity in our lives to ensure that when we enter the workplace, we are doing so with ethics, user-centered design, and responsibility as it means to the real world. The challenge we face is immense, and so is the opportunity. I invite you, policymakers, innovators, and leaders gathered here today to join us in this mission. The Responsible Computing Challenge is just the beginning. Your ideas, your expertise, and your commitment can help us build a future where technology truly empowers every individual. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Great, thank you so much. Okay, we are now approaching the end of the session, but we’re going to conclude with a bang. We’re going to focus on our youth, which is so important because it’s about laying out this future for them, a key pillar of this summit, future, and its action days. So, please, let me call to this day Sanjana Sanghi, Yuri Romashko, and Daniella Esi Darlington. Please, have a seat. So, Sanjana, let me start with you. You feel strongly about girls getting access to digital technology. Why? And tell me about this.

Sanjana Sanghi: Thank you for your question, and good afternoon, everyone. It’s an honor to be here. The reason why I feel so passionate about that is because I come from India, and I am youth champion for the UNDP in India, but I am also a girl who’s just grown up wanting access to education, wanting to build a life for herself. I have been fortunate to be able to get that access but in my journey of advocacy work, I have worked with girls in certain parts of our country that haven’t and I have my mother who’s actually seated in the audience here right now. Shout out to my mom who is a… Where is mom? Where is mom? Where is mom? Mom, can you raise your hand?

Sade Baderinwa: Oh, there she is.

Sanjana Sanghi: Okay. Who is a fifty-six-year-old Indian woman who wanted to make a difference and the only way she could do that is because digital technologies allowed her to connect with girls from very, very economically backward sections of society in India. Zainab and Pallavi are her name, their names and they belong to slums in India. Their parents do everyday jobs if at all. They don’t have any steady stream of income but they have somehow got themselves a smartphone. So their course modules they can see on their smartphone while my mom teaches them English which prepares them to be a part of the bigger world because they would never ever have gotten the opportunity to learn even just a basic language like English. So I have seen how women from two different generations and two different economic backgrounds with the tool of digital technology can come together and change each other’s lives. My mom feels invigorated by teaching them and Zainab and Pallavi are off to hopefully a better future.

Sade Baderinwa: Wow. Mom, you did an excellent job. Fantastic. Okay, Yuri, let’s talk about you. You attended this, this thing yesterday, right? For youth. What was your biggest takeaway?

Yurii Romashko: Well, I want to deliver two key takeaways. First, youth extremely accurately identify the main challenges of digital future based on digital today. And according to youth consultations, which was held in a Spark Blue platform, youth determined limited literacy. limited access to the internet, limited infrastructure as the key barriers which enable access to the digital technologies. So all this requires our common and global efforts. And second thing, the voice of youth is vibrant and game changer today. It ensures that policy makers and institutions should engage youth into the policy making, because of the reform agenda, because of the IA technologies, because of the digital solutions provide a lot of new opportunities. They reshape youth opportunities and therefore it’s extremely important to engage and involve youth people into the decision making process right now.

Sade Baderinwa: Well you’re a part of this decision making process right now yourself, because we have leaders here from different countries, so your voice matters. Daniella, let me get you in here. What were your takeaways from yesterday’s session?

Daniella Esi Darlington: Right, thank you so much for the question. So we realize that youth are more connected than ever before. However, there still exists a lot of digital divide in terms of internet connectivity and accessibility, especially in rural areas. And with ITU, our head of international youth day, we conducted a series of quizzes to gauge the level of awareness among youth in terms of internet usage and connectivity amongst others. And we realized that 66% of the youth were not really informed about where the biggest digital divide exists. So my key takeaway was that it’s not enough that we bridge the digital divide, we also have to bridge the awareness divide. Because you can only empower someone to do something, they can only do something if they have the knowledge about it. So we have to create more digital literacy programs for our youth, and we also have to create platforms where they apply those knowledge. especially where space technology is not so commonly known among the youth. We have to create opportunities where they can apply their knowledge in AI and space technologies to bridge and solve problems in their local communities. And my final words will be that we’ve connected our youth to the world and it’s important that we also connect them to its future. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you, thank you. So what, Sanjana, what does your vision for a digital future look like for all?

Sanjana Sanghi: Oh, it’s a daunting, you know, thought, but for me, there’s always this kind of like an invisible prefix to the digital future, which is an equitable and just a realistic digital future. By that, I mean that anything untamed can just spill in different directions, right? So what I mean by that is that when I see, say the youth being empowered with social media, when I see them getting untamed access, I see it having negative effects, negative effects on their mental health, negative effects on their attention spans, on the way they use it. So I feel like everything else in the world, even access to digital technologies needs to be guided and rooted. Like Daniela said that the ones who have it have too much and the ones who don’t have none at all. So firstly, that equitable distribution is really important because again, coming from India, I get to see it in a magnified way and who’s illiterate continues to remain digitally illiterate as well. So like many speakers here today have said that there are many developmental kind of barriers that we have to overcome for any kind of equitable digital future to be possible. So I’m waiting for that digital future where it’s more of a digital dividend and not a digital disaster.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you. And for you, Yuri, what does the digital future look like for you?

Yurii Romashko: My vision of the digital future is based on these three pillars. It is inclusivity and accessibility, digital literacy, and digital security. And my vision is very simple, to take action and transform challenges into opportunities in my community, city, country. I’m from Ukraine, where is the war. And because of the war, one of the biggest challenges is reconstruction. And there are thousands of projects simultaneously happening from all over the country. And to properly manage, control, organize, we create DREAM, Digital Restoration Ecosystem for Accountable Management. It’s an ecosystem as a single pipeline solution, where everyone sees everything that is connected with the reconstruction.

Sade Baderinwa: Great, thank you. And for you, Daniela, what does this future look like?

Daniella Esi Darlington: I’d also like to summarize that into three key words, universal, affordable, and also inclusive. For anybody to be able to leverage digital solutions, it needs to be available for them to be able to harness it. Also universality is also key to affordability. So then we have to make sure that building AI technologies and tools is, we do that with cost in mind. Because I am a tech founder, and I realized how building AI tools would not be able to, people in rural areas would not be able to leverage these tools if they don’t even have access to it in the first place. So we have to factor all these costs into digital solutions and innovations. And lastly, it has to be inclusive. We have to include people who are in the underrepresented parts of the world, those who are blind, people with disabilities. We have to bring them on board when we are developing technological tools so that it’s not just for us who are capable, but also those who lack the ability to afford these things or able to leverage these tools are also, they also have the opportunity to partake in the digital future. So that would be my future, that the digital world is inclusive, it’s universal, and also it’s affordable.

Sade Baderinwa: Good points there. Daniella, thank you. Sanjana and Yuri, this is our future. Let’s give them a round of applause. All so poised, poised and smart. Thank you all. Well now, Paul Foster is going to announce a pledge. He’s the CEO of Global Esports Federation. Please welcome him.

Paul J. Foster: Good afternoon. Your excellencies, distinguished guests, good afternoon. It’s a real pleasure to be with you today on behalf of our Global Esports Federation and our community of over 3.2 billion gamers around the world. Secretary General Doreen, Administrator Akim, thank you for the opportunity for our community to contribute to this important work. But gaming is more than a game. Our motto, World Connected, inspires us to do more. Just last month at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as a sign of our progress, the International Olympic Committee declared that they would create next year in 2025 the very first Olympic esports games. And so today, on behalf of our global impact partners around the world, we pledge a multi-year, multi-million dollar series of global initiatives leveraging this transformation potential about our digital world and the youth of the world. Thank you very much.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you so much. And next, I’d like to welcome to the stage Brad Smith, who is the Vice Chair and President of Microsoft UNSDG. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Brad Smith: Well, I know the time is running out. Let me be brief, but let me say just a few words. First, of course, to thank Doreen and Akam and ITU and UNDP for not just today, but all the work every day. I want to say just a few words about one critical topic. When we look to the future and we think about artificial intelligence, how will we ensure that it reaches and serves the global South? That I think is one of the most important questions before the United Nations this week and this year. First, I would say we need to learn the lessons of the past. Artificial intelligence is what economists call a general-purpose technology. Think electricity. It changes every part of the economy. So first, let’s learn the lessons from the history of electricity. A hundred and forty-two years ago, the first power plant lit up lower Manhattan. And yet tonight, there are still 700 million people, 43 percent of the people who live in Africa, who do not have access to electricity. And what one sees over 15 decades is that every time electricity grew and people had access to it, economic development followed. But it has been extraordinarily uneven in many ways because of the economic structure of electricity. We all know that a power plant is very big and very expensive, as is an electric grid, even though an appliance may not cost much money at all. And the inability to overcome that economic challenge which is, in my opinion, a fundamental contributor, even cause, of one of history’s greatest technology tragedies. Because the electricity divide, I believe, is the fundamental cause in so many ways of the great north-south divide that shapes everything we are talking about here today. So now, let’s go to the future, and we have to ask ourselves, how do we ensure that this history does not repeat itself? First, we need to understand that the artificial intelligence economic structure looks a lot like electricity. At the infrastructure layer, data centers, they are big, they are expensive, they cost billions of dollars, even if it is very inexpensive to create an AI application. So what are we going to do? Well, first, we are going to have to do what was never done for electricity for the first 50 years after it was invented. Harness the power of capital and bring it to the world, and not just parts of it. And that means private companies like Microsoft, where we spent more than $50 billion last year, not just in the U.S., but in the developing world as well. But it means raising more capital, it means turning to long-term development financing, it means making this one of the great goals for the next decade to ensure that AI reaches everywhere. Second, we not only have to be thinking globally, we have to be focusing locally. And that’s what so many of you do. We need local language models so local voices can be heard. We need local data sets so that global and local problems can both be addressed. And in order to harness the power of AI at a local level, we need to recognize that just as important as the technology infrastructure. is the skilling infrastructure. It is investing to educate more data scientists, data analysts, computer scientists, and the many, many, many other fields that need to be grown so that a local economy can put AI to work. If and only if we do these things, we can ensure that AI is a leapfrog technology that helps close the gaps that divide the world in so many ways today. It will require all of us. It will require new types of partnerships. But I think it requires, among other things, a spirit of optimism that learns from the past and does our best to repeating the things that have gone wrong before. Thank you very much.

Sade Baderinwa: Brad, thank you so much. Just quickly, quickly, quickly. Okay, you’re giving us optimism. You talked about $50 billion Microsoft actually used around us, not here, but around the globe, and that we need to think locally, not just for language models, so you can hear those local voices. Because a lot of people are afraid of AI on a very granular level. Tell us just more about bridging that gap and how it can really transform the world.

Brad Smith: Well, I think bridging the gap probably requires a couple of things. One is it’s another one of the great lessons of electricity. You got to go meet people where they are, show them how they can use it, and show them how it can make their lives better. It’s an educational exercise that when you study electricity and how it moved around, it was key. And then the other thing that we also have to keep in mind and that I have to be, I think especially, it’s important for somebody like me to say, this technology and the companies that create it need to be subject to the rule of law. Local laws in countries, all the way to global governance. including at the United Nations. And that’s why the kind of multi-stakeholder activism that you see on a day like today is fundamental to ensuring that this technology truly serves the world.

Sade Baderinwa: And just really quickly, because I think this is an important point, talking about the skilled infrastructure, we also need to teach people about this new future and giving them the skills that they need.

Brad Smith: Yeah, and it’s so fascinating because I think that fundamentally you start by thinking, well, you gotta teach somebody how to do data analytics or how to use a large language model, how to write prompts. All of those things are true. I actually think the first step is to show people what they can do once they master those skills. One of my favorite things, like studying electricity, was here in the United States where it didn’t reach rural communities. There was a government initiative to just show people what it would mean to farmers, to women who were washing clothes or cooking food, to men who are harvesting crops. You have to help people see what it means for their own lives and not in just some abstract sense.

Sade Baderinwa: Wonderful. Brad Smith, thank you so much.

Brad Smith: Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you. Thank you. Okay, in this next session, we are going to see how we can harness digital technologies to protect the environment and planet. Now joining us is Nobu Okada, founder and CEO of AstroScale. Please welcome Nobu.

Nobu Okada: Hello, everybody. Take a look. This 10 millimeter metal ball could derail all the incredible digital progress we’ve been talking about today. This is a visualization of the space object reflecting millions of space debris ranging from smaller than this size to as large as a city bus size. that are traveling around the Earth at tremendous speed, 100 times faster than a bullet train. This is an urgent threat to the satellites which we rely on every day for digital technologies, from climate monitoring and traffic control to internet access and disaster response. We used to think space was big, treating rockets and satellites as disposable objects. But today, space is very congested and unsustainable. And just one collision with this metal ball could trigger a chain reaction collision that could prevent us from using space for generations. At Astroscale, our vision is to make space sustainable, and our satellites are designed to create a circular economy to remove, reuse, relocate the fuel, and in the future, repair and recycle spacecraft, leaving no waste in space. This requires advanced technology to approach and capture fast-moving, uncontrolled objects in space. And our satellites are equipped with sensors to locate objects, software for autonomous maneuvers, and robotic arms to grab an object and remove or service it. This year, our Astroscale team achieved a historic milestone, successfully locating and approaching a real piece of debris. This is the world’s first image of real space debris, an 11-meter-long rocket body weighing 3 tons, taken from just 15… meters away. And here is a time-lapse of a fly around. This debris is not sitting still. It’s moving at over seven kilometers per second. When I saw this image, I thought this is beautiful, although it’s just a garbage. And then our next mission is to remove this debris, but we should recycle this in future. Space sustainability is critical to safeguarding our future, and this matters to each and every one of you. So be an advocate for space sustainability. Together we have the responsibility and opportunity to ensure space as a resource that benefits humanity for the generation to come. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Okay, thank you so much. Now we’re actually going to turn to the Middle East, and earlier we heard from His Excellency Abdullah Alswaha about his appointment of women for his vision of the future. And joining us now is one of those appointments is Deemah AlYahya, Secretary General of Digital Cooperation Organization. Please come to the stage, Deemah.

Deemah AlYahya: Thank you so much. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. I would like first to thank Doreen and Achim for bringing us all together and giving us this platform to cooperate and partner together and bridge that gap, the digital divide and the digital gap. Now Ladies and gentlemen, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, honored guests, it is 2024 and yet there are still regions in the world where a staggering 75% of the population remains disconnected from the Internet. While connecting them is a priority, we must ask ourselves, if we were to bring everyone online today, would it really solve the pressing issues of poverty, unemployment, the lack of digital skills? Is that enough? The answer is no, because it is no longer just about digital divide. It is about gender digital divide, AI divide, skill divide, and the disparity in the quality of connectivity across the borders. So how do we address this? The answer lies in three I’s, infrastructure, innovation, and inclusivity. First infrastructure, without robust infrastructure, true digital growth will remain a distant dream. Second is innovation, quantum computing, AI, blockchain, and the Internet of Things. These innovations are not just breakthroughs, they are engines for transformation that we must nourish. Third, inclusivity. Bridging the digital divide requires more than just connectivity. It depends and realize that we close the quality gap and provide equal opportunities for all to fully participate in the digital economy. So how do we ensure a bright digital future? Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the Digital Cooperation Organization’s answer, DEN, the digital economy navigator. Well, there was supposed to be a video playing, but okay, I’ll continue. So navigating tomorrow, that is our goal. And with DEN, we provide the solution with constructive insights for digital growth. DEN is not just an innovative tool. It is a game changer. It offers comprehensive, detailed view of digital economy performance across 50 countries. And it goes beyond measurement. DEN provides a clear framework with 102 indicators across 10 pillars, measuring digital economy maturity in three main dimensions, digital enablers, digital business, and digital society. This helps countries benchmark their progress and identify the steps needed to go from consumer into producers, innovators, and disruptors. Through DEN, the Digital Cooperation Organization is taking charge in providing a solution that connects fragmented efforts, offers clarity, and accelerates digital growth. I call and urge all of you to seize this opportunity, engage with us, and use DEN as a tool for all international organizations, countries, private sector. We connect the dots and connect source and connect the supply with the demand. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Okay. Deemah, if you can just stay here for a moment. And sorry about the video. Unfortunately, we had technical difficulties. But you know, I spoke with His Excellency Abdullah Alswaha earlier. And he talked about the women who are being appointed these positions. And you are leading these efforts on a global scale right now. And you are giving the answers to the globe. Tell me about what this means to you personally.

Deemah AlYahya: Well, this is first, His Excellency surprised us today. And I appreciate that recognition. He and of course, Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been the force. behind enabling women and giving them the opportunity, really, to lead. What is really beautiful and what is provided now for women in Saudi Arabia is not just the opportunity, but also treated and these positions are looked at from a quality perspective and not just filling in a gap with gender equality. And this is, we’re blessed as women to be recognized and given this opportunity and now it’s our time to deliver and show that we are up to the task and we can.

Sade Baderinwa: So you’re telling me that this means something to you personally. What do you hope the other Saudi woman living at home who happens to see this streaming, what do you hope it inspires in her?

Deemah AlYahya: Well, not a Saudi woman, actually, all girls all over the world. That we can do it and opportunities are there. We have to seek for these opportunities and we have to make sure that we’re always learning and upskilling ourselves to make sure that we are up to always the task.

Sade Baderinwa: Well, you are up to the task and you are doing it. So thank you for inspiring all of the women, not just Saudi women. Thank you so much. Thank you. And I just want to remind the speakers, just for the sake of time, if we can condense the remarks because I know people are starting to get hungry in the room and we do want a break for lunch at some point. So please now allow me to welcome to the stage His Excellency Valentino Valentini, Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy. Please welcome him. Thank you so much.

Valentino Valentini: Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Well, the digital revolution is reshaping our world at an unprecedented pace. The rapid advancement of technology offers immense opportunities, but it also brings with it the responsibility to ensure that these innovations support environmental sustainability. and equitable growth. To achieve a future where technology serves as a force for good, we must focus on integrating digital solutions with sustainable practices and fostering collaborations that bridge gaps and drive progress, ensuring that no one is left behind. Today, I am thrilled to share with you an initiative that embodies this vision – the AI Hub for Sustainable Development, co-designed by Italy’s G7 Presidency in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme. This initiative exemplifies our commitment to leveraging AI for sustainable development and global progress, with a focus on the African continent. It reflects our conviction that the path to the future must be inclusive and equitable, benefiting every corner of our world. Our journey in creating this AI Hub has been guided by collaboration, inclusivity, and a shared vision for the future of AI. We started by engaging with the African Union and securing the support of our G7 partners. We consulted with over 100 stakeholders, engaged with more than 300 AI startups across Africa, and initiated 80 partnerships focused on local language digitization. This collaborative effort ensures that the future of AI is shaped by diverse voices, perspectives, and innovative ideas. Our approach is centered around four critical pillars – data, computing power, talent, and enabling ecosystems. We are committed to deepening partnerships with our private sector and industry to strengthen the foundations and scale AI solutions that address the most pressing global challenges we heard today – whether it’s transforming energy, revolutionizing agriculture, improving health care, managing water resources, enhancing education and infrastructure – we’ve seen it all today, well presented here – AI holds the potential to tackle this issue. in ways we’ve only began to imagine. The AI Hub is also a cornerstone of Italy’s MATE plan, reinforcing our dedication to sustainable development and innovation in Africa. This initiative wants to go beyond technology transfer. It’s about co-creating, creating solutions together, learning from each other, and growing together. We believe that Africa must be a true partner in shaping the future of AI, and we’re committed to ensuring that this journey is one of mutual growth and shared benefits. As we stand at this pivotal moment of the Global Digital Compact, I invite you to join us in this transformative endeavor. Together, we can harness the power of AI to build a future where technology enhances our lives, protects our planet, and ensures prosperity for all. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you. Who’s next? Jakob, Jakob. Thank you so much. And now I just wanted to take the moment to recognize the president, the presence of the president of Malawi, His Excellency Lazarus Chakwera. Thank you so much. We look forward to hearing from you a little bit later. And our next speaker is Jakob Granit. He’s the Director General, Swedish International Developed Corporation Agency. Please, let’s welcome Jakob. Jakob, thank you.

Jakob Granit: It’s my great privilege to address you on behalf of Sweden on a topic of hope, digital sustainability, and prosperity. The ongoing digital transformation presents mankind with plenty of hope for solutions to tackle poverty, build equitable societies, and find sustainable solutions in areas such as the green transition. At the same time, There are many risks related to digitalization, such as misinformation, and that vulnerable parts of society are left behind. To address these risks and opportunities, Sweden has worked with its co-facilitator Zambia, the Secretary General’s tech envoy, member states, and stakeholders in the intergovernmental process for a global digital compact. The compact has a key goal of an inclusive, open, sustainable, fair, safe, and secure digital future for all, and is planned to be agreed here at this summit. Now there is a strong link between the green transition and the digital transformation. Digital services often replace carbon-intensive services and transport, and the circular economy relies on digital infrastructure and services. Let me provide one example of how the Swedish International Development Co-operative Agency, SIDA, brings digital and green together. SIDA was part of establishing an investment in the GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation. The fund has supported start-ups across the section of green and digital. Some of the examples in the agriculture space range from a system to share tractors in Nigeria, to boosting fish farms in Kenya through iInternet of Things solutions, and to support farmers in Nepal to adapt to climate change through new techniques and access to information. These examples illustrate how the private sector can leverage the power of digital while ensuring the sustainability principles of the global digital compact. So in ending, the hope of digitalization in terms of contributing to prosperity and sustainability in support of a green transition is very large, and we hope the Global Digital Compact will provide a roadmap to unlock these opportunities. for the benefit of all of us. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you, Jakob. And our next speaker, Zhiping Chen. Thank you so much. She’s the vice president of ZTE Corporation, and she’s going to share how connectivity, entire species can be saved and preserved in one of the most remote places on earth. Zhiping.

Zhiping Chen: Thank you. Thank you for today to have a chance to be here. It’s my great honor. I’m Summer Chen, and today I want to share a wonderful story. Do you ever thinking about a place is ever in charge in time, and is rural, or in charge by the, this is Cocoshilli, one is the highest UNESCO hesitate site. In these places, park rangers, they are wirelessly protect Tibetan antelope for poachers. And we find the digital solutions to connect this remote areas. This vast isolated wilderness is a home to over 200 spices. When you step into Cocoshilli, it means leaving all behind the modern connectivities. Today I want to share a remarkable story of hope. Through these digital solutions, we protect these remote areas, caring for ecosystem in ways you never imagined. In these places, what the monthly without connection park rangers, what they are doing? Not just protect the only retirement entertainment, staring contest, to see who would blink first. Despite all these challenges, in collaboration with our partners, ZTE embarked on a mission We connected this and achieved three breakthroughs. First, successfully to build the first 5G base station. It allows for observation and in-depth animals and the live stream on the tablet, antelope migration and caring season. Nearly six, seven point millions of viewers tuned in worldwide. It’s greatly public wellness enhancement. Second, our 5G network will connect park rangers for their loved ones through a reliable railroad course. We witnessed the rangers were overwhelmed by the first call. Third, thanks for this 5G technicals, we caught on the carbon emission is another big win for environmental protection. And all our commitment is not just for Kokushile, we pushing the boundaries worldwide. For ZTE, our mission is quite clear, to making the connectivity and the trust everywhere. We believe this digital inclusion is a fundamental pillar of SDGs. It’s ensuring the digital future for all. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you. And now from the UN, let’s bring up Fatou Haidara, Daren Tang, and Tawfik Jelassi.

Fatou Haidara: Good afternoon, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. Every solution begins with a problem. In this particular case, we are dealing with an invasive species called Acacia bushes that invades the grassland of Namibia and takes up farmland. The farmers affected were simply burning the bushes to recover land, a dangerous process but also a source of harmful emissions. The New Dose Sustainable Bush Value Chain Project uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, satellite and drone imagery to analyze and map the growth of the bush across Namibia. It is a prime example of how digital technology can be used to tackle environmental degradation and resource depletion. Artificial intelligence and geographic information systems now identify where the Acacia is growing and estimate the total biomass. This provides a foundation for the responsible harvesting of this invasive species and as next step, the harvested Acacia is turned into marketable products like charcoal and cattle feed. Together with our partners, we transform a harmful environmental issue into an economic asset. for local communities. A challenge become an opportunity. Funded by Finland, our solution has received strong support from national authorities and local communities, attracted venture capital, and led to the establishment of a factory for biomass processing. A factory like this means local value addition, job creation, and income generation. Our initiative shows how AI technologies can benefit rural populations and foster sustainable in inclusive growth. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that developing countries have access to such technologies to bridge the digital divide. At UNIDO, we will continue to explore the potential of AI for advancing local communities, job creation, and environmental sustainability. We look forward to partnering with all of you in identifying and implementing similar concrete digital solutions. I thank you.

Daren Teng: Hi, I think I’m next as the DG of WIPO. Good afternoon, everyone. I’m Daren Teng, the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, the UN Agency for Innovation, Creativity, and Intellectual Property. Innovation is a process by which an idea is turned into an invention, and an invention creates impact. One of the key work, key missions of WIPO is to develop a global network of technology and innovation support centers, or TIS. But what are TIS, and how did it really harness the power of digital to unlock innovation potential? Think of every innovation journey. as a planting an idea in fertile soy. But like any seed, these seeds need the right nutrients to grow, and one key nutrient is information. One of the unique features of the IP system is that when you apply for any type of IP, you have to disclose information behind this new technology, new brand, or new design. And with over 20 million intellectual property applications filed each year, this has become a huge database of information. Policymakers use it to understand technology trends, researchers use it to identify new areas of research and decide on research priorities, and entrepreneurs apply it to find potential partners for their businesses. But making information available is only part of the story. Advice is also needed for these researchers, inventors, and entrepreneurs, especially from developing countries to take their ideas from the lab to the market. By combining cutting-edge digital tools with expert guidance, WIPO’s Technology Innovation Support Centers, or TIS, help to transform information into insights and insights into impact. WIPO’s patent scope is one example of information provided through TIS. Powered by artificial intelligence, it mines over 100 million patent documents and close to five million scientific and technical materials to allow innovators to draw insights from all fields of human research. Another example is RD, or Access to Research and Development for Innovation Program. Through this single platform, inventors in developing countries can access hundreds of thousands of scientific and technical reference materials from over 100 publishers. TIS not only provide these digital tools, they guide innovators in how to make best use of them, turning knowledge into new discoveries that drive economies and societies forward. Let me quickly share the story of two amazing innovators, Luis Miguel Segovia and Maria Almanza, both from Colombia. As students, they developed a new solution for foot pain caused by high heels. Impressed, their professor encouraged them to turn their ideas into a business. which led Luis and Maria into a local TIS. Working with an IP expert, they confirmed that their idea was new, studied the market and worked on a patent application. But support didn’t just stop there. The TIS also helped them to apply for seed funding to launch a shoe line, Calzado & Mansa. Luis and Maria are two of the many innovators that we supported throughout 1,500 centres in 93 countries. TIS handled 2.2 million enquiries last year and close to 8 million enquiries in the past four years. We are proud of these numbers, but we are proud of still people like Luis and Maria who are changing the world with their ideas. So let us work together to support them and others to bring their ideas to the world and build a better future for all of us. Thank you very much.

Tawfik Jelassi: Excellencies, esteemed delegates, distinguished guests, my name is Tawfik Jelassi, I am Assistant Director General at UNESCO. I invite you to imagine a world without public services, without schools, without security forces to protect us, without care for the environment, without social security for all. These are not just conveniences, these are the backbone of our society. They uphold equality, inclusivity, human rights, democracy. And it is not a coincidence that SDG 16, which calls for strong institutions, emphasises this. To fully realise digital transformation in the public sector could unlock over $3.5 trillion annually, according to a study by McKinsey. Yet, despite significant investments, 70% of civil servants still lack digital capabilities, according to the World Economic Forum. The cost is not just financial, it’s about lost opportunities to better serve citizens, eroding trust in institutions and undermining democratic values. Obviously, we need to tackle this. What is UNESCO doing about this? Imagine equipping the world with better education, with digital skills, and obviously with full respect of human rights, dignity, equity, and inclusivity. We need to change not only the technology, we need to change the mindsets in order to change the behavior. And we do that through capacity infrastructure, in addition to what ITU has been doing, the meaningful digital infrastructure. One of the examples is our work on AI and the rule of law, training thousands of judges, prosecutors, on the new impact of AI and Gen AI on their work. And obviously, the educational transformation, also the greening of education. So these are just some examples that we are working on, in addition to with the African Union, with ITU, with UNDP, our work on data governance, and the capacity building for civil servants. So obviously, we need to move from just policy makers and tech innovators. We have also to empower educators, citizens, everybody has a role to play. So let’s invest in a digital transformation that serves both people and the planet. Let’s restore trust in our institutions, and let’s reinforce our democratic values. Thank you for your attention. I was supposed to play 30 seconds of the famous song, Imagine, but I was told I cannot do that because of intellectual property rights, especially in the presence of the Director General of WIPO. So you can imagine the music, here are the lyrics. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you all. Thank you so much. if you can please exit the stage. Now up next for a special announcement, we have Alan Davidson from NTIA and Harrison Lung from END.

Alan Davidson: Hi, I’m Alan Davidson, and I just wanna say a very quick shout out and thank you to Doreen Bogdan-Martin for your leadership here to ITU and UNDP and all of our hosts for this second Digital Action Day. Honestly, it’s been an inspiring day. And as a starting point, as we’ve said, the internet is now the essential tool for communications in our modern world. It’s essential for access to work, to education, access to healthcare, access to opportunity. And yet it is incredible that here we are in 2024 and that billions of people around the world still lack access to a high-speed internet connection or they lack the means and the skills to use it. That has to change. In the U.S., we’re doing our part through the Biden-Harris administration’s $90 billion Internet for All initiative to connect everyone, the president keeps saying everyone, everyone in America. And we are proud today to renew and expand our support for the Partner to Connect initiative to mobilize resources to connect the unconnected around the world. In 2022, the Commerce Department delivered our Partner to Connect pledge in Kigali at the ITU’s World Telecommunications Development Conference. And we pledged at that time to provide in-kind knowledge exchange and training opportunities focused on developing the next generation of leaders who will be improving broadband connections around the world. Since then, we’ve funded several efforts to grow global connectivity, but I wanted to highlight particularly the training sessions that have been so valuable and the work that we’ve done in partnership with USTTI in Washington and in Rwanda. Both have focused on African policy leaders and entrepreneurs interested in connectivity, in Internet governance, in space-based communications. I’ll say, I had the chance to meet with this cohort of extraordinary young leaders, and they should give us all hope for the future. They were truly inspiring. As the saying goes, the kids are all right. This brings me to our news today. I’m pleased to share that NTIA is renewing and expanding our pledge. We will partner again with USTTI to bring a new cohort of current and emerging African leaders, all women, to Washington, D.C. for training. We will also bring them – yes, thank you, it’s great, it’s a great group, it’s been a great group – and we’re going to bring them to Silicon Valley as well for some experience with American-style entrepreneurship. Our grant for the African Women Digital Leaders Training Program will promote best practices, demonstrate emerging technologies, grow the leadership skills of these participants, and really invest, again, in this next generation of leaders that we need around the world if we’re going to make this connectivity a reality. We plan to continue similar trainings focused on digital skills and connectivity in the years to come. We look forward to our continued partnership with the ITU on this important effort. I’ll just say, this is a historic moment. The pandemic reminded us that connectivity is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. And the coming AI revolution is only going to deepen that divide for those who don’t have internet access. So this is our chance to connect everyone in the world with the tools that they need to thrive in the modern digital economy. It’s going to take a lot of work, but together I know we can achieve that promise of greater digital access and community around the globe. Thank you.

Harrison Lung: Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, and esteemed speakers. Thank you for the opportunity to speak here today. I would like to use this stage to reaffirm our commitment to building a sustainable and inclusive future, as well as add an additional pledge here on this stage. EN, formerly known as Etisalat, started as a UAE-based telecom operator close to 50 years ago. Since then, we have grown to become a global technology company with operations in over 30 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, and over 175 million subscribers. Thus far, we’ve made significant public commitments as part of our sustainability strategy across financial investments and population impacted in our operating footprint. Firstly, as part of the World Economic Forum’s Edison Alliance and its One Billion Lives Challenge, EN has pledged to contribute significantly to this mission by striving to improve the lives of 30 million individuals through enhanced network access, financial services, and technology education by 2025. In addition to connectivity, the digital services and applications, such as technology-supporting financial services, healthcare, and education, is critical to leveling the playing field. Secondly, as part of the UNDP, Digital for Sustainable Development Program, we will soon announce a strategic collaboration with focused initiatives across a number of areas, including AI, fintech, and education. Stay tuned for that. Thirdly, as part of our commitment to ITU’s Partner to Connect Digital Coalition, earlier this year at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, EN announced an investment of $6 billion between 2024 to 2026 in technological advancement, infrastructure, and innovative solutions to extend meaningful connectivity to everyone. This is particularly important as we aim to bridge the digital divide in our less developed markets, much of whom is operating in the Global South. Today, on this stage, I’m happy to announce a new pledge to Partner2Connect, a new multi-million dollar commitment to the promotion of digital economies by bridging the digital divide and building skills in underserved communities. This pledge will address many of the issues we heard of in previous segments, such as resilience in disaster-affected areas through early warning systems, capacity building and re-skilling to bring the next generation of workforce into the digital economy, and lastly, access to capital to women and small business entrepreneurs. We believe that the digital network and infrastructure is critical to uplifting the society in a digital age. Additionally, various digital services will provide access and capabilities to the general consumer and elevate enterprises to the global economy. EN is a proud partner with the ITU and the UNDP to contribute to a common vision of a sustainable, inclusive and prosperous digital future of all. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Okay, thank you all. Now, if Rumman Chowdhury can come to the stage, and His Excellency Bosun Tijani and Robert Muggah. Please, please, anywhere that’s comfortable. I’ll sit here on the edge. All right, His Excellency, let’s begin with you. I believe you have an important announcement. want to share about how Nigeria will encourage innovation in tech, but also while ensuring regulations around data privacy.

Bosun Tijani: Right. If I start with that, I think what we’re doing is a recognition that we have a unique opportunity now to rebuild trust between people and the government by ensuring that we can leverage technology to serve and provide opportunity for them during live events. So when you give birth to a child, you’re registering a business. You want to pay your tax. We think the most important thing is that we’re able to deliver this seamlessly and most comfortably to our people. So what we’ve committed to is ensuring that by 2027, that the lowest form of government is connected to quality internet. So we do have what we call the local government, which is the lowest form of interaction that our people get with our government. So the federal government is connecting all the 774 secretariat of our local government to ensure that the services that our people are seeking can be provided to them digitally.

Sade Baderinwa: Wonderful. Thank you. And let me get you in here, Rumman. What do we need to do to ensure a sustainable and inclusive development for AI?

Rumman Chowdhury: Wonderful question. With my nonprofit, Humane Intelligence, we focus on giving access to everybody in the world not to build artificial intelligence, but to evaluate artificial intelligence. We know that AI models are not fit for use around the world in different cultures, different languages. The images that they create can be stereotypical or even degrading. So what we’re trying to provide access to and what leads to a good, sustainable AI future is the ability for everyone to get their hands on AI and determine if it is good for them. Building that level of critical thinking and evaluation with AI systems is a key and often missing part of the AI development story. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: OK. Well, Robert, can you talk about, just in a condensed version, about the risk of AI in the global South?

Robert Muggah: There are multiple risks, some of which have been discussed over the last couple of hours. Some of these risks are already here. Advanced cybersecurity challenges, mass information pollution, the overabundant consumption of energy used by AI, which will be up to 3% to 4% of all energy use within the next five years. Some of them are on the horizon. AGI, artificial general intelligence outside of human control, a real concern. And some we don’t even know about. We set up a global task force last year with representatives from Africa, the Americas, Asia, including an esteemed member on the panel, to reflect a bit on what were the risks and what were the solutions for the global South. We identified four big ones, and I’ll only talk about two. The first is job displacement and inequality. Second is AI bias and discrimination. The third is surveillance and privacy violations. And the fourth is the concentration of power in a small number of AI companies. With respect to job displacement and automation, probably the most important, over 800 million jobs are at risk within the next five years from AI. In the global South, according to the ILO, 56% of all jobs in the global South are at high risk of displacement. Significant. Hugely significant. So what do we have to do? We have to do all of the stuff that’s been talked about in terms of multi-stakeholder engagement. But we also have to invest in job upgrading. We need digital literacy. We need job placement programs. We need to have employment schemes. We also need universal basic income, really socioeconomic responses to what is a digital challenge. And the good news is a lot’s happening. The AI for all in India, Connectus in Brazil, digital ambassadors in Rwanda, NGOs around the world are also investing in this area. And I think we’re also seeing UBI schemes from Namibia to India. So we see solutions, but we’ve got to scale those up.

Sade Baderinwa: I so wish I had more time to talk with you. I’ve got like 20 different questions in my mind about you already and what’s so important in terms of these guardrails and what it means for society, training workers about what is this new technology moving forward, so thank you all. Unfortunately, we’re running out of time. Really appreciate your words today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And now it is my great pleasure and honor to introduce his Excellency, President of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera. Please, come to the stage. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Lazarus Chakwera: Well, I’m supposed to have my thing there, but bring me my iPad. Today, we stand at a pivotal moment in history, a moment where the digital landscape is not just a realm of technology, but a canvas upon which we can paint a brighter, more inclusive future for all. As we gather here, we must recognize that the digital revolution is not merely about advancements in technology, it is about the transformation of our societies, our economies, and ultimately our humanity. Malawi is therefore committed to bridging the digital divide because it is an economic and social issue. Our strategic plans for digital transformation include expanding digital infrastructure, enhancing digital literacy, and fostering an inclusive digital economy to ensure that no one is left behind in our digital journey. To accelerate digital adoption, Malawi has launched several initiatives with support from development partners. For instance, the Digital Malawi Project has been instrumental in expanding Internet connectivity to public institutions, institutions where the last mile rule of connectivity and inclusive digital transformation for Malawi, IDT4M projects, provide equitable access to digital technologies and foster digital literacy across all segments of society. Additionally, we have implemented a data exchange platform that leverages our national ID system as a single point of truth for identity verification. This platform is critical in assuring seamless access to services, improving efficiency across government, and reducing bureaucratic bottlenecks. Complementing this, we have also implemented an e-service platform which now serves as a single point of entry for all government digital services. These initiatives are premised on the acceptance that the digital age has brought forth unprecedented opportunities. It has connected us across continents, enabling us to share ideas, cultures, and innovations. It has empowered individuals, given them a voice and platform to advocate for change. However, while these initiatives ensure that our citizens can access essential services with greater ease, transparency, and security, with great power comes great responsibility. As we lay the foundations of a digital future, we must ensure that this future is equitable, inclusive, and peaceful. Digital literacy is essential for full participation in the digital economy. Therefore we are integrating digital literacy into our national education curricula and providing training opportunities for all age groups. Our technology hubs, which are training thousands of young people in coding, digital skills, and entrepreneurship, are playing a crucial role in fostering innovation. These hubs are not only incubating new ideas, but also creating jobs and driving the growth of Malawi’s digital economy. A truly inclusive digital future cannot be achieved in isolation. Today millions of people around the world remain disconnected, excluded from the benefits of the digital economy. Education and health care. This is not just unfortunate, it is wrong. And it is dangerous. As I said earlier, this divide is not merely a technological issue, it is a social justice issue. To build a peaceful future, we must ensure that everyone, regardless of their socioeconomic status, geographical location, or background, has access to digital tools and the internet. This requires collaboration between governments and multilevel partners, private sectors, and civil society to invest in infrastructure, education, and digital leaders. And we strive, as we strive to bridge the digital divide, we call upon the global community to not only provide financial and technical support, but also to share knowledge, innovations, and best practices. The journey toward a digital future must be a shared one, where no nation, no citizen, is left behind. In conclusion, laying the foundations of a digital future for all is a collective endeavor that requires our commitment, creativity, and compassion. As we embark on this journey, let us remember that technology is a tool, a tool that can either divide us or unite us. It is our collective responsibility to choose the path of inclusion, equity, and peace. Together, let us build a digital future that reflects our highest ideals, a future where everyone has the opportunity to thrive, where dialogue replaces discord, and where peace is not just a dream, but a reality for all. Malawi stands ready to embrace the future, a future where a digital transformation is not just an abstract concept, but a reality that improves the lives of every Malawian. The future is ours to shape, a future that benefits all humanity. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you so much, Your Excellency. Thank you so much. The President of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera. Please give him another round of applause. Thank you. And joining us once again on the stage is Achim Steiner, he’s going to talk about the promise of digital public infrastructure, and then there will be a video and Akeem will give other remarks.

Official Video: Registry is helping to achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement by reforesting 12 million hectares and creating interoperability between stakeholders and infrastructure across natural resources. But it is not just Malawi, Finland and Brazil. The impact of DPI is growing, with more and more countries leveraging the transformative power of digital public infrastructure. To keep the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals, DPI represents a fundamental pivot that involves everyone, everywhere, and that includes you. Let’s work together to build a safe and inclusive digital future for all.

Achim Steiner: Isn’t it amazing? This is all happening already. And congratulations just to three more pioneers. In many ways, development is, as we have heard from a number of people today, an agenda of hope. This hope for a better future has historically driven development and humanities progress. If there was no hope, we wouldn’t be where we are now. This hope still matters. And hope in one’s own ability to change the course of history, influence people’s decisions and actions. This is why laying the foundations for a digital future is about hope and actions. I want to take you through the journey of building digital public infrastructure across countries today. In fact, it says with the video, but you have just seen it. So, you know, sometimes the script is a little bit behind. Can we go on to the next part? And as we stand at this juncture where our collective commitment to digital foundations can catalyze this brighter future for everyone, everywhere on our planet, I think you have already sensed that in the previous segment of this extraordinary day, we explored groundbreaking digital technologies and the profound impact they can have on sustainability and inclusivity. All the innovative solutions making connectivity universal and affordable, the digital tools enhancing inclusiveness. Their groundwork is laid both inspiring and formidable. Now as we transition to discussing the fundamental structures that support these innovations, we need to collectively shape the future by laying the foundations that are safe and inclusive and serve the public interest. We often talk about physical infrastructure, things like roads and power lines and water utilities that are fundamental to development. In fact, for many, they are already taken for granted. These are the building blocks that elevate the welfare of people and allow people to gain a livelihood. Let’s apply that same understanding for a moment to the digital world. Digital public infrastructure, or DPI, is an approach that goes beyond one-off solutions like apps or portals. It encompasses foundational systems, like digital identity systems we just saw, or payment platforms that allow people, businesses and governments to interact in a secure, inclusive and efficient way. This in turn enables everything from facilitating the access of vital health records online to enabling people more easily to start their own businesses. However, just as traditional infrastructure, like roads and railway tracks, have speed limits and guardrails, we also need to ensure that DPI has the principles, policies and institutions that keep the interests, safety and rights of people and protection of our planet at the very heart of these foundations. As we take equal access to physical infrastructure for granted, DPI must also ensure public value and provide safe, inclusive services at scale. While some governments are deploying DPI rapidly, others are just beginning their digital journeys. Both face risks like privacy concerns, data security and exclusion without proper safeguards. Conversely, embedding safety and inclusion can reduce inequalities and foster trust. This is why putting people and our planet at the centre of DPI is so critical. Digital public infrastructure plays a pivotal role in advancing all the interconnected sustainable development goals by employing digital technologies to address global challenges at scale. For example, foundational digital infrastructure, like digital identification platforms, have the potential to facilitate access to finance or access to healthcare. Again, we heard examples this morning already. Yet, to fully unlock the potential of DPI, we must put people and planet at the center. This requires building on three essential pillars, commitment, capital, capacity. First, commitment. Governments must commit to the importance of inclusive, safe, and equitable digital systems, not just the hardware, not just the fiber optic cable or the devices. Trust and equity are the cornerstones of a progressive society. Without these safeguards, we risk creating systems that exclude vulnerable populations or violate fundamental rights. Brazil, India, and Estonia are often cited as prominent examples for their digital ID systems, which have advanced development. These systems must be specifically designed with safeguards to prevent exclusion or data misuse. Second, capital. Financial investment is critical, not only for building digital public infrastructure, but more importantly for ensuring that robust safeguards are in place. No single entity can do this alone. It requires a collective effort from governments, the private sector, and global partners, civil society, scientists, academia, everyone. Together, actors have to work together and leverage their financial resources to support sustainable, secure, and inclusive DPI that serves everyone. Third and finally, capacity. Skilled teams, an empowered civil society, and expert technical support and beyond are crucial for the effective implementation and governance of DPI safeguards. Yet capacity must go beyond mere technical expertise. It’s about fostering an ecosystem – we’ve heard that word used quite frequently this morning – of collaboration and accountability, where actors share knowledge and resources to ensure that safeguards are implemented and continuously adapted to protect the rights of all users in a rapidly changing field. Our commitment to DPI extends beyond getting the technology right. It must include ensuring these systems are secure, trusted, and protect the rights of all users. Safeguards should not be optional. They are essential to the acceptance and success of digital public infrastructure globally. People need to be empowered and free to shape their own lives. That’s the fundamental basis for 21st century development. And together, we are not just updating systems, we are programming a future – a digital ecosystem that will enable every individual to thrive in this interconnected world that is already here. Thank you for giving me a couple of minutes to share these thoughts with you. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you so much. And now let’s welcome Esther Dweck, Her Excellency, Minister for Management and Innovation and Public Services of Brazil. Thank you, Esther. Thank you.

Esther Dweck: It’s an honor to participate in this session. In Brazil, we believe the future must be green and inclusive, driven by a fair digital revolution. The digital agenda is essential to development, addressing systemic inequality, including the technological ones. Brazil is committed to a triple transition – ecological, digital, and social – reducing inequalities both within and between countries. Brazil’s digital policies are aligned with the SDGs, and we are increasingly considering the environmental impact of digitalization. Under President Lula’s leadership, digital public infrastructures are key to Brazil’s digital transformation, ensuring sustainable, just, and inclusive development. We believe DPIs should be implemented with proper and universal safeguards, built through participatory processes to ensure that they are safe and inclusive and protect people’s rights. A prime example is our National Identity Card, linked to the gov.br platform, which provides access to over 4,000 public services for more than 160 million users. Other DPIs include PICS, our instant payment system that enhances financial inclusion, and the UNIFI Register for Social Policies, which improves social program management and access. The National Health Data Network ensures continuity of care through data sharing between public and private health care providers. The Rural Environmental Registry is a green DPI that supports environmental efforts such as reducing deforestation, restoring forests, implementing agriculture traceability, and fostering carbon markets. It plays a crucial role in a rural financial instrument such as credit and insurance, protecting biomes, increasing agriculture resilience, and will be a central at COP30 in Belém next year. Brazil is also advancing DPI for artificial intelligence, taking into account digital sovereignty. Achieving this requires a collaborative across government, especially those of the global south, civil society, the private sector, and multilateral organizations. Our National AI Plan includes developing an autonomous capacity in the field and launching a Portuguese-language LLM which respects intellectual property rights and cultural heritage, promoting AI in health care, education, and transportation. We emphasize open innovation, competition, and protection of human rights to prevent monopolies that stifle innovation. As we continue our presidency of G20 and prepare for COP30 and BRICS leadership, Brazil reaffirms its commitment to promote an inclusive DPI to foster a fair and equal digital future. Last year, we brought here a perspective on Brazil’s DPIs. After a year, we are here returning to collaborate with our global voices, seeking to promote digital inclusion, digital public infrastructure, digital public goods, and other strategies to foster an equitable planet. Together, we must act now for a sustainable, inclusive digital future. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Thank you so much, Your Excellency. Thank you very much. Okay. Remember that art piece we said we were going to work on? You’re supposed to do the survey? Well, now we’ve got it. We’ve got Lisa Russell back. Come on, Lisa.

Lisa Russell: All right. Thank you so much.

Sade Baderinwa: Okay. So, tell everyone what you did, how you did it, and take it away.

Lisa Russell: So, as you know, we collected information from the surveys, and we generated AI art using only a keyboard. There are no cameras, no microphones, no graphic pens. And this is the beauty of AI art in labeling people across the world to have access to creating artwork for people and for the planet. And so, I’m really excited to share with you the images that were generated using the data from the survey. Every answer, there are six answers, every answer corresponds with a different color of the SDG, and we synthesized the data, fed it some prompts, some creative prompts, and here are some of the images that we have generated using the Digital Futures Survey. So, if we can go ahead and show these images. And that is our official video. I believe there are three more images we’re going to show, I believe. So, this was all generated using, see all the colors in it? Those colors correspond to your answers in the digital survey. And this is the kind of artwork that we can create. And again, this is why we need an arts movement in the UN. We need artists to be able to help translate and amplify the incredible and important work being done in these spaces. This is just a small example. And I’m hoping, and I want to train every advocate for climate change, for sustainability, on how to translate their important work in art so that we can move audiences, move more general audiences. So I believe, are we showing the other images or? I think we are not showing the other images. So thank you so much.

Sade Baderinwa: Well, I’ll have to say, I think this is beautiful.

Lisa Russell: Yes, thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: This is beautiful. But, you know, it really is important. First of all, I love artists because it’s like you’re the soul of who we are and interpreting what that soul is. So if people are interested in learning more, certainly from all of these agencies, they can contact you?

Lisa Russell: Yes. Arts Envoy Lab is my program. I’m with Create 2030, and I am dying to teach young advocates on how to use creative AI. So definitely please get in touch with me. I’d appreciate it. ArtsEnvoyLab.com. Thank you.

Sade Baderinwa: Love it. Thank you, Lisa. And I’m going to contact you. Okay. Well, that wraps it up for our morning session. Thank you so much. And it was a pleasure being here with all of you today. So have some lunch, enjoy, network with different people here, and then the afternoon session will begin around 2.30. Thank you again, and I hope you enjoyed yourself.

M

Mohamed Shameel Aziz Joosub

Speech speed

131 words per minute

Speech length

583 words

Speech time

266 seconds

Connecting 2.6 billion unconnected people is crucial

Explanation

Joosub emphasizes the importance of connecting the 2.6 billion people who are currently unconnected to the internet. He argues that this is a critical step in bridging the digital divide and ensuring equal access to digital opportunities.

Evidence

Vodafone and partners are investing in expanding networks and exploring new technologies like satellite-based networks to reach unconnected populations.

Major Discussion Point

Universal Digital Connectivity

Agreed with

Jessica Rosenworcel

Juan Lavista Ferres

David Sapolsky

Agreed on

Universal digital connectivity is crucial for development

Disagreed with

Jessica Rosenworcel

David Sapolsky

Disagreed on

Approach to bridging the digital divide

J

Jessica Rosenworcel

Speech speed

134 words per minute

Speech length

644 words

Speech time

288 seconds

Satellite-to-cell phone communications can end mobile dead zones

Explanation

Rosenworcel argues that satellite-to-cell phone communications technology can eliminate mobile dead zones. This technology allows for connectivity in areas where traditional ground-based networks are unavailable or have been disrupted.

Evidence

She cites an example from Hawaii where satellite-to-cell phone technology helped save lives during a wildfire when terrestrial networks were knocked out.

Major Discussion Point

Universal Digital Connectivity

Agreed with

Mohamed Shameel Aziz Joosub

Juan Lavista Ferres

David Sapolsky

Agreed on

Universal digital connectivity is crucial for development

Disagreed with

Mohamed Shameel Aziz Joosub

David Sapolsky

Disagreed on

Approach to bridging the digital divide

J

Juan Lavista Ferres

Speech speed

136 words per minute

Speech length

402 words

Speech time

177 seconds

AI and satellite imagery can map population shifts to target connectivity efforts

Explanation

Ferres explains how AI and satellite imagery can be used to create high-resolution maps of population shifts over time. This technology helps identify communities that remain disconnected from communication channels, allowing for more targeted connectivity efforts.

Evidence

Microsoft is partnering with Planet Labs and the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation to create these maps, which can inform infrastructure investment decisions.

Major Discussion Point

Universal Digital Connectivity

Agreed with

Mohamed Shameel Aziz Joosub

Jessica Rosenworcel

David Sapolsky

Agreed on

Universal digital connectivity is crucial for development

D

David Sapolsky

Speech speed

150 words per minute

Speech length

482 words

Speech time

191 seconds

Project Kuiper aims to provide affordable global satellite broadband

Explanation

Sapolsky introduces Project Kuiper, Amazon’s satellite broadband initiative. The project aims to deliver affordable, high-performance connectivity to unserved and underserved communities worldwide using a constellation of low-Earth-orbit satellites.

Evidence

Project Kuiper plans to use over 3,200 low-Earth-orbit satellites to provide internet access with sufficient speeds for modern critical services like video conferencing and telehealth.

Major Discussion Point

Universal Digital Connectivity

Agreed with

Mohamed Shameel Aziz Joosub

Jessica Rosenworcel

Juan Lavista Ferres

Agreed on

Universal digital connectivity is crucial for development

Disagreed with

Mohamed Shameel Aziz Joosub

Jessica Rosenworcel

Disagreed on

Approach to bridging the digital divide

T

Tofara L. Chokera

Speech speed

122 words per minute

Speech length

363 words

Speech time

178 seconds

Digital skills training is essential for economic empowerment, especially for women and youth

Explanation

Chokera emphasizes the importance of digital skills training for economic empowerment, particularly for women and youth. She argues that providing digital skills enables individuals to participate in the digital economy and access new opportunities.

Evidence

Through the Digital Skills Development Program, Chokera’s organization has empowered over 12,000 women, youth, and SMEs across Zimbabwe and Africa with digital skills for international trade.

Major Discussion Point

Digital Inclusion and Skills

Agreed with

Lazarus Chakwera

Christopher Burns

Agreed on

Digital skills training is essential for economic empowerment

M

Mats Granryd

Speech speed

150 words per minute

Speech length

518 words

Speech time

206 seconds

Affordable smartphones are key to bridging the digital divide

Explanation

Granryd argues that the high cost of smartphones is a major barrier to digital inclusion. He emphasizes the need to bring down the cost of devices to around $20 to make them accessible to more people in developing countries.

Evidence

GSMA has established a handset affordability coalition to work on reducing handset costs and improving financing options for smartphone purchases.

Major Discussion Point

Digital Inclusion and Skills

L

Lazarus Chakwera

Speech speed

115 words per minute

Speech length

720 words

Speech time

372 seconds

Digital literacy must be integrated into national education curricula

Explanation

President Chakwera emphasizes the importance of integrating digital literacy into national education curricula. He argues that this is essential for full participation in the digital economy and for preparing the workforce of the future.

Evidence

Malawi is integrating digital literacy into its national education curricula and providing training opportunities for all age groups. The country has also established technology hubs that are training thousands of young people in coding, digital skills, and entrepreneurship.

Major Discussion Point

Digital Inclusion and Skills

Agreed with

Tofara L. Chokera

Christopher Burns

Agreed on

Digital skills training is essential for economic empowerment

C

Christopher Burns

Speech speed

173 words per minute

Speech length

551 words

Speech time

190 seconds

The Responsible Computing Challenge aims to embed ethics in tech education

Explanation

Burns introduces the Responsible Computing Challenge, an initiative to reshape how future technologists are trained. The challenge aims to embed responsibility and ethics into the core of technology and computer science curricula, especially for young women and girls.

Evidence

The challenge is being implemented in universities in the U.S., Kenya, and India, with plans to expand to South Africa and Ghana. It focuses on teaching students to consider the full impacts of their products and services.

Major Discussion Point

Digital Inclusion and Skills

Agreed with

Tofara L. Chokera

Lazarus Chakwera

Agreed on

Digital skills training is essential for economic empowerment

K

Karan Bhatia

Speech speed

145 words per minute

Speech length

538 words

Speech time

221 seconds

AI can be used for early flood warnings and disaster preparedness

Explanation

Bhatia highlights how AI can be used to predict and mitigate natural disasters. He specifically mentions Google’s Flood Hub, an AI-powered flood forecasting tool that can predict flood zones up to a week in advance.

Evidence

Google’s Flood Hub is live in 80 countries, reaching more than 460 million people around the world.

Major Discussion Point

AI for Sustainable Development

Agreed with

Valentino Valentini

Achim Steiner

Rumman Chowdhury

Agreed on

AI can be leveraged for sustainable development

V

Valentino Valentini

Speech speed

140 words per minute

Speech length

455 words

Speech time

194 seconds

AI Hub for Sustainable Development focuses on data, computing power, talent, and ecosystems

Explanation

Valentini introduces the AI Hub for Sustainable Development, an initiative co-designed by Italy’s G7 Presidency and UNDP. The hub aims to leverage AI for sustainable development, focusing on four critical pillars: data, computing power, talent, and enabling ecosystems.

Evidence

The initiative has engaged with over 100 stakeholders, 300 AI startups across Africa, and initiated 80 partnerships focused on local language digitization.

Major Discussion Point

AI for Sustainable Development

Agreed with

Karan Bhatia

Achim Steiner

Rumman Chowdhury

Agreed on

AI can be leveraged for sustainable development

A

Achim Steiner

Speech speed

148 words per minute

Speech length

2059 words

Speech time

832 seconds

AI must be developed with safeguards to prevent exclusion and protect rights

Explanation

Steiner emphasizes the need for safeguards in AI development to prevent exclusion and protect individual rights. He argues that these safeguards should be an essential part of digital public infrastructure, not an optional add-on.

Major Discussion Point

AI for Sustainable Development

Agreed with

Karan Bhatia

Valentino Valentini

Rumman Chowdhury

Agreed on

AI can be leveraged for sustainable development

DPI requires commitment, capital, and capacity building

Explanation

Steiner argues that successful implementation of Digital Public Infrastructure requires three essential pillars: commitment from governments, capital investment, and capacity building. He emphasizes that these elements are crucial for ensuring that DPI is inclusive, safe, and equitable.

Major Discussion Point

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)

R

Rumman Chowdhury

Speech speed

174 words per minute

Speech length

117 words

Speech time

40 seconds

Evaluating AI systems for cultural appropriateness is crucial

Explanation

Chowdhury argues for the importance of evaluating AI systems for cultural appropriateness and potential biases. She emphasizes that AI models are often not fit for use across different cultures and languages, and can produce stereotypical or degrading content.

Evidence

Chowdhury’s nonprofit, Humane Intelligence, focuses on giving people worldwide the ability to evaluate AI systems, not just build them.

Major Discussion Point

AI for Sustainable Development

Agreed with

Karan Bhatia

Valentino Valentini

Achim Steiner

Agreed on

AI can be leveraged for sustainable development

E

Esther Dweck

Speech speed

128 words per minute

Speech length

420 words

Speech time

196 seconds

DPI enables efficient government services and financial inclusion

Explanation

Dweck highlights how Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) can improve government service delivery and promote financial inclusion. She argues that DPI is key to Brazil’s digital transformation strategy.

Evidence

Brazil’s National Identity Card, linked to the gov.br platform, provides access to over 4,000 public services for more than 160 million users. The PICS instant payment system enhances financial inclusion.

Major Discussion Point

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)

DPI must be implemented with proper safeguards and participatory processes

Explanation

Dweck emphasizes the importance of implementing DPI with proper safeguards and through participatory processes. This approach ensures that DPI is safe, inclusive, and protects people’s rights.

Major Discussion Point

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)

DPI can support environmental efforts like reducing deforestation

Explanation

Dweck explains how DPI can be used to support environmental initiatives. She highlights Brazil’s Rural Environmental Registry as an example of a ‘green DPI’ that aids in efforts to reduce deforestation and restore forests.

Evidence

The Rural Environmental Registry supports environmental efforts such as reducing deforestation, restoring forests, implementing agriculture traceability, and fostering carbon markets.

Major Discussion Point

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)

B

Bianca Faith Johnson

Speech speed

173 words per minute

Speech length

486 words

Speech time

167 seconds

Exoskeleton technology can restore mobility for paralyzed individuals

Explanation

Johnson demonstrates how exoskeleton technology can help paralyzed individuals regain mobility. She argues that this technology has the potential to significantly improve quality of life for people with spinal cord injuries.

Evidence

Johnson, who is paralyzed from mid-chest down, demonstrates walking using a self-balancing exoskeleton prototype developed by Wondercraft.

Major Discussion Point

Technology for Social Impact

K

Kelly T. Clements

Speech speed

148 words per minute

Speech length

665 words

Speech time

268 seconds

Blockchain-based digital wallets can provide rapid financial aid to refugees

Explanation

Clements explains how blockchain-based digital wallets can be used to provide quick financial assistance to refugees. This technology allows for faster, more efficient distribution of aid in crisis situations.

Evidence

She cites an example from Ukraine where a family received cash aid through a digital wallet within 15 minutes of registering with UNHCR.

Major Discussion Point

Technology for Social Impact

A

Ann Aerts

Speech speed

138 words per minute

Speech length

499 words

Speech time

216 seconds

AI and digital tools can improve healthcare outcomes and reduce inequalities

Explanation

Aerts argues that AI and digital tools have the potential to significantly improve healthcare outcomes and reduce health inequalities. She emphasizes the importance of understanding and addressing the social determinants of health through data analysis.

Evidence

The Novartis Foundation’s AI for Healthy Cities initiative uses data analytics to understand the true drivers of health and health inequities in cities like New York, Singapore, Helsinki, and Basel.

Major Discussion Point

Technology for Social Impact

Z

Zhiping Chen

Speech speed

89 words per minute

Speech length

323 words

Speech time

216 seconds

Digital technologies can protect endangered species in remote areas

Explanation

Chen discusses how digital technologies, particularly 5G networks, can be used to protect endangered species in remote areas. She argues that these technologies enable better monitoring and conservation efforts in previously inaccessible regions.

Evidence

ZTE built the first 5G base station in Cocoshilli, a remote UNESCO World Heritage site, allowing for real-time observation and live streaming of Tibetan antelope migration.

Major Discussion Point

Technology for Social Impact

Agreements

Agreement Points

Universal digital connectivity is crucial for development

Mohamed Shameel Aziz Joosub

Jessica Rosenworcel

Juan Lavista Ferres

David Sapolsky

Connecting 2.6 billion unconnected people is crucial

Satellite-to-cell phone communications can end mobile dead zones

AI and satellite imagery can map population shifts to target connectivity efforts

Project Kuiper aims to provide affordable global satellite broadband

These speakers agree on the importance of expanding digital connectivity to unconnected populations, emphasizing various technological solutions including satellite communications and AI-driven mapping.

Digital skills training is essential for economic empowerment

Tofara L. Chokera

Lazarus Chakwera

Christopher Burns

Digital skills training is essential for economic empowerment, especially for women and youth

Digital literacy must be integrated into national education curricula

The Responsible Computing Challenge aims to embed ethics in tech education

These speakers emphasize the importance of digital skills training and education, particularly for youth and underserved populations, to ensure participation in the digital economy and responsible use of technology.

AI can be leveraged for sustainable development

Karan Bhatia

Valentino Valentini

Achim Steiner

Rumman Chowdhury

AI can be used for early flood warnings and disaster preparedness

AI Hub for Sustainable Development focuses on data, computing power, talent, and ecosystems

AI must be developed with safeguards to prevent exclusion and protect rights

Evaluating AI systems for cultural appropriateness is crucial

These speakers agree on the potential of AI to address sustainable development challenges, while also emphasizing the need for responsible development and evaluation of AI systems.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasize the importance of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for development, while stressing the need for proper implementation with safeguards and capacity building.

Esther Dweck

Achim Steiner

DPI enables efficient government services and financial inclusion

DPI must be implemented with proper safeguards and participatory processes

DPI requires commitment, capital, and capacity building

Unexpected Consensus

Technology for social impact across diverse fields

Bianca Faith Johnson

Kelly T. Clements

Ann Aerts

Zhiping Chen

Exoskeleton technology can restore mobility for paralyzed individuals

Blockchain-based digital wallets can provide rapid financial aid to refugees

AI and digital tools can improve healthcare outcomes and reduce inequalities

Digital technologies can protect endangered species in remote areas

Despite coming from diverse fields (healthcare, refugee aid, conservation), these speakers unexpectedly converge on the potential of various technologies to create significant social impact in their respective areas.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of agreement include the importance of universal digital connectivity, the need for digital skills training, the potential of AI for sustainable development, and the role of Digital Public Infrastructure in development.

Consensus level

There is a high level of consensus among the speakers on the transformative potential of digital technologies for development and social impact. This consensus implies a strong foundation for collaborative efforts in leveraging technology for global development goals. However, speakers also consistently emphasize the need for responsible implementation, including safeguards and capacity building, suggesting a nuanced approach to technological adoption.

Disagreements

Disagreement Points

Approach to bridging the digital divide

Mohamed Shameel Aziz Joosub

Jessica Rosenworcel

David Sapolsky

Connecting 2.6 billion unconnected people is crucial

Satellite-to-cell phone communications can end mobile dead zones

Project Kuiper aims to provide affordable global satellite broadband

While all speakers agree on the importance of connecting the unconnected, they propose different technological solutions: expanding traditional networks, satellite-to-cell phone communications, and low-Earth-orbit satellite broadband.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of disagreement revolve around the specific technological approaches to achieve universal connectivity and digital inclusion.

Disagreement level

The level of disagreement among speakers is relatively low. Most speakers agree on the overall goals of digital inclusion and leveraging technology for sustainable development. The differences mainly lie in the specific approaches or focus areas each speaker emphasizes. This level of disagreement is not likely to hinder progress towards the shared goals, but rather encourages a diverse range of solutions to address the complex challenges of digital transformation.

Partial Agreements

Partial Agreements

Both speakers agree on the importance of digital inclusion, but Granryd focuses on hardware affordability while Burns emphasizes the need for ethical education in technology.

Mats Granryd

Christopher Burns

Affordable smartphones are key to bridging the digital divide

The Responsible Computing Challenge aims to embed ethics in tech education

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasize the importance of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for development, while stressing the need for proper implementation with safeguards and capacity building.

Esther Dweck

Achim Steiner

DPI enables efficient government services and financial inclusion

DPI must be implemented with proper safeguards and participatory processes

DPI requires commitment, capital, and capacity building

Takeaways

Key Takeaways

Universal digital connectivity is crucial, with 2.6 billion people still unconnected

Digital inclusion requires both infrastructure and skills development, especially for underserved populations

AI and digital technologies have significant potential for sustainable development and social impact

Digital public infrastructure (DPI) is essential for efficient government services and financial inclusion, but must be implemented with proper safeguards

Emerging technologies like exoskeletons, blockchain, and AI can address critical social and environmental challenges

Resolutions and Action Items

Expand satellite-based internet connectivity to reach unconnected populations

Integrate digital literacy into national education curricula

Develop AI solutions for disaster preparedness and environmental protection

Implement digital public infrastructure with safeguards to protect rights and prevent exclusion

Increase investment in digital skills training, especially for women and youth

Create partnerships between governments, private sector, and civil society to advance digital inclusion

Unresolved Issues

How to ensure AI development benefits the Global South and doesn’t exacerbate existing inequalities

Balancing rapid technological advancement with necessary regulatory frameworks and ethical considerations

Addressing potential job displacement due to AI and automation in developing countries

Ensuring data privacy and security in the implementation of digital public infrastructure

How to make cutting-edge technologies like exoskeletons widely accessible and affordable

Suggested Compromises

Collaborate across sectors and countries to develop inclusive AI solutions that respect local contexts

Balance rapid digital transformation with careful implementation of safeguards and regulations

Invest in both digital infrastructure and skills development simultaneously to ensure meaningful connectivity

Develop open-source and affordable technologies to make digital solutions more accessible to developing countries

Thought Provoking Comments

Can we harness this technology beyond war zones and natural disasters? Can we finally close the digital divide?

Speaker

Mohamed Shameel Aziz Joosub

Reason

This rhetorical question challenges participants to think bigger about applying emergency connectivity solutions to everyday life.

Impact

It shifted the conversation from reactive emergency measures to proactive, widespread connectivity initiatives.

Satellite-to-cell phone communications is a game-changer. By combining space-based networks and terrestrial wireless networks, both can accomplish more together than either can do on its own.

Speaker

Jessica Rosenworcel

Reason

This insight highlights a innovative technological approach to bridging the digital divide.

Impact

It introduced a new dimension to the connectivity discussion, prompting consideration of hybrid terrestrial-satellite solutions.

We need to focus on creating an environment where the basics of technology are met so that quantum technologies can be used to benefit all.

Speaker

Emma Theophilus

Reason

This comment emphasizes the importance of foundational digital infrastructure before pursuing advanced technologies.

Impact

It grounded the discussion in practical realities while still maintaining a vision for future technological advancements.

To fully realise digital transformation in the public sector could unlock over $3.5 trillion annually, according to a study by McKinsey. Yet, despite significant investments, 70% of civil servants still lack digital capabilities.

Speaker

Tawfik Jelassi

Reason

This comment provides concrete data on both the potential benefits and current challenges of digital transformation in government.

Impact

It shifted the focus to the importance of digital skills training and capacity building in the public sector.

As we lay the foundations of a digital future, we must ensure that this future is equitable, inclusive, and peaceful.

Speaker

Lazarus Chakwera

Reason

This statement emphasizes the ethical imperatives alongside technological progress.

Impact

It broadened the discussion beyond technical solutions to include social and ethical considerations in digital development.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by consistently emphasizing the dual challenges of expanding digital access and ensuring that access is equitable, inclusive, and beneficial to all. The speakers moved from identifying the scale of the problem to proposing innovative technological solutions, while also highlighting the need for policy frameworks, skills development, and ethical considerations. This created a comprehensive dialogue that addressed both the technical and human aspects of creating a digital future for all.

2.6 billion people are unconnected. a digital future for all can only be possible if access to connectivity is universal and affordable.

Speaker

Sade Baderinwa

Reason

This comment frames the central challenge and goal of the entire discussion, highlighting the massive scale of the digital divide.

Impact

It set the tone for the subsequent speakers to address how to overcome this divide through various technological and policy solutions.

Follow-up Questions

How can we ensure AI reaches and serves the global South?

Speaker

Brad Smith

Explanation

This is crucial to prevent the digital divide from becoming an AI divide and to ensure equitable access to AI’s benefits globally.

How can we create strong collaborations to reach everyone, everywhere with digital technologies?

Speaker

Achim Steiner

Explanation

Collaboration is essential to ensure universal access to digital technologies and their benefits.

How can we lower the cost of smartphones to under $20 in the least-developed countries?

Speaker

Mohamed Shameel Aziz Joosub

Explanation

Affordable devices are crucial for bridging the digital divide and enabling access to digital services.

How can we ensure proper safeguards are in place for digital public infrastructure?

Speaker

Achim Steiner

Explanation

Safeguards are essential to protect user rights, ensure inclusivity, and build trust in digital systems.

How can we integrate responsible computing into technology and computer science curricula globally?

Speaker

Christopher Burns

Explanation

This is important to ensure future technologists consider the full impacts of their products and services on society.

How can we address the potential job displacement and inequality caused by AI in the global South?

Speaker

Robert Muggah

Explanation

This is crucial to mitigate the negative impacts of AI on employment and economic inequality in developing countries.

How can we ensure everyone has the ability to evaluate AI systems for their specific contexts and needs?

Speaker

Rumman Chowdhury

Explanation

This is important to ensure AI systems are appropriate and beneficial for diverse global contexts and cultures.

Disclaimer: This is not an official record of the session. The DiploAI system automatically generates these resources from the audiovisual recording. Resources are presented in their original format, as provided by the AI (e.g. including any spelling mistakes). The accuracy of these resources cannot be guaranteed.

Saturday Opening Ceremony: Summit of the Future Action Days

Saturday Opening Ceremony: Summit of the Future Action Days

Session at a Glance

Summary

This discussion focused on the Declaration on Future Generations, a key component of the upcoming Summit of the Future at the United Nations. The opening ceremony featured speeches from UN Secretary-General António Guterres and other leaders, emphasizing the importance of inclusive multilateralism and addressing global challenges like climate change, inequality, and conflict. A panel of experts then explored the potential impact of the Declaration and ways to implement its goals.

Key themes included the need to consider long-term consequences of current decisions, incorporate diverse perspectives (especially from youth and indigenous communities), and reform global financial and governance systems to better serve future generations. Panelists highlighted specific actions governments could take, such as focusing on competitive economic sectors, bridging local and global concerns, and fostering social connections across generations.

The discussion underscored the interconnectedness of past, present, and future in addressing global issues. Participants stressed the importance of civil society pressure on governments and the need for wealthier nations to support climate adaptation in vulnerable countries. The conversation also touched on innovative approaches, such as using legal systems to advance intergenerational equity and rethinking economic models to benefit future Africans.

Overall, the discussion emphasized the transformative potential of the Declaration on Future Generations, while acknowledging the challenges in translating its principles into concrete action. Participants called for continued engagement from diverse stakeholders to ensure the Declaration leads to meaningful change in global governance and decision-making.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The Declaration on Future Generations and its potential to transform global decision-making to consider long-term impacts

– The need for concrete actions and implementation to give life to the declaration’s principles

– The importance of including diverse voices, especially from youth, indigenous communities, and developing countries

– Economic opportunities and challenges in building a sustainable future, particularly for Africa

– The role of civil society in pressuring governments and driving change

Overall purpose:

The discussion aimed to build momentum and gather diverse perspectives on how to effectively implement the Declaration on Future Generations, which will be adopted at the upcoming Summit of the Future. Speakers explored ways to translate the declaration’s principles into meaningful action across sectors and regions.

Tone:

The tone was largely optimistic and forward-looking, with speakers expressing hope about the potential for positive change. However, there were also notes of urgency and concern about the scale of challenges facing future generations. The tone became more action-oriented as speakers discussed specific steps needed to realize the declaration’s goals.

Speakers

Speakers:

– Folly Bah Thibault – Journalist and global champion for Education Cannot Wait, served as host/moderator

– António Guterres – UN Secretary-General

– Matthew Dominick – NASA astronaut

– Jeanette Epps – NASA astronaut

– Astronauts from China Space Station (unnamed)

– Carole Osero-Ageng’o – Co-chair of UN Civil Society Conference

– Oli Henman – Co-chair of Coordination Mechanism of Major Groups and other stakeholders

– Saumya Aggarwal – Co-founder of Youth for Peace International

– Andrew Holness – Prime Minister of Jamaica

– Evelyn Wever-Croes – Prime Minister of Aruba

Panel discussion participants:

– Thomas Hale (Moderator) – Professor of global public policy at University of Oxford

– Hina Jilani – Lawyer, human rights defender, member of the Elders

– Abdullahi Alim – CEO of Africa Future Fund

– Paolo Baca – Deputy Director of De Justicia

Areas of expertise:

– Folly Bah Thibault: Journalism, education advocacy

– António Guterres: International diplomacy, UN leadership

– Astronauts: Space exploration, international cooperation

– Carole Osero-Ageng’o & Oli Henman: Civil society engagement, stakeholder coordination

– Saumya Aggarwal: Youth advocacy, peacebuilding

– Andrew Holness & Evelyn Wever-Croes: Government leadership, international relations

– Thomas Hale: Global public policy, long-term governance challenges

– Hina Jilani: Human rights law, civil society advocacy

– Abdullahi Alim: African economic development, future-oriented investment

– Paolo Baca: Indigenous rights, environmental law

Full session report

Expanded Summary of Discussion on the Declaration on Future Generations

Introduction

This discussion focused on the Declaration on Future Generations, a key component of the upcoming Summit of the Future at the United Nations. The event featured an opening ceremony with speeches from UN Secretary-General António Guterres and other leaders, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Thomas Hale, exploring the potential impact of the Declaration and ways to implement its goals.

Opening Ceremony

UN Secretary-General António Guterres emphasized the need for intergenerational solidarity and responsibility in addressing global challenges. He called for more inclusive multilateralism, greater representation of developing countries, and reforms to international financial institutions.

Andrew Holness, Prime Minister of Jamaica, stressed the importance of embedding futures thinking in decision-making processes. He outlined key components of the Declaration, including its purpose to safeguard the interests of future generations and promote long-term thinking in governance.

Evelyn Wever-Croes, Prime Minister of Aruba, further elaborated on the Declaration’s aims to ensure that present actions do not compromise the well-being of future generations.

Panel Discussion

1. Youth Perspective – Saumya Aggarwal, Youth for Peace International

Aggarwal advocated for meaningful youth participation in policymaking and investing in youth-led solutions. She presented specific recommendations from the Youth Action Day, including:

– Establishing a UN Youth Office

– Creating a UN Special Envoy for Future Generations

– Implementing a Global Citizens’ Assembly

2. Indigenous and Global South Perspective – Paolo Baca, Deputy Director of De Justicia

Baca offered insights on time from Andean indigenous cultures, challenging Western assumptions about intergenerational relationships. He discussed a Colombian court case granting rights to future generations, highlighting its outcomes and implementation challenges.

3. African Perspective – Abdullahi Alim, CEO of Africa Future Fund

Alim provided context on demographic shifts in Africa, noting that “One billion Africans will be born in the next generation alone.” He outlined the Africa Future Fund’s goals, including:

– Restructuring debt measurement and management for African countries

– Focusing on competitive economic sectors to drive growth

– Leveraging Africa’s demographic dividend for sustainable development

4. Human Rights and Civil Society – Hina Jilani, Lawyer and Human Rights Defender

Jilani emphasized the disproportionate impact of climate change on vulnerable communities and the need to compensate developing countries. She stressed the importance of:

– Civil society pressure on governments to drive change

– Developing plans for socially connected communities

– Strengthening UN human rights mechanisms

She also referenced an intergenerational call to action issued by the Elders.

5. Civil Society Engagement – Carole Osero-Ageng’o, Co-chair of UN Civil Society Conference

Osero-Ageng’o stressed the importance of intergenerational dialogue and collaboration in addressing global challenges.

6. UN System Reform – Oli Henman, Co-chair of Major Groups Coordination Mechanism

Henman emphasized the need to strengthen UN human rights mechanisms and reform global governance structures to better serve future generations.

Key Themes and Outcomes

1. Intergenerational Solidarity and Long-term Thinking

2. Inclusive Multilateralism and Diverse Perspectives

3. Global Challenges and Opportunities, particularly climate change and demographic shifts

4. Reforming Global Financial and Governance Systems

5. Role of Civil Society and Community Building

Concrete Actions Proposed

– Appointing a UN Special Envoy for Future Generations

– Establishing a UN Youth Office

– Implementing a Global Citizens’ Assembly

– Developing plans for socially connected communities

– Restructuring debt measurement for African countries

– Providing compensation and resources to developing countries facing climate impacts

Conclusion and Next Steps

The discussion concluded with a sense of optimism about the potential for positive change, tempered by an acknowledgment of the urgent challenges facing future generations. An upcoming forum was announced to check on progress in implementing the Declaration. The Summit of the Future Action Days was mentioned as a platform for continued engagement and action.

A visual scribe created a summary of the session, capturing key points and themes graphically.

As the event concluded, it was clear that while the Declaration on Future Generations offers transformative potential, translating its principles into concrete action will require ongoing effort, collaboration, and innovative thinking across sectors and regions.

Session Transcript

Folly Bah Thibault: summit of the future action days. Yes! I love the energy already. Loving the energy. My name is Folly Bah Thibault, a journalist and global champion for Education Cannot Wait, the United Nations Education Fund for Emergencies and Protected Crises. I’m thrilled to be your host this morning as we gather here in New York to reimagine how we can all work together to address the opportunities and challenges of our time. Now on day one of the action days Friday, we saw what meaningful youth engagement looks like in practice in shaping our common future. We heard from youth leaders about the importance of cross-generational collaboration to create lasting solutions on crucial issues like climate change, gender equity, and women and girls empowerment. We’ll hear more about their recommendations from the youth rapporteur who will be joining us on stage in just a few moments. In today’s sessions, we are bringing together a broad and diverse set of global leaders and actors from all across sectors. They’ll share their ideas and experiences on how to advance on critical themes including digital and technology, peace and security, and sustainable development and financing. In addition to those themes, we’ll have a dedicated focus throughout the day on future generations. Throughout this opening ceremony, ladies and gentlemen, we’ll also have a visual scribe working in the background to create a visual summary of this session so you won’t miss anything at the end of the day. But first, to open this exciting day, it’s my pleasure and honor to welcome the United Nations Secretary-General, His Excellency António Guterres.

António Guterres: Excellencies, dear friends, all protocol observed. Welcome to the summit of the Future Action Days, which kicked off yesterday with a youth-led afternoon. A day full of ideas, energy, hope and expectation, and a perfect reminder of why we are here. Today promises to be just as dynamic. Looking out, I see world leaders, I see mayors and legislators, I see civil society, the private sector, academics, artists, activists and young people. You come from every corner of the world, every generation and every walk of life. Friends, this is what effective, inclusive, networked multilateralism must look like. Four years ago, we began the process that brings us here today. And because we saw a world in trouble, torn apart by conflict and inequalities, threatened by climate chaos and unregulated technologies, with the Sustainable Development Goals in peril, with many countries now mirrored in disastrous debt and the cost of living crisis. We saw our multilateral institutions ailing, unable to respond to contemporary challenges, let alone those of tomorrow. We saw faith in multilateral solutions eroding. And we saw trust in each other dissipating just when we needed it most. So we began a journey to reform, to renew the international system, so that it meets the moment and is fit for the future. We need multilateralism that is more inclusive, more effective and more networked, with stronger links between international institutions and with the people. That means greater representation in developing countries, and it means a stronger voice for all of you and what you represent. This ambition was rooted in some clear truth. The world belongs to us all. People want a say in the decisions that affect them. And while governments have primary responsibility that we do not deny, we will not solve today’s global problems without contributions from all of society, from civil society and young people, delivering change, promoting accountability, demanding better standing up for truth and justice, and using new technologies to organize for a better world. From business and finance, critical to combating the climate crisis and shaping our digital future for the benefit of all. From scientists, innovators and academics, pushing the boundaries of our knowledge and developing solutions to the great challenges that we face, from hunger and disease to online aid. Dear friends, over the past four years, the people in this room and your colleagues around the world participated in the most consultative process ever undertaken by the United Nations. We have seen a total of 1.5 million people, from every one of our member states, involved in discussions and consultations everywhere. Hundreds of civil society groups in putting into the Pact for the Future the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration on Future Generations and thousands of written contributions. Together, you have pushed for vision ambition and I thank you for that. We have now three milestone texts that are on the table which must open the door to changes our world in a way that it desperately needs. The pact for the future must lay the ground for reform. Reform of the outdated United Nations Security Council to make it more effective but also more representative of what the world is today. Reform of our international financial institutions so that they supercharge resources for sustainable development and for climate action. Reforms of the rules governing outer space currently a chaotic free-for-all and reform how we respond to complex global shocks and work together on peace and security. On the other hand the Global Digital Compact must be a blueprint for closing digital divides and the first universal agreement on artificial intelligence laying the foundations for a global platform centered at the UN that can bring all actors together. The Declaration on Future Generations must commit leaders to take tomorrow into account as they make decisions today and gender equality and human rights must weave through every aspect of those texts reflecting the fact that they are fundamental to every area of life. Excellences, friends, the issues at the heart of these texts justice, rights, peace and equality have animated my work for decades driving me forward. I know the same is true for many of you. I will not give up. and I know that you won’t either. The adoption of these texts will not be the end of the journey. It will simply be a new beginning. Our next task is to breathe life into these texts, to put words into action, and to use them to set humanity on a better course. Your continued engagement, commitment and pressure will be vital. That work starts with these Action Days. We look forward to hearing your ideas and solutions on what these new frameworks mean for you and how, together, you can help to make them a reality. A renewed multilateralism will not be built in a day or by governments alone. It will be fuelled and carried forward by all of you and the groups that you represent. We have fought for ambition. Now, let’s fight for action together. On behalf of the United Nations, thank you for joining us in this vital task.

Folly Bah Thibault: Thank you. Now, our next speakers exemplify the essence of international collaboration. There are currently multiple astronauts in space, and we have the privilege to hear from some of them. The crews on board the International Space Station and the Tianyong Space Station orbiting above us are quite literally showing us that global teamwork knows no bounds. Cosmonauts of the Russian Federation on the ISS are currently changing shifts, as you’ll appreciate their safety is of paramount importance. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s now take a giant leap, well, a virtual one at least, into space with this message from astronauts on the International Space Station and the Tianyong Space Station. Take a look.

Matthew Dominick: Greetings from the International Space Station. I’m NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick with my crewmate, Jeanette Epps. International cooperation and collaboration in space are just as critical to our work aboard this international research lab as it is back on Earth.

Jeanette Epps: On the ISS, we do research in microgravity that is not possible on Earth. From our unique vantage point in space, we can better understand our changing planet. NASA’s Earth Science Mission, many implemented with our partnerships around the world, are helping decision makers improve life on Earth, safeguard our future, and help us discover and innovate for the benefit of all.

Matthew Dominick: As you gather this week for the UN General Assembly, we encourage all nations to help assure peaceful, safe, and sustainable space exploration for the benefit of humankind.

China Space Station: We greet everyone from China’s space station. The peaceful use of outer space is a common goal for humanity. In a summit of the future, countries will jointly explore important issues such as multilateralism and international cooperation in the field of space under the framework of the UN, which will have significant impact on global governance of outer space. We feel honored to participate in it. China has always adhered to the peaceful use of outer space. The China Space Station, a landmark project of China’s space industry, officially entered a new stage of application and development in 2023 after two years of on-orbit assembly and construction. The China Space Station belongs not only to China but also to the world. As early as 2019, the Chinese Government opened the utilization resources of China’s Space Station to other countries to ensure that more countries could participate in manned space technology and application research, which was a strong support to the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. We are willing to continue to conduct space exchange and cooperation with other countries and actually promote building a community with a shared future for mankind in the field of outer space based on equality, mutual benefit, peaceful use, and inclusive development. We wish the UN Summit of the Future a complete success. Thank you.

Folly Bah Thibault: Isn’t that just amazing? Amazing. Thank you to the incredible astronauts on board the ISS and the Tiangong Space Station for that out-of-this-world message, as you saw. Only at the UN can you see such great things, right? Their vantage point reminds us that while we may be separated by vast distances, our shared challenges and aspirations unite us all. So thank you once again to the astronauts. Now let’s bring our focus back on Earth. us and turn our attention to two remarkable leaders who are driving positive change within our communities. They have both been instrumental in organizing and facilitating consultations with civil society in the lead-up to the summit of the Future Action Days. First, we are going to hear from Ms. Carole Osero-Ageng’o, who was one of the co-chairs of the UN Civil Society Conference that took place in May in Nairobi. Please give a warm welcome to Carole.

Carole Osero-Ageng’o: Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, as we reflect on the 69th Civil Society Conference, the first in the Global South, and which was in support of the Summit of the Future, three points stand out – connection, convening, and collaboration in an intersectional and intergenerational world, before, during, and after the conference. Excellencies, the nine-week collaboration in planning the conference was a collaborative endeavor, a collaborative endeavor showing the strength and the diversity of civil society and the broad issues of interests of civil society, which we learned we must bring together at all possible junctures, because we do not engage with these issues, one to the exclusion of another. My co-chair, Nudhara Yusuf, and I, in framing the objectives of inclusion, impact, and innovation, asked ourselves, how do we drive impact? How do we catalyze change? Excellencies, in the run-up to the conference, unprecedented rains and resultant floods in Nairobi did not spare the United Nations campus where we were to hold the conference. but it united civil society in support of the victims of the floods in Nairobi, showing the spirit of collaboration and partnership that sits at the foundation of civil society. The outcome package of the conference is now available on the conference website, detailing two days of workshops and impact coalition engagements. The impact coalitions covered broad issues ranging from development, financing for development, AI governance, future generations. The impact coalitions bring together civil society, academia, think tanks, member states and other stakeholders for action-oriented inputs into the summit. The civil society continues to lean into the diversity that defines us, even as we seek to build common ground and move ahead to advance the ambitions of the millions of people around the world who benefit from our actions. We do not always agree, and that is fine. That is diversity. The coming days will see civil society input tap into the existing stakeholder collaboration platforms that work together to put the conference, including the major groups and other stakeholders, coalition for the UN. We need GNEC and Congo to engage in the key reform issues contained in the pact. We, however, seek and will continue to seek greater opportunity for civil society in the UN processes. Excellencies, it is also time to reframe the narrative on aging from a challenge to an opportunity, and we saw this in the intergenerational activities yesterday. Prospective aging of the youth of today calls for envisioning of young people here today as older people of the future, a future consisting also of other young people. The prospect shifts the definition of who is old as life expectancy increases to recognize the many older adults today who are engaged and productive and bring valuable contributions to society. We must recognize and protect their fundamental rights, but we can also harness the knowledge, experience, and innovation of this growing population segment as a resource for future generations. And we are also interconnected and interdependent in our families, communities, and societies, and globally, so we need to seek solutions that work for all of us. I thank you very much.

Folly Bah Thibault: Carole, thank you very much for your remarks. Thank you for your contributions to this summit of the future. Thank you. Next, we’ll hear from Mr. Oli Henman, who’s one of the co-chairs of the Coordination Mechanism of Major Groups and other stakeholders. Oli, welcome to the stage.

Oli Henman: Thank you very much. Excellencies, Secretary-General, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, and friends. It’s a great honor to speak here today as we face the future together. My name is Oli Henman, and together with Rashima Quatra, I’m one of the co-chairs of the Major Groups and other Stakeholders Coordination Mechanism. This mechanism has been working together since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and is recognized under mandate by the General Assembly. Its 21 constituencies are thematic and regional in nature, and these constituencies represent millions of diverse people from around the world. We have engaged over many months in dialogue with the co-facilitators of the key documents of the Summit for the Future, And we are grateful for this regular engagement, including at the Nairobi CSO Conference. Over these Action Days, we are witnessing the energy and dynamism of civil society, the collaboration with a wide range of partners, and fresh ideas from so many diverse groups. We are glad to be here together during the Action Days, but our voice must also be heard at the Summit itself. We cannot be excluded from the opportunity to shape our common future and insist on meaningful inclusion in all UN processes. In terms of the pact for the future and what comes next, we have some key insights based on our shared positions, and I am glad that many other colleagues are here to share their views over these days as well. Firstly, the pact must demonstrate the UN’s values to champion a democratic and rights-based multilateral system, ensuring meaningful participation of all stakeholders. We appreciate the mention of ECOSOC-accredited NGOs and also the specific call for meaningful inclusion of relevant stakeholders. However, we are concerned at attempts to create additional barriers for accreditation. And while we called for greater collaboration with civil society, unfortunately we do not see that in the revised text. We welcome the continued dialogue with Member States, and we commit to engage with a wide range of delegations going forward to ensure a strong exchange of ideas. Secondly, on human rights, we are very glad to see a recommitment to shared principles on the universality of rights. Everyone’s rights must be guaranteed. While in recent years we have witnessed populism and inflammatory language from some political leaders which has led to an us-and-them culture, erosion of rights, and the rollback of hard-fought equalities, massive violations in situations of conflict. In order to guarantee these rights, the UN’s own structures for protection and enhancement of rights must be strengthened. We call for accelerating support for the human rights pillar of the UN and forging clearer links at the country level with resident coordinator teams. Thirdly, we are pleased to see renewed commitment for financing to deliver real change. It is essential that adequate financing is agreed to deliver the SDGs. And in particular, we are glad to see the reference to targeting programs to support those who are being left behind. We believe the pact provides one step along the way, and note that crucial discussions for financing will be taking place next year at the Financing for Development Forum. Fourthly, it is essential that this pact sets out a renewed vision that is built on equity, fairness and trust. We must step back from the brink of catastrophic wars and conflict, and instead direct our energy and resources to a reinvestment in social protection. We therefore look forward to the World Social Summit in 2025 as a key moment to reset priorities and ensure recommitment to people-centered development, accessible and affordable public services and social protection for all. Finally, the pact’s recognition of the need to protect wildlife and ecosystems is a positive step, but we must accelerate efforts to restore biodiversity for the health of our planet and future generations. Climate change imperils us all. We are therefore glad to see the commitment to accelerating action on climate change and scaling up finance for adaptation and prevention of loss and damage. However, these commitments are not compatible with new fossil fuel exploration, and we therefore urge all governments to halt any new oil, gas or coal exploration. The future is in all of our hands. We have it in our collective power to reshape the world for our children and their children. It is essential that we do not go home empty-handed. When I go back home and see my young boys and hear the optimism in their voices, I want to be able to say that yes, the world is listening and change is coming. We cannot contemplate failure. Thank you.

Folly Bah Thibault: Thank you very much, Ali, for that powerful message. The future is in all of our hands. Ali also talked about the energy in civil society, and I want to hear the energy in this room now. for a better future for all of us. Is there energy? Are we energized? Yes? Are we gonna do it all together? Yes. Thank you very much, Oli, for bringing us the civil society view there. We’re grateful for your contributions. Now, as I mentioned earlier, day one of the Summit of the Future Action Day brought together young people from all over the world to discuss how we can all work together for a better future. And here now to reflect on yesterday’s Youth-Led Action Day is Ms. Saumya Aggarwal, co-founder of the Youth for Peace International, which is an organization dedicated to fostering peace and understanding among youth globally. Saumya, the floor is yours.

Saumya Aggarwal: Excellencies, distinguished guests, and fellow youth. Collectively, the world is significantly behind on the achievements set out in the Sustainable Development Goals and many other global frameworks. Today, young people make over one-third of the world’s population, and youth are creating innovative and sustainable solutions to the problem we are currently facing. However, young people around the world are losing or have lost trust in our governance systems, and we must collectively decide to change our approach and reshape the path forward. We are so excited to start the Summit of the Future with the Youth Action Days. It’s the first time in history that we have dedicated a youth day, and multi-stakeholders have shown genuine interest to learn and listen to us. Young people have been rigorously preparing for the Summit of the Future, and it was refreshing to see that the processes were co-designed and coordinated between UN agencies, youth constituencies, youth-led and youth-focused organizations. Let’s see where we are, because these spaces are only meaningful. when we commit to make a shift and learn. Yesterday was nothing less than inspiring. Youth voices were very loud and clear that they are watching the leaders and the upcoming summit should not be just another international conference. Yesterday, young people alongside policy makers and civil society discussed key recommendations to ensure the implementation of the Pact for the future and beyond. Let me share with you key takeaways that have been highlighted by the young people clustered under the three themes of today’s Action Day. First, on inclusivity for peaceful futures, we need to collaborate with the national coalitions to advance the UNHCR 2250 on youth peace and security commitments and support the efforts of young people and youth-led organizations in the implementation. Allocate flexible, accessible, and sustainable financial support for adolescent-led, youth-led, youth-focused organizations and networks, including for humanitarian action. Strengthen partnerships and dialogue between the youth-led organizations, policy makers, and humanitarian and development actors to ensure youth-driven solutions are recognized, scaled, and sustainable. Address the prevalence of climate and eco-anxiety among youth, which is contributing to a global mental health crisis. Usually we have seen that mental health support is neglected. Recommit to peace, youth protection, and human rights as youth are urging an emergent and permanent ceasefire in all conflict zones. For a digital future, explore potential strategies to mitigate growing digital risk and leverage digital opportunities to build an inclusive, safe, and meaningful digital futures for all. We also need to advocate for youth inclusion in digital and AI policymaking spaces, discuss current and future implications of emerging digital technologies with the focus on the consequences for young people, and explore mechanisms that protect the youth from digital harm. And finally, if we want to ensure sustainable futures, we have to take immediate actions to mitigate security risks and threats to building a peaceful world and sustainable societies. Establish national youth consultative bodies like youth advisory councils to ensure that young people and adolescents inform foreign and national policies. Young people must be part of policymaking and decision-making processes and governance systems at various levels. Raise recognition and legitimization of youth efforts in traditional governance structures and facilitate a culture for meaningful youth participation. Young people also brought recommendations on gender yesterday, such as the need to revitalize the Commission on the Status of Women and the Commission on Population and Development in partnership with civil society and youth. Under the intergenerational equity and solidarity, youth and partners demand to create an intergenerational dialogue platform as well as to leverage science, data, statistics, and strategic foresight to ensure long-term thinking and planning in their governance structures. These are clear examples that young people need to be included across discussions, negotiations, and policies, because all matters are youth matters. He acknowledged that his generation prioritized profit in systems that ultimately failed us. This must be corrected. Our generation needs to be included in decision-making spaces and be meaningfully engaged in shaping those processes. The change needs to happen now and youth lead for a better future. Thank you everyone. Have a great day.

Folly Bah Thibault: Thank you, Saumya, for so eloquently summarizing your discussions and capturing the energy that we all felt yesterday on day one of the Summit of the Future Action Days. So this now concludes our first opening segment and we’ll now zero in on one of the summit’s major targeted outcomes and that is the Declaration on Future Generations, which will be a vital step forward in ensuring that the rights and interests of future generations are at the heart of global decision-making. To discuss this, I’m delighted to welcome to the stage His Excellency Andrew Holness, Prime Minister of Jamaica, to join us. Thank you.

Andrew Holness: Secretary General of the United Nations, His Excellency António Guterres, Excellencies and distinguished delegates, representatives of the United Nations, civil society, youth, major groups and other stakeholders, it is a distinct honor to join you this morning in building momentum towards the Summit of the Future. and to formally commence the discussions on future generations. Allow me to congratulate and commend all of you for your tremendous efforts over these past few years to ensure the success of the Summit. Jamaica is proud to have co-facilitated the intergovernmental process for the Declaration on Future Generations, and I take this opportunity to express my appreciation to our co-facilitator, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, for their excellent collaboration during this challenging process. I would also like to thank the Secretary General and his team for the support provided to our respective teams during the negotiations and consultations. The inclusivity of the Summit of the future and its preceding action days, as well as the proprietary processes leading up to this very critical moment, is truly symbolic of the approach that is required to preserve a robust and effective multilateral system with the United Nations at its core. It is clear that member states and the UN system cannot chart this path alone. We must leverage the knowledge, expertise and vigor of civil society, youth, academia, the private sector and other stakeholders to deliver a better future for this planet and for all its people. The Declaration on Future Generations has certainly benefited from this. coming together of great minds, and reflects the diverse perspectives and challenges across the world that must be taken into account as we lay the foundation for the next century and beyond. Indeed, with the adoption of this Declaration at the Summit tomorrow, we will be able to celebrate a universal realization that, even as we address the challenges of today, we have an obligation to protect the interests of future generations and ensure that they will inherit a planet in which they can thrive. We must now translate that enthusiasm into action by giving life to the Declaration. We are grateful that, during the consultations, all stakeholders recognized that it was important to not only manifest lofty intent to take account of the needs of future generations, but to agree to fundamental guiding principles, make far-reaching commitments, and prescribe concrete actions to propel us to achieve this end. Having completed the negotiations, it is now our responsibility to ensure effective implementation of the Pact for the Future, the Global Digital Compact, and the Declaration on Future Generations. For governments like mine, this effort will require a whole-of-society collaboration as we seek to embed futures thinking. in all our decision-making processes across national and local government. The role of civil society, academia, and the private sector in this endeavour will be critical in developing solutions, as well as building and maintaining momentum towards implementation. In Jamaica, my government has already begun to invest in anticipatory planning and future-proofing, recognising first and foremost that a solid macroeconomic foundation is the most basic requirement. We have lowered our debt-to-GDP ratio, increased our foreign exchange reserves, reduced our unemployment rate, and achieved single-digit inflation as well as financial sector stability. This has allowed us to increase investment in sustainable and smart infrastructure, building for the future while taking account of changing demographic trends. We are, however, well aware of the capacity limitations of developing states to deal with the multidimensional challenges we currently face. Climate change, debt sustainability, economic stability, access to financing for development, global shocks, among others. Technology and knowledge transfer must therefore be facilitated, including through mutually agreed arrangements. The international financial institutions must be reformed to provide the necessary access to financing as the means of implementation. The multilateral system, with the UN at its core, must be equipped to provide opportunities for developing and sharing best practices. In this regard, a follow-up mechanism will also be important, so that implementation of commitments we make over the next few days can be appropriately measured and monitored. Excellencies, with the adoption of the Pact and its annexes, we have charted a path and made the first bold steps. Let us now move forward with hope and determination to ensure that our collective legacy will be a peaceful, healthy and prosperous planet for all our peoples and a sustainable future for the generations to come. I thank you.

Folly Bah Thibault: Thank you.

Evelyn Wever-Croes: Mr. President, Excellencies, distinguished guests, I’m delighted to be here with you all today on this inspiring occasion to take part in the discussion and to listen to your valuable insights. The Kingdom of the Netherlands is proud to have co-facilitated the intergovernmental process for a declaration on future generations alongside Jamaica. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Most Honorable Andrew Holness, Prime Minister of Jamaica, for his unwavering commitment and collaboration throughout this process. The declaration represents a significant milestone, and it will be annexed to the Pact for the Future during the Summit of the Future, an event that provides a rare, once-in-a-generation opportunity to create lasting change. This summit is our chance to set things right, not only for the people of today, young and old, but for the generations yet to come. Our decisions and our actions sent ripple effects across time, shaping the future. By making thoughtful and responsible choices now, we ensure a positive intergenerational impact benefiting those who will inherit this world. The declaration has the potential to mark a pivotal moment in our multilateral efforts to address global crisis and to establish a robust framework for long-term sustainable development. By embracing strategic foresight and carefully considering the long-term effects of our decisions, we can pave the way for a more equitable and sustainable world for future generations. It is essential that we demonstrate intergenerational solidarity. Challenges such as inequality and discrimination, climate change, food insecurity, the digital divide and ongoing conflicts are human-made. They demand collective solutions. It is our collective responsibility to champion impactful and long-lasting solutions. Governments, policymakers and all stakeholders must work together to turn legal and policy decisions into a unified, intergenerational agenda that safeguards the interests of future generations. The Declaration promises to bring about a major shift in how we think, making sure that caring for future generations and sharing responsibility across generations are priorities in our decisions. This is especially important when it comes to climate change. Like many countries around the world, my country, Aruba, and indeed our entire kingdom, which spans two continents, is facing the consequences of global warming. Rising sea levels and more extreme weather events clearly show us how what we do or don’t do affects everyone, now and in the future. The devastating hurricanes and floods in our Caribbean region are a stark reminder of this reality. Yet, history teaches us that forward-thinking decisions can protect future generations. By learning from past mistakes and taking decisive action today, we will secure long-term benefits for ourselves and for those to come after us. And this is why I look to the future with what I call realistic optimism. But there is a catch. We need to act now, and we must act collectively. Civil society partners, research institutions, the private sector, and so many others gathered here today all have an essential role to play. By supporting governments, policymakers, and international organizations like the United Nations, we can steer decisions towards this common goal, a thriving legacy for future generations. Today is the International Day of Peace, which was designated by the General Assembly as a time of nonviolence and ceasefire. Unfortunately, today is not a day without conflict, as the violence in the Middle East, Sudan, and Ukraine shows. While solving these conflicts is beyond what we can expect to achieve today, that doesn’t mean we should stop working towards a better future. And that is why I’m honored to be here today with you. Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, I would like to extend my sincere thank you to the Secretary General of the United Nations for his forward-thinking vision in prioritizing future generations and entrusting us with the responsibility of advancing the Declaration. His leadership has helped make the concept of future generations more tangible. Additionally, I want to express my gratitude to all the stakeholders here today, civil society, academia, the private sector, and impact coalitions, for your active participation over the past two years. Your dedication has been critical in shaping this process. With the Declaration on Future Generations, we must thrive. good ancestors, to leave behind a world that offers a better quality of life for those who follow. I look forward to continuing this journey together, shaping a more inclusive and just future. Thank you.

Folly Bah Thibault: Thank you very much Madam Prime Minister and thank you as well to the Prime Minister of Jamaica for your efforts in ensuring the interests of future generations remains at the top of the global agenda. We’re getting things set up now for our panel discussion. We’ll be joined by a panel of experts working on the topic of future generations, moderated by Thomas Hale, who is a professor of global public policy in the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford. His work, Thomas’s work, has focused on precisely the issue of how we safeguard our future and address the subject of what he terms long problems. Professor Hale will be joined by three distinguished panelists. Our first panelist is Hina Jilani, a pioneering lawyer and human rights defender and a member of the Elders, an esteemed group of global leaders. Ms. Jelani will be joined by Abdullahi Alim, the CEO of the Africa Future Fund, which is a new financing mechanism to advance the rights and prosperity of future Africans. And to round out our panel, we have Paolo Baca, the Deputy Director of De Justicia. Dr. Baca’s work blends academic scholarship with public engagement and his extensive fieldwork has fostered collaborations with indigenous organizations. worldwide. So we’re honored to have these experts join us at the General Assembly today to provide their diverse perspectives on the Declaration of Future Generations. And I will turn it over now to Professor Hale and his panelists.

Thomas Hale: Thank you very much, Foley, for this kind introduction. Ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow, every member state of the United Nations will adopt a Declaration on Future Generations, thanks to the hard work of many people in this room and a few late hours last night. This is a potentially transformative document. But as we’ve just heard from these speakers, the potential of any document to transform our world depends entirely on what happens next, what action follows from the text. And we have a fantastic panel today to talk about the work they’re doing to advance the goals and the objectives that the Declaration speaks to. And I’m going to be asking them, what is the transformative potential of this document, and how do we unlock it? And those are important questions because we are facing a world, this document is arriving in a world that is fraught. We face war, we face debt, we face a climate crisis, we face the lingering effects of a global pandemic, we face many immediate challenges. And so why now? Why in September 2024 are we talking about future generations? And a document answers that critical question in two ways. First, it recognizes the fundamental connection between the immediate, urgent challenges we face and the long-term trends and drivers from which they grow. It understands that things like climate change, poverty, underdevelopment, lack of health, lack of justice are fundamental risk factors that create crises. And as we all saw in our own lives just a few years ago, when a crisis gets out of control, we can’t react our way out of it. We can’t respond only. We need to anticipate and act in advance, and that’s a fundamental shift consistent with the goals of the United Nations to advance sustainable development. Second, the document, and I think this is really striking and important, it recognizes a fundamental consensus across cultures, across religions, across philosophies, across value systems that we all have an interest and indeed a responsibility to think about the future, to think about leaving a better world for those that come after us. And in a world where consensus is sorely lacking, isn’t it helpful, isn’t it powerful to think about the powerful consensus that exists there? Now of course these kind of lofty words fall flat. They ring hollow without action to follow up. And so we’re going to hear from a panel thinking about what that action looks like. But of course we see already trends happening around the world that are driving forward action to support future generations. Just this week, the European Union appointed a commissioner with responsibility for intergenerational fairness. This month, the South Korean Constitutional Court ordered the government to enhance its climate targets to better serve future generations. This is actually happening on the ground everywhere. And so the real question for this declaration is how it can catalyze more such changes going forward. Abdullahi, I’d like to start with you. You’re the CEO of the Africa Future Fund, working to support leaders and transformative businesses. to solve the continent’s greatest challenges. You’ve also worked at the International Chamber of Commerce, so you know what the private sector thinks. And you’ve just done a survey of a number of private sector leaders across Africa, asking them, what do you think about future generations? What did they say?

Abdullahi Alim: So yes, my name is Abdullahi Alim, and I’m currently leading an outfit called the Africa Future Fund. I’m no longer with the International Chamber of Commerce, so just a quick mention to the technical team. One billion Africans will be born in the next generation alone, and I think by the close of this century, you can expect about three to four billion total more Africans to be born. When you think of the mega cities of the future, it’ll be cities like Lagos, cities like Dar es Salaam, cities like Mogadishu, where I was born. And for some context, Mogadishu alone, by the end of this century, will be more populous than the entire country of Spain. Just to give you some scope of where the world and where the trajectory of population growth is growing. So from my perspective, when I think future generations, to make it as specific as possible, from my vantage point, I’m talking about future Africans. If this rapid growth in population that we’re expecting over the next few decades isn’t also met with commensurate increases in industrialization, in living standards, of course, without clocking past ecological boundaries, then we will have yet another wasted generation. And it’s from this place that we created the Africa Future Fund. We’re trying to take big bets on our communities. We’re trying to channel big investments to seismically change the geopolitical economic might of the continent over the next few decades. What does that look like? It looks, for example, like backing a local African initiative that is studying, that is, most importantly, IP-ing active compounds that are found in plant life that are indigenous to the Congolese basin. These kind of active compounds will be critical to the modern genomic revolution and to some of the anti-cancer treatment. statements of the future. It’s about backing, for example, fellowships that bring together young Africans at the forefront of combating advanced disinformation warfare. There’s one particular form, if anybody’s interested in like the future of disinformation called adversarial AI, we wrote a piece for them, about them rather, for foreign policy. And so some of the foremost thinkers on this topic are actually from the continent. So unlike what you normally see where it’s European, US or advanced Asian economies leading the world on thought and sort of exporting it to sub-Saharan Africa, we want to get to a stage where we’re leading and setting the standard for global resilience in this case. And you know, to be also honest, it’s also about backing young progressive political voices on the continent, training them on what the future looks like so that they’re able to really rise to the occasion when they assume positions of influence, positions of power. As Thomas alluded to, we ran a massive consultation across the continent to figure out what does the future look like, what’s the significance of it to your work if you are, for example, the head of a sovereign wealth fund, if you are a former head of state, if you are a young entrepreneur, three main priorities that made it very, very practical for us. It’s about restructuring the way debt is measured on the continent. Unlike anywhere else in the world, the majority of the debt in Africa is actually owned by the private sector. And it’s four times more expensive to borrow debt on the continent than anywhere else in the world. Number one, reforming debt. The second one is around really advancing export-oriented industrial policy. It makes no sense that, for example, Cote d’Ivoire, the largest producer of cashew nuts, makes a very limited gain in the global supply chain relative to countries like Vietnam, relative to countries like India. And the third one is really about taking more potential out from our SMEs. And we have this concept known as search funds, which we’re also championing. Three key ideas that came when we spoke to CEOs, when we spoke to government leaders, young entrepreneurs, and I’ll go into a bit more detail.

Thomas Hale: Fantastic, thank you so much for highlighting the opportunity that thinking about the future can highlight. We often think about the risks and how we manage them, but actually we need to have a real laser focus on the opportunity side as well. Pablo, I’ll come to you next if I may. You work for Davis TCO, which is a fantastic group of researchers and advocates working across a range of issues. But many people here will have heard about a famous case that you won in which a group of youth and children successfully sued the government in Colombia’s highest court for action to prevent deforestation in the Amazon because of the impacts that that would have on climate change and the climate future generations will inherit. So how do you think about this question, future generations, in your own work, and is there more potential to unlock that kind of transformation going forward?

Paolo Baca: Thank you, Tom. I will start on the issue how future generations’ perspective have changed my mind, and later on I will talk about the justicious case. I have been working with indigenous peoples for over two decades, and I have learned from Andean communities from Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru that the issue on future generations have to be tackled from a temporality perspective. For Andean indigenous peoples, the time is not linear or chronological. It happens in Western cultures. For them, for example, the future is behind us, and the past is in front, and that is women carry on their kids, their children, on the back, because children are the future. And the past is in front because in front they find the wisdom of the elders. And the wisdom of the elders are the meanings that can drive the present of our daily lives. So in indigenous cosmologies, the future is not something that will come. It’s something that is linked with past and present, and it changes everything. Because for them, there is no separation between nature and culture. They think and they belong to the mountains, they belong to the lakes, and their ancestors belong to those sources of the land. And it changes the perspective about human rights and international law, for example. And using this kind of framework, the justicia sued the Colombian state because deforestation was increasing in the Amazon region. And we use the concept of future generations in order to stop deforestation. And the Supreme Court ordered an intergenerational pact to stop deforestation in the Amazon region. Nevertheless, after six years of this important ruling, the implementation, in a way, has been a failure, at least in terms of this intergenerational pact. On the one hand, because it is necessary to build a mechanism to drive inter-jurisdictional models between the Colombian states and the indigenous Amazonian peoples. And it has been difficult, so we need to work together to put forward the voice of indigenous peoples in their own terms to understand how future generation pacts should work. And on the other hand, the armed conflict, it is still an issue in Colombia. And unfortunately, the conflict is still going on in the Amazon region, and it has put some difficulties to implement the pact and to stop deforestation. So unfortunately, deforestation is increasing and we don’t have the intergenerational pact.

Thomas Hale: I think it’s a really important example for us to think about, a really innovative case of using law to take indigenous thinking into the heart of modern governance, and then the challenge, the ongoing challenge, of trying to deliver that requiring a deeper transformation of governance systems. So like for many of the things we’re thinking about around future generations, a step forward, but then many more steps to come and a long-term perspective needed to drive the fundamental transformation. Ms. Jelani, can I turn next to you? You are a pioneering lawyer. You founded the first all-woman law firm in Pakistan. You’ve represented the UN as a special representative for human rights defenders. You’re working currently with the elders. You’ve seen these issues change over time, but you’ve also been at the forefront of that change. And yesterday, you and the other elders issued an intergenerational call to action. So how does the future generations declaration, which we’re coming to tomorrow influence the work that you’re doing?

Hina Jilani: Thank you, Thomas, for that question. Let me say, first of all, that when we talk about a declaration on future generations, what springs to my mind immediately is Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which essentially says that every human being is endowed with reason and conscience. If that belief is true, then I see no reason for hesitation on the implementation of any of the agreed principles and implementation strategies that the Declaration says. If there is hesitation on the part of those that are making decisions and policies that affect the lives of their own people and the global environment, I would regretfully have to say that this belief that all human beings are endowed with reason and a conscience is going to be confounded. I also believe that the transformation that we are talking about and our aspiration to bring about that transformation is really rooted in the respect for human rights, in the recognition that only a rule-based order can propel that change and be able to achieve what are the crisis and critical areas of concern to us today. You’ve spoken about climate change and its effect. I come from a country which is one of the top 10 countries to be affected by climate change. So the effects of climate change for people like me are not in the abstract. They are not just a technical issue for us to deal with or an academic, are not of academic concern. We see things happening to people where displacement, loss of livelihood, loss of life in many cases is so real and is affecting so many of the vulnerable communities. Paulo speaks of indigenous communities. I have seen people who have traditionally been inhabitants of land for centuries having to leave that land, having to leave that way of life because of climate change. We all know what the COVID pandemic did to us and how it has changed our lives. So I do believe that if there is reason, if there is a conscience, and if there is a will to preserve the environment in which we live and to develop the consensus to bring about an environment in the world where dialogue is possible, where it’s important to understand the values of diversity rather than that becoming the reason for division, where intolerance is totally rejected, where people not only talk about tolerating others but have a belief that tolerance will be replaced by accommodation of everyone’s belief, everyone’s culture, everyone’s needs. So these are some of the things that I look forward to. And I think the civil society has a very critical role to play, because these are the people who can not take on governments, but at least create a balance in the power of the state and the voices of the people. And one of my colleagues, one of the other elders, President Santos, from your country, said yesterday that governments understand pressure. The civil society can build that pressure.

Thomas Hale: An important source of action, not just in the world at all, but also for this declaration, which is, as I think the speakers before highlighted, benefited from some of that pressure and ideas. I love how you’ve connected, Mr. Lani, the declaration coming tomorrow to the long history and the fundamental human rights that sit at the center of the multilateral system, and how this is an extension and a deepening and a recognition of how that understanding must evolve as we face problems like climate change and other things that last generation to generation. I want to come back to the panel with a burning point, which is going back to this idea of, how do we unlock the transformation? How do we make this text come to life? How do we breathe life into it, as the Secretary General said? I’m curious what the one action you would like governments to take next. They’re going to sign this thing tomorrow, agree the thing. What should they do the day after? What should they make their top priority? I think there’s many, many ones. But what’s one you would like to see them take forward? I wonder, Abdullahi, if I can come back to you first.

Abdullahi Alim: So I think for me it’s, is it just one? Just your top one. I would say, focus on. For me, it’s always an economic conversation, to be honest. Because if your population is going to double, if it’s going to triple, you’re almost planning for a new country over the next few decades. So think about which sectors are your most competitive and hone in your entire government strategy based on that. That sounds very simple, but it’s actually somewhat difficult to do. Again, I’ll go back to the example of the cashew nut trade in West Africa. I spoke to a young entrepreneur who told me, you know, I export my raw cashew nuts, let’s say, I’m just going to give a hypothetical number, let’s say $1 a kilo. He then sells it to somebody based in another part of the world who has machinery that is able to roast, that is able to salt at scale these nuts, and then sell it for $10. So this person has already lost $9 because they just happen to be based in a part of the world that lacks industrial capacity. So for me, it’s a case where I think each government needs to come to terms with the fact that focus on two or three critical sectors where you think you have growth opportunities. Make sure your roads and transportation authority, your investment authority, your education, like everybody needs to be focused on that one competitive sector because ultimately to protect future generations, you’re going to need money. You’re going to need capital because it’s going to require a lot of infrastructure.

Thomas Hale: And I think your comment is particularly trenchant given the current debt burden that so many future majority countries hold. And so it’s not even about building for the future, it’s also about getting the legacy of the past righted in that sense.

Abdullahi Alim: If you were to give… Sorry, I’m going to be very cheeky. If you were to give a loan to any business anywhere in the world, can I tell you which region in the world you’ll most likely recover your loan is from? It’s sub-Saharan Africa at number one. More so than Europe, more so than Latin America, more so than South Asia. The number one region in the world for loan recovery when it comes to lending to the private sector is sub-Saharan Africa. But still very expensive for us.

Thomas Hale: Fantastic opportunity. The opportunity is really shining through in this Future Generations narrative. Paulo, what’s the one action you would like to see taken?

Paolo Baca: Well, I think that it is very important to make a bridge between the local and the global. I think that countries such as Pakistan or Colombia are suffering the consequences of the climate crisis, but we are not the ones who produce the crisis. So I think that it is important that the wealthier countries, the ones who are producing global warming, acknowledge that, and that acknowledgement is connected with the past of, for example, colonial history, racial and structural discrimination, and of course it is also connected with the generations to come to build a better future for everyone. So I think that we need to move forward from these global forums, which are very important, of course, and go also to the local communities and try to understand these kinds of discussions from their point of view. So it is very important to engage, for example, with peasants, with Afro-descendants, with indigenous peoples, with these sectors who have the knowledge to stop the climate crisis, because they have the biocultural knowledge, for example, in the Amazon, to make sustainable development for future generations and be more open. have been with us, because they have the skills to go, for example, to the course, to the United Nations.

Thomas Hale: Indeed. And your work shows exactly the potential of that. Your work shows how to do that, which I think is so important, because I think many people will say, OK, that’s a really good idea, but how do we do it? And you’ve given us a model in this case that is a work in progress, as you said very clearly, but is a good starting point. So this is a really, I think, practical way forward that you’re articulating. Ms. Jilani, your top wish to see after government sign the Declaration on Future Innovations?

Hina Jilani: Can I just, if you allow me, add to something that Paolo has just said? Look, as a human rights defender, I have always criticized government’s failure to take care of climate consequences and extreme emergencies that happen. But there are times when I pity our governments, because even where there is willingness, the ability to respond is not there. So I do think that globally, we, countries who have almost no carbon footprint, have to be compensated. We have to have enough resources for adaptation, for mitigation, and to respond to the people’s loss of livelihood and other issues that emerge. But coming to your question now, I think my top priority, apart from many others that compete with this one, is governments must ensure that they have a plan to develop communities that demonstrate the power of social connection. One thing I can say as an elder, we may be called the elders. But we don’t think that we are a repository of all wisdom. We have a plan and a policy and a commitment to seeking out the pockets of wisdom where they exist and learning from those. And one of the important things that the elders totally believe in and have a faith in is this intergenerational connection. I think this kind of social connection is critical to ending loneliness, to ending social isolation, bringing about people’s ability to reach out to each other, learn from each other, and in that context also to inform the global environment on what the essential needs are all the time. I’m not going to enumerate all the problems that we have today. But let me say, through this whole policy of social connection, ending isolation, ending loneliness, which is not just a public health issue. It’s an issue of governance, really. By doing that, we can fix it.

Thomas Hale: Well, I think your comments remind me very much of the philosopher Edmund Burke, who said, described society as a pact between the past, the present, and the future. And that is indeed what this declaration is recognizing. And what the fantastic work you each have described is aiming to give life to, to put meaning into those ideas and principles, whether it be economic issues, whether it be the incorporation of indigenous ideas to protect the environment, whether it be fundamental human rights protections. And of course, that’s a perfect framing for our discussions for the rest of today, where we’ll have numerous sessions looking at how we take forward the ideas in the pact overall and how the declaration on future generations can best be implemented. And I think as a final point to add to those discussions, you said it very well, Ms. Jilani. Governments don’t always have the capacities to deliver on these things. And so a key question for us today is what more do we want the multilateral system to be doing to support us, to support governments to deliver on the pact? For example, in the declaration text, there’s an upcoming forum to check in on progress as a report. There’s a noting of the Secretary General’s proposal to appoint a special envoy for future generations. What more support should the multilateral system provide to take forward these ideas is another key part of our discussions today. In conclusion, please join me in thanking our extraordinary panel. Thank you.

Folly Bah Thibault: Thank you all very much. Thank you, Professor Hale. Thank you. That was such a great discussion, great conversation. Thank you all very much for your time here today. A fascinating discussion moderated by Professor Hill. Thank you very much. It’s so inspiring to hear unique voices across sectors and generations who remind us that we all have a role to play in building this future together. With that, Excellencies and Ladies and Gentlemen, we end our opening ceremony. Before leaving, however, we want to show you a summary of the discussions this morning that our visual scribe has been working on diligently in the background, summing up, as you can see there, the main themes addressed this morning. Look at it. Isn’t it great? Please, a round of applause for our visual scribe. Now, as Professor Hill mentioned, our discussions will continue throughout the day and throughout the building, so please make your way now to the other sessions, the main sessions. In conference room four, the sessions on a sustainable future for all will focus on key action areas of sustainable development and financing for development that will deliver on the aspirations of the 2030 Agenda. In the trusteeship chamber, the peaceful future for all session, which will focus on intergenerational dialogue for peace. And in ECOSOC chamber, join us for a digital future for all sessions, which will bring forward looking commitments from all stakeholders to harness innovation, science, and data in a more inclusive, safe, and sustainable manner. And of course, don’t forget to join us for the closing ceremony, everyone, at 5.30 p.m. in ECOSOC as well, where we’ll share our learnings from the day’s interactive and thought-provoking sessions and look towards the next steps in creating our shared future. Thank you all very much. I’ll kindly ask you to please quickly leave the room, because we have another session in place. And, you know, continue your conversations outside and in the other rooms, ECOSOC chamber and the different sessions that we’re having this morning. Thank you all very much. I wish you an excellent day, and see you at 5.30 for our closing ceremony. Thank you very much.

A

António Guterres

Speech speed

119 words per minute

Speech length

858 words

Speech time

430 seconds

Intergenerational solidarity and responsibility

Explanation

Guterres emphasizes the importance of considering future generations in current decision-making. He calls for a shift in thinking to prioritize long-term impacts and shared responsibility across generations.

Evidence

Mention of the Declaration on Future Generations as a key outcome of the Summit of the Future

Major Discussion Point

Declaration on Future Generations

Agreed with

Carole Osero-Ageng’o

Hina Jilani

Agreed on

Importance of intergenerational dialogue and collaboration

Reforming international financial institutions

Explanation

Guterres advocates for reforming international financial institutions to better support sustainable development and climate action. He argues that current systems are inadequate to address contemporary global challenges.

Evidence

Mention of the need to ‘supercharge resources for sustainable development and for climate action’

Major Discussion Point

Reforming Global Systems

Agreed with

Abdullahi Alim

Agreed on

Need for reforming global financial systems

Inclusive and networked multilateralism

Explanation

Guterres calls for a more inclusive and networked form of multilateralism. He emphasizes the need for greater representation of developing countries and stronger links between international institutions and people.

Evidence

Statement: ‘We need multilateralism that is more inclusive, more effective and more networked, with stronger links between international institutions and with the people.’

Major Discussion Point

Reforming Global Systems

A

Andrew Holness

Speech speed

95 words per minute

Speech length

739 words

Speech time

462 seconds

Embedding futures thinking in decision-making

Explanation

Holness emphasizes the importance of incorporating long-term thinking into government decision-making processes. He argues for the need to consider the impacts of current decisions on future generations.

Evidence

Mention of Jamaica’s efforts to invest in anticipatory planning and future-proofing

Major Discussion Point

Declaration on Future Generations

P

Paolo Baca

Speech speed

0 words per minute

Speech length

0 words

Speech time

1 seconds

Bridging local and global perspectives

Explanation

Baca emphasizes the importance of connecting local and global perspectives in addressing climate change and future challenges. He argues for incorporating indigenous knowledge and perspectives into global decision-making processes.

Evidence

Example of the Colombian Supreme Court case involving indigenous communities and deforestation in the Amazon

Major Discussion Point

Declaration on Future Generations

Indigenous perspectives on time and nature

Explanation

Baca highlights how indigenous communities view time and nature differently from Western perspectives. He argues that these alternative worldviews can provide valuable insights for addressing long-term challenges.

Evidence

Description of Andean indigenous peoples’ non-linear concept of time and their relationship with nature

Major Discussion Point

Challenges and Opportunities for Future Generations

H

Hina Jilani

Speech speed

113 words per minute

Speech length

814 words

Speech time

428 seconds

Developing socially connected communities

Explanation

Jilani emphasizes the importance of fostering social connections and ending isolation within communities. She argues that this is crucial for addressing various societal challenges and informing global governance.

Evidence

Statement: ‘I think my top priority, apart from many others that compete with this one, is governments must ensure that they have a plan to develop communities that demonstrate the power of social connection.’

Major Discussion Point

Declaration on Future Generations

Agreed with

António Guterres

Carole Osero-Ageng’o

Agreed on

Importance of intergenerational dialogue and collaboration

Climate change impacts on vulnerable communities

Explanation

Jilani highlights the disproportionate impact of climate change on vulnerable communities, particularly in developing countries. She argues for the need to compensate and support these countries in addressing climate-related challenges.

Evidence

Personal experience from Pakistan, which is among the top 10 countries affected by climate change

Major Discussion Point

Challenges and Opportunities for Future Generations

A

Abdullahi Alim

Speech speed

181 words per minute

Speech length

1042 words

Speech time

344 seconds

Population growth and economic development in Africa

Explanation

Alim discusses the rapid population growth expected in Africa and the need for commensurate economic development. He argues for strategic investments in key competitive sectors to drive economic growth and improve living standards.

Evidence

Projection of 1 billion Africans to be born in the next generation, and 3-4 billion by the end of the century

Major Discussion Point

Challenges and Opportunities for Future Generations

Debt burdens and financing for developing countries

Explanation

Alim highlights the challenges of debt and financing for African countries. He argues for restructuring debt measurement and improving access to affordable financing for development.

Evidence

Statement that debt in Africa is four times more expensive than elsewhere in the world

Major Discussion Point

Challenges and Opportunities for Future Generations

Agreed with

António Guterres

Agreed on

Need for reforming global financial systems

Restructuring debt measurement for African countries

Explanation

Alim advocates for reforming how debt is measured and managed for African countries. He argues that current systems disadvantage African nations and hinder their economic development.

Evidence

Mention of debt restructuring as one of three main priorities identified in consultations with African leaders

Major Discussion Point

Reforming Global Systems

Agreed with

António Guterres

Agreed on

Need for reforming global financial systems

Supporting progressive young political voices

Explanation

Alim emphasizes the importance of supporting and training young, progressive political voices in Africa. He argues that this is crucial for preparing future leaders to address long-term challenges.

Evidence

Mention of backing and training young progressive political voices as part of the Africa Future Fund’s activities

Major Discussion Point

Youth Engagement and Empowerment

Agreed with

Saumya Aggarwal

Agreed on

Importance of youth participation in decision-making

S

Saumya Aggarwal

Speech speed

120 words per minute

Speech length

686 words

Speech time

342 seconds

Meaningful youth participation in policymaking

Explanation

Aggarwal advocates for the inclusion of youth in decision-making processes at various levels of governance. She argues that young people must be part of policymaking to ensure their perspectives are considered in shaping the future.

Evidence

Call for establishing national youth consultative bodies and including youth in foreign and national policy-making

Major Discussion Point

Youth Engagement and Empowerment

Agreed with

Abdullahi Alim

Agreed on

Importance of youth participation in decision-making

Investing in youth-led solutions and organizations

Explanation

Aggarwal calls for increased financial support and resources for youth-led organizations and initiatives. She argues that this is crucial for enabling young people to develop and implement innovative solutions to global challenges.

Evidence

Recommendation to allocate flexible, accessible, and sustainable financial support for adolescent-led and youth-led organizations

Major Discussion Point

Youth Engagement and Empowerment

C

Carole Osero-Ageng’o

Speech speed

126 words per minute

Speech length

518 words

Speech time

245 seconds

Intergenerational dialogue and collaboration

Explanation

Osero-Ageng’o emphasizes the importance of fostering dialogue and collaboration between different generations. She argues that this approach is crucial for addressing complex global issues and creating sustainable solutions.

Evidence

Reference to intergenerational activities at the conference and the need to reframe the narrative on aging

Major Discussion Point

Youth Engagement and Empowerment

Agreed with

António Guterres

Hina Jilani

Agreed on

Importance of intergenerational dialogue and collaboration

O

Oli Henman

Speech speed

168 words per minute

Speech length

768 words

Speech time

273 seconds

Strengthening UN human rights mechanisms

Explanation

Henman calls for strengthening the human rights pillar of the UN and improving its implementation at the country level. He argues that this is essential for protecting and enhancing rights globally.

Evidence

Call for ‘accelerating support for the human rights pillar of the UN and forging clearer links at the country level with resident coordinator teams’

Major Discussion Point

Reforming Global Systems

Agreements

Agreement Points

Importance of intergenerational dialogue and collaboration

Speakers

António Guterres

Carole Osero-Ageng’o

Hina Jilani

Arguments

Intergenerational solidarity and responsibility

Intergenerational dialogue and collaboration

Developing socially connected communities

Summary

These speakers emphasized the need for collaboration and dialogue across generations to address global challenges and create sustainable solutions.

Need for reforming global financial systems

Speakers

António Guterres

Abdullahi Alim

Arguments

Reforming international financial institutions

Debt burdens and financing for developing countries

Restructuring debt measurement for African countries

Summary

Both speakers highlighted the importance of reforming international financial institutions and debt structures to better support developing countries, particularly in Africa.

Importance of youth participation in decision-making

Speakers

Saumya Aggarwal

Abdullahi Alim

Arguments

Meaningful youth participation in policymaking

Supporting progressive young political voices

Summary

These speakers advocated for increased youth involvement in policy-making processes and leadership roles to shape the future.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the disproportionate impact of climate change on vulnerable communities and the need to incorporate local perspectives in global decision-making.

Speakers

Paolo Baca

Hina Jilani

Arguments

Bridging local and global perspectives

Climate change impacts on vulnerable communities

Unexpected Consensus

Importance of indigenous knowledge in addressing global challenges

Speakers

Paolo Baca

António Guterres

Arguments

Indigenous perspectives on time and nature

Inclusive and networked multilateralism

Explanation

While not explicitly stated by Guterres, his call for more inclusive multilateralism aligns with Baca’s emphasis on incorporating indigenous perspectives, suggesting an unexpected consensus on the value of diverse knowledge systems in global governance.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of agreement include the importance of intergenerational collaboration, the need for financial system reforms, increased youth participation in decision-making, and the recognition of diverse perspectives in addressing global challenges.

Consensus level

There is a moderate to high level of consensus among the speakers on these key issues. This suggests a shared understanding of the critical challenges facing future generations and the need for inclusive, collaborative approaches to address them. The implications of this consensus could lead to more coordinated efforts in implementing the Declaration on Future Generations and related initiatives.

Disagreements

Disagreement Points

Approach to addressing climate change impacts

Speakers

Hina Jilani

Paolo Baca

Arguments

Jilani highlights the disproportionate impact of climate change on vulnerable communities, particularly in developing countries. She argues for the need to compensate and support these countries in addressing climate-related challenges.

Baca emphasizes the importance of connecting local and global perspectives in addressing climate change and future challenges. He argues for incorporating indigenous knowledge and perspectives into global decision-making processes.

Summary

While both speakers acknowledge the importance of addressing climate change, they differ in their proposed approaches. Jilani focuses on compensation and support for vulnerable countries, while Baca emphasizes the incorporation of indigenous knowledge and local perspectives.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of disagreement among the speakers were primarily related to specific approaches and focus areas in addressing global challenges, rather than fundamental disagreements on core issues.

Disagreement level

The level of disagreement among the speakers was relatively low. Most speakers shared similar overarching goals related to sustainable development, addressing climate change, and improving global governance systems. The differences were mainly in the specific strategies or areas of emphasis each speaker prioritized based on their expertise and regional perspectives. This low level of disagreement suggests a general consensus on the importance of considering future generations and the need for systemic reforms, which could facilitate more unified action on these issues.

Partial Agreements

Partial Agreements

All three speakers agree on the need for reform in global financial and decision-making systems to better address future challenges. However, they differ in their specific focus areas: Guterres emphasizes reforming international financial institutions, Holness focuses on incorporating long-term thinking in government processes, and Alim specifically addresses debt measurement for African countries.

Speakers

António Guterres

Andrew Holness

Abdullahi Alim

Arguments

Guterres advocates for reforming international financial institutions to better support sustainable development and climate action. He argues that current systems are inadequate to address contemporary global challenges.

Holness emphasizes the importance of incorporating long-term thinking into government decision-making processes. He argues for the need to consider the impacts of current decisions on future generations.

Alim advocates for reforming how debt is measured and managed for African countries. He argues that current systems disadvantage African nations and hinder their economic development.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the disproportionate impact of climate change on vulnerable communities and the need to incorporate local perspectives in global decision-making.

Speakers

Paolo Baca

Hina Jilani

Arguments

Bridging local and global perspectives

Climate change impacts on vulnerable communities

Takeaways

Key Takeaways

The Declaration on Future Generations aims to ensure the rights and interests of future generations are at the heart of global decision-making

There is a need for intergenerational solidarity and responsibility in addressing global challenges like climate change

Youth engagement and empowerment is critical for shaping a better future

Reforms are needed in global systems like the UN Security Council and international financial institutions to better serve future generations

Indigenous and local perspectives are valuable for sustainable development and addressing climate change

Economic development and industrialization in Africa presents both challenges and opportunities for future generations

Resolutions and Action Items

Governments should develop plans to foster socially connected communities

Countries should focus on developing their most competitive economic sectors to drive growth

Wealthier countries should provide compensation and resources to developing countries facing climate impacts

The UN should appoint a Special Envoy for Future Generations

An upcoming forum will be held to check on progress of implementing the Declaration

Unresolved Issues

How to effectively implement the intergenerational pact ordered by Colombia’s Supreme Court to stop deforestation

Specific mechanisms for reforming international financial institutions

How to balance rapid population growth in Africa with sustainable development

Concrete steps for meaningful youth inclusion in policymaking processes

Suggested Compromises

Balancing economic growth and industrialization with staying within ecological boundaries

Combining global frameworks with local and indigenous knowledge and practices

Integrating perspectives of both older and younger generations in decision-making

Thought Provoking Comments

We need multilateralism that is more inclusive, more effective and more networked, with stronger links between international institutions and with the people. That means greater representation in developing countries, and it means a stronger voice for all of you and what you represent.

Speaker

António Guterres

Reason

This comment highlights the need for a fundamental shift in how global governance operates, emphasizing inclusivity and stronger connections between institutions and people.

Impact

It set the tone for the subsequent discussions on reforming multilateral institutions and including diverse voices in decision-making processes.

One billion Africans will be born in the next generation alone, and I think by the close of this century, you can expect about three to four billion total more Africans to be born. When you think of the mega cities of the future, it’ll be cities like Lagos, cities like Dar es Salaam, cities like Mogadishu, where I was born.

Speaker

Abdullahi Alim

Reason

This comment provides a striking perspective on demographic shifts and urbanization in Africa, highlighting the continent’s growing importance in shaping the global future.

Impact

It shifted the conversation to focus more on the specific challenges and opportunities facing Africa, and the need for targeted strategies to support sustainable development in rapidly growing regions.

For Andean indigenous peoples, the time is not linear or chronological. It happens in Western cultures. For them, for example, the future is behind us, and the past is in front, and that is women carry on their kids, their children, on the back, because children are the future. And the past is in front because in front they find the wisdom of the elders.

Speaker

Paolo Baca

Reason

This comment introduces a fundamentally different cultural perspective on time and generations, challenging Western assumptions about the relationship between past, present, and future.

Impact

It broadened the discussion to include non-Western perspectives on intergenerational relationships and responsibility, encouraging participants to think beyond conventional frameworks.

I think my top priority, apart from many others that compete with this one, is governments must ensure that they have a plan to develop communities that demonstrate the power of social connection.

Speaker

Hina Jilani

Reason

This comment shifts the focus from abstract policy discussions to the importance of building strong, connected communities as a foundation for addressing future challenges.

Impact

It introduced a more human-centered perspective to the discussion, emphasizing the role of social cohesion in creating resilient societies capable of addressing long-term challenges.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by broadening its scope beyond traditional policy frameworks. They introduced diverse cultural perspectives, highlighted the specific challenges facing regions like Africa, and emphasized the importance of social connection and community-building. This led to a more nuanced and inclusive conversation about how to address long-term global challenges, incorporating voices and viewpoints from various sectors and cultures. The discussion evolved from abstract policy talk to considering practical, human-centered approaches to building a sustainable and equitable future for all generations.

Follow-up Questions

How can we reform international financial institutions to provide better access to financing for developing countries?

Speaker

Andrew Holness

Explanation

This is important to address capacity limitations of developing states in dealing with multidimensional challenges like climate change and debt sustainability.

What mechanisms can be developed to drive inter-jurisdictional models between national governments and indigenous peoples?

Speaker

Paolo Baca

Explanation

This is crucial for implementing intergenerational pacts and stopping deforestation in regions like the Amazon.

How can we restructure the way debt is measured and managed in Africa?

Speaker

Abdullahi Alim

Explanation

This is important because debt in Africa is primarily owned by the private sector and is significantly more expensive than in other parts of the world.

What strategies can be employed to advance export-oriented industrial policies in African countries?

Speaker

Abdullahi Alim

Explanation

This is crucial for increasing African countries’ gains in global supply chains and fostering economic development.

How can we create an intergenerational dialogue platform to ensure long-term thinking and planning in governance structures?

Speaker

Saumya Aggarwal

Explanation

This is important for incorporating youth perspectives in policymaking and decision-making processes.

What concrete actions can be taken to embed futures thinking in decision-making processes across national and local governments?

Speaker

Andrew Holness

Explanation

This is crucial for effective implementation of the Declaration on Future Generations and other global frameworks.

How can we develop communities that demonstrate the power of social connection to address issues like loneliness and social isolation?

Speaker

Hina Jilani

Explanation

This is important for fostering intergenerational connections and informing global governance on essential needs.

Disclaimer: This is not an official record of the session. The DiploAI system automatically generates these resources from the audiovisual recording. Resources are presented in their original format, as provided by the AI (e.g. including any spelling mistakes). The accuracy of these resources cannot be guaranteed.

Friday Closing Ceremony: Summit of the Future Action Days

Friday Closing Ceremony: Summit of the Future Action Days

Session at a Glance

Summary

This discussion focused on the outcomes of the Youth Action Day at the Summit of the Future, highlighting the importance of meaningful youth engagement in global decision-making processes. The event brought together young leaders, UN officials, and government representatives to discuss key issues affecting youth and future generations.

Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed emphasized the significance of youth participation in shaping the future, particularly in areas such as peace and security, technology, and international financial architecture reform. Young rapporteurs presented recommendations from various thematic sessions, including gender equality, digital inclusion, intergenerational solidarity, climate action, and humanitarian efforts.

Key recommendations included ensuring youth representation in national delegations to UN processes, scaling support for youth-led initiatives, and integrating young people into global security dialogues. The importance of indigenous knowledge, multilingualism, and inclusive technology was also highlighted.

The discussion underscored the need for reforming democratic processes to better include youth voices and address global challenges. Participants stressed the importance of investing in education, capacity building, and creating opportunities for young people, especially in humanitarian contexts and for refugees.

Amina Mohammed concluded by emphasizing the UN’s commitment to placing youth at the helm of affairs and the importance of intergenerational collaboration in shaping a more inclusive and sustainable future. The event demonstrated the UN’s efforts to meaningfully engage youth in global governance and decision-making processes.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The importance of meaningful youth engagement in policy and decision-making, especially for the Summit of the Future

– The need for intergenerational solidarity and equity in addressing global challenges

– Recommendations for inclusive digital futures and technology access for youth

– The role of youth in governance, peace, security and humanitarian action

– Calls for reforming international financial systems and governance structures to be more inclusive of youth voices

Overall purpose:

The discussion aimed to gather youth perspectives and recommendations on key global issues to inform the Summit of the Future and broader UN processes. It served as a platform for youth representatives to directly address UN leadership with their priorities and demands for meaningful inclusion.

Tone:

The tone was energetic, passionate and optimistic throughout. Speakers conveyed a sense of urgency about the need for youth voices to be heard, while also expressing hope about the potential for positive change if youth are genuinely engaged. The UN leadership responded encouragingly, reinforcing the importance of youth participation.

Speakers

Based on the transcript, the main speakers and moderators were:

– Felipe Paullier – Moderator/facilitator, Assistant Secretary General for Youth Affairs

– Amina Jane Mohammed – Main speaker, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations

– Isidora – Youth rapporteur, activist from Chile focused on gender equality and inclusion

– Zongxu Xie – Youth rapporteur, PhD researcher from China

– Jana Zghabi – Youth rapporteur, university student passionate about global policies

– Leticia – Youth rapporteur, indigenous woman from Ecuador

– Aryan Sanghrajka – Youth rapporteur, young leader for refugees, migration and human rights

– Martin Manyozo – Youth rapporteur, founder of Clean Cities Project focused on climate action

– DJ Cuppy – Master of Ceremony/DJ

The transcript indicates these were the main speakers, with Felipe Paullier moderating and the youth rapporteurs presenting recommendations from different thematic sessions. Amina Jane Mohammed provided responses and closing remarks as the senior UN official present.

Full session report

Youth Action Day at the Summit of the Future: A Comprehensive Overview

The Youth Action Day at the Summit of the Future brought together young leaders, UN officials, and government representatives to discuss key issues affecting youth and future generations. The event, moderated by Felipe Paullier, Assistant Secretary General for Youth Affairs, featured Amina Jane Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, as the main speaker, alongside several youth rapporteurs presenting recommendations from various thematic sessions held in different rooms.

Key Themes and Discussions

Felipe Paullier opened the event by challenging the myth of youth political apathy, stating, “Today we have demonstrated that young people are interested and capable of engaging at the highest level.” He highlighted the visual projection of recommendations and mentioned the “fishbowl” where additional suggestions were placed.

Jana Zghabi, speaking on youth inclusion, advocated for increased youth representation in national delegations to UN processes. She emphasized, “We need to advance the commitments laid out in UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security.”

Zongxu Xie focused on technology and digital inclusion, stressing the importance of ensuring digital skills are accessible through education. He stated, “We need to view youth as active participants and co-creators, rather than passive recipients of policies and technologies.”

Martin Manyozo called for structured laws to empower youth in decision-making processes, saying, “We need concrete, actionable recommendations for youth empowerment in governance structures.”

Leticia, an indigenous woman from Ecuador, began her speech in Kichwa before switching to Spanish. She emphasized the importance of combining traditional knowledge with technology to address climate challenges, stating, “Youth are leaders in caring for the environment.”

Aryan Sanghrajka, a young leader for refugees, migration and human rights, called for scaling up support for youth-led humanitarian action. He emphasized, “We need to ensure young refugees move beyond education into decent work and invest in displaced youth potential and leadership.”

Isidora, an activist from Chile, advocated for establishing consultative mechanisms with young people, especially those with disabilities.

Amina Mohammed’s Closing Remarks

Amina Mohammed reinforced many of the points raised by the youth speakers. She highlighted the potential of technology to connect people and provide equal opportunities, stating, “Technology can be used to leapfrog development and equalise capacities across the world.”

On climate change, Mohammed identified it as an entry point for youth engagement. She also agreed on the need to address root causes of displacement and humanitarian crises, praising Chad’s response to refugees as an example.

Mohammed emphasized the UN’s commitment to placing youth at the helm of affairs and the importance of an intergenerational approach to shaping the future. She also stressed the significance of democracy and addressing humanitarian crises, stating, “We need to ensure that democracy delivers for people.”

Event Conclusion

Felipe Paullier acknowledged the UN staff and the Youth Office team for their contributions.

The event concluded with a performance by DJ Cuppy, who expressed her excitement about participating in the Youth Action Day and her commitment to youth empowerment.

This Youth Action Day demonstrated a strong commitment to meaningful youth engagement in global governance and decision-making processes. It highlighted the potential of young people to contribute to solving global challenges across various domains, from climate action to humanitarian efforts, while emphasizing the need for structural changes to empower youth and the value of intergenerational approaches in shaping a more inclusive and sustainable future.

Session Transcript

Felipe Paullier: Hello. Good afternoon. How are you? Welcome back. That’s great. So, welcome to everyone to this ECOSOC Youth Chamber, I can say, because it’s quite different than what it’s usually done. And I’m very excited to be here. I’m Felipe Paullier, Assistant Secretary General for Youth Affairs, and we’re here for the closure of this Youth Action Day in the Summit of the Future. So let’s start with a lot of energy, and I invite you to join on this stage a very special guest we have to end this Action Day at the highest level. And I invite all of you in the room to receive her with all your energy, the Deputy Secretary General, Ms. Amina Mohammed. Please join us on stage. It’s very nice how this chamber looks from this side. And you know, this has been a crazy but incredible day, from the opening ceremony to the dialogue with the Secretary General of the United Nations, to all of the thematic sessions. I think that this day is a clear testament that youth political apathy is a complete myth. This day has shown us the interest, the capacity. of young people to engage at the highest level. So, during all of the thematic sessions in this afternoon, substantial discussions took place. A lot of energy got into this room, but also the conference forum, the trusteeship council, and everything that happened will be compiled in one outcome document that will reflect the actions that young people identified as priority areas in the implementation of the pact for the future and beyond. And after this brief introduction, I want to ask our guest, the Deputy Secretary General, we want to hear from you. I want to ask you, why do you think this is an important day? And why do you think that it’s important that we advance on more meaningful youth engagement when it’s about policy and decision making, especially in the frameworks of the summit of the future? DSG?

Amina Jane Mohammed: Okay, no pressure. Thank you very much, everyone. It’s fantastic to have you all in this room. If you were not in this room, it wouldn’t look like this, I can assure you. It would look like the ECOSOC chamber, the trusteeship chambers that we understand and know, so why is it important to have you here? Well, first, I’m not going to take the whole blame. There is a gentleman who is in the corner there, very quietly, and that is Guy Ryder, who runs the show for the summit of the future. And really important was his conviction that without youth starting off the summit of the future, what’s the point of the future if we can’t address that now? And if we can’t address that with those of the vision, those of the energy, and those really with the ideas that are going to make this work. He brought in for us the word meaningful. And we took that seriously every step of the way when we spoke with you, Philippe, that if it wasn’t meaningful, then of course everyone would say we ticked the box and what happened, what next? So really important that you’re here today. We didn’t know that today, perhaps tomorrow, but we hope today, would be when we would get to agreeing the pact. And I think, you know, you brought in a certain energy and spirit that that helps us to get over those difficult hurdles where, as yet, not enough young people in the room negotiating. And if there were, we probably would have a pact that was the ambition that we really want. But it just might happen, and it’s happening because you’re here in this room. What difference is this all going to make? A lot of difference. First, if you look at the pact, it’s about meeting commitments. And there’s still six years to go on the SDGs. So it’s important that you take whatever you got out of these rooms and you reinforce the momentum and the pressure that we need on governments, on leaders, and on everyone at country level, at the regional level, and the global level to get the SDGs done. And we’re not done until we get there. And when we get there, we’ll have another look at them. But until then, you cannot give up on the life of every single one that is being left behind today. The SDGs matter. The second is that we’ve got these three really important areas that we have to dig into. And this is what you’ve been talking about. And essentially, you will be the energy, the wind beneath the wings of this. It is peace and security. And we have to think about women peace and security and youth peace and security. And that’s gonna be at the core of finding ways to get out of the conflicts that we have today. It just doesn’t reside in these halls. We play a big role or not. But it is you in these very, very tough environments. The second of those three big important things is the new era of technology. You know it best. And are you going to… Shape the narrative and really what it is that we do with technology We can help to put guardrails around it. But in the end, it will be you that determine what happens with technology You’re using it already. It’s an extension of you In my generation, we’re still catching up SG will tell you he’s still analog. I think I’m a little better because of my six kids But I have to tell you it’s yours and it’s yours to make or break and we will give you the tools To try to help in that world. Last but not least, Philippe, I think it’s the international financial architecture Sounds incredibly technical, but essentially it is about the means of implementation It’s about resources, finance, money And where is it? And SG this morning talked about power And the power in this world is where money is and that money has to be accessed to invest in each and every one of Our futures much more equally than it has been done today And so when we look at the financial architecture that was designed and I’m going to underscore it here by a few men a few years Ago today, we’re redesigning it with a few more women and it has to be inclusive, responsive, and fit for purpose And that’s what we need in order to have the fuel for the SDGs, for the technology, for everything that you’ve agreed to this afternoon

Felipe Paullier: Thank You DSG Thank you Thank you for bringing Guy into the conversation because he’s I think the most humble UN official I have met but he’s always and he’s a real youth champion and And that’s why we are here, you know since the beginning pure support for this to happen and So now we are getting into the core of this conversation DSG. So I will invite by two, six young rapporteurs, six young experts, young people that were participating in each of the thematic sessions, and they will come here to share what are the outcomes of these conversations. And I will initially invite two incredible young leaders, Isidora and Zongxu, to join us on stage. Let’s give him a lot of energy, and her. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Welcome Isidora. Welcome Isidora. So before I give Isidora and Zongxu the floor, I want to draw everyone’s attention to one fact, that is that during this session we will have the visual projection of the recommendations of the six thematic sessions on screen by the fantastic job that the artist Malik Afegbua has done, symbolizing the path that we need to take towards a more just, inclusive and sustainable future. And I have noticed that both rapporteurs, they are bringing something with them and I think that’s something for the DSG but I will let them to explain what’s that about. So I will start with Isidora. Isidora, eres un activista de Chile. You’re an activist from Chile and you work on gender equality and inclusion and you have been following the discussions in the gender meeting and the slogan of inclusion. So what would you like to share with us? What would you like to share about the recommendations from that meeting?

Isidora: First of all I had prepared what I wanted to say in English so that everyone could understand but I’m gonna give you some context in Spanish and then I’m going to finish in Spanish too. Participating in this meeting was really an amazing experience for me and it was very exciting because for the first time me as an activist and I have been working with the UN for quite a while now as young leaders for SDGs and I’ve been part of UN Women as well, it was amazing to put things into practice and look at intersectionality and diversity for women in different contexts and realities in different countries and that really gave me some hope. Hope because we can really see that a reality is possible where every person despite their differences is able to participate and so I’ll start with the recommendation saying that first of all let’s seek to establish consultative mechanisms working with young people so allowing all of us to participate in equal conditions in particular persons with disabilities and women with disabilities. We need to be seen, we shouldn’t go unnoticed, we shouldn’t be left behind. Let’s also try and establish good practices like generation equality. the UN Trust Fund for Ending Violence Against Women and Girls and lastly we need to establish mechanisms that bolster accountability for gender because when we come to these spaces our speeches sound great but when it comes to putting things into practice we need to be the leaders of the future so why not give us the tools so that we can become those leaders? By way of conclusion I want to say that even thinking about my own reality I’m actually quite a lucky person as a Chilean young person a Latin American woman with a disability and I’m here in front of you despite the challenges that we face representing people due to systemic issues are present in societies in their countries and due to those reasons aren’t able to be here today and I think that today’s meeting is very important because when we think about diversity when we think about inclusion we wonder how will we put things into practice will that be possible and then we realize at this meeting that through multilateralism through intergenerational participation we can do it we can hear from different realities and hear about different experiences so for example care economic support for persons with disabilities that’s something that we don’t hear about that much but we did hear about it at this meeting we had a testimony from someone who lived that experience

Felipe Paullier: Gracias Isidora, thank you Isidora and I will want now to give the floor to Zongxu. Zongxu you are a PhD researcher and the co-founder of Xingua Global Youth Dialogue in China and you joined the session on inclusive digital future so please can you share with us tell us more about the recommendations questions that came from that group, you have the floor.

Zongxu Xie: Distinguished Her Excellency Amina Mohammed, His Excellency Felipe Paullier, colleagues, my young peers from all countries, greetings. My name is Zongxu Xie from Guizhou, China, a Ph.D. researcher in hydraulic engineering at Tsinghua University. It is an honor today to report on our discussion as a youth repertoire and share my thoughts on how to jointly build and promote a more inclusive digital future. Youth is the most dynamic and creative group in society. In the era of rapid digitalization, my hometown of Guizhou has provided new development opportunities for young people by vigorously developing the digital economy. Guizhou empowers rural revitalization through e-commerce and live streaming and promotes ecological civilization and green development through digital technology, making it a vivid case of digitalization transforming the development opportunities for young people in the region. In our discussion today, we should note that despite the abundant resources in many parts of the world, inadequate resource allocation and access continues to limit the development potential of young people. Realizing value in the wave of digital economy development requires equal opportunities. Today, we put forward the following three key actions to achieve the above-mentioned goal. First, ensure skills are accessible through digital education. We should ensure that every youth, especially those in less developed regions, can access the necessary digital skills. Second, more cross-border cooperation and more technology sharing. Governments, businesses, and CSOs should join hands to ensure an equitable distribution of technological resources. Cross-border cooperation will narrow the technology gap, bridge the digital divide, and eliminate digital technical barriers so that every young person can equally enjoy the dividends from digitalization and AI, and thus can better integrate into modern society. Third, strengthen youth participation towards better policy formulation. Young people’s voice must be fully respected, and they should be invited to participate in the development of technology and digital policies. By establishing an effective feedback mechanism, we can ensure that young people’s perspectives are valued and incorporated into practice, making the co-created digital ecosystem more representative and effective. Dear colleagues, an inclusive digital future is not only our philosophy but our mission. Today, many speakers have emphasized that youth are not only passive recipients of technology and education, but rather active participants and co-creators. By working together, we surely can build a digital era from which every young person can benefit. I thank you.

Felipe Paullier: Thank you, Zongxu. And thank you both for speaking your native languages. I think that’s the beauty of this organization, and multilingualism is something crucial for us. So thank you for it. DSG, we would like to hear your reflections about these recommendations.

Amina Jane Mohammed: Thank you so much. Thank you.

Felipe Paullier: I’m not sure how to translate.

Amina Jane Mohammed: I’m just joking. But I think the real point of this is that languages speak so much closer to our hearts. And they shape the way in which we interpret and that we feel things and want to communicate. And I think that that’s one of the big asks that we should have of the future and technology. But thank you both very much for your briefs of what must have been a very difficult discussion to summarize in three minutes, right? On the first, an inclusivity. Having an inclusive conversation, agenda, society, outcomes is really difficult. And each one of the steps of the way is important. And I think recognizing first and foremost that our 8 billion people are incredibly diverse. And in understanding that diversity from the lowest level of our community is the beginning for me. And not a top-down approach in trying to identify and represent and put people into cookie cutter regions and countries. Each country is incredibly different and has different expectations. So I hope that when you spoke and what spoke to me most of all was the consultative processes that we have. They have not to be an exercise in whether we have had one or not, but how we plan to have one, what the agenda is, broadening it and deepening it, and ensuring that we follow through on these agenda. Even if we choose to agree to disagree or we don’t do something about it, feedback. If I’ve heard anything in terms of what perhaps people don’t do so well is the feedback. So you don’t know what your meaningful discussion resulted in. And it may not result in something that comes within the next 24 hours or even year. But I think a continuous dialogue of feeding in and feeding out and back to make that happen. Of course, you talked about disability. And I think that that for us has been one of the major issues that we’ve had to deal with here in a real way. So we have all the policies and the tools, and we try to make accessibility. much better, but I think we’re very far from really making this something that we do in our daily work, not just here in the UN, but across the UN in different countries and offices. So on the inclusivity, nothing of our future can work or will it make impact if we don’t look at the most vulnerable and the smallest member of our families. That should be the litmus test as to whether we’ve succeeded in an agenda or not. So thank you. On the technology, that’s even, you know, as I said, it was one of the three things after the SDG commitments of what is important and listening to access is really important because not everyone will have that access. In fact, hundreds of millions of people don’t. The skill sets that go with them and perhaps in those that feel that they could be left behind with technology, this is a time for us to leapfrog. It’s a time for us not to go through the same methods that we have to include people, but to say this is a chance for us to equalize the world in its capacities. That’s going to require one of the three areas I spoke to, financing. So my reflections on this are that you’ve got it all right, technology sharing, the development that you’re co-creating and you’re not being fed it, but you’re actually shaping the future with technology as a tool to connect and to provide that prosperous world where people and the planet are taken care of. So I very much look forward to working with you on that and thank you for the recommendations.

Felipe Paullier: Thank you. So thank you, Isi. Thank you, Sendu. And what do you want to do with those letters?

Zongxu Xie: I want to put the envelope inside.

Felipe Paullier: That’s good.

Isidora: Yeah, that’s for you to read our recommendations that came from us.

Felipe Paullier: That’s great. Thank you. And let’s put it on the fishbowl. So now, thank you both. And I will invite, in a few minutes, to the next of our rapporteurs to join us on stage. So I want to invite now Jana and Leticia to join us on stage. Let’s give them a lot of energy also. They also need it. During this afternoon also, there were two different sessions in another room, the one that is next to this one, in the Trusteeship Council, running under the same principle of equity. And we have now two of the rapporteurs from those sessions that discuss one of it, intergenerational solidarity, and the other one was discussing about foresight for climate and sustainability. I will start with Jana. Jana, you are a university student passionate about global policies. Can you please share with us what are the recommendations that emerge from this session on intergenerational equity and solidarity? The floor is yours.

Jana Zghabi: Distinguished Deputy Secretary General, esteemed delegates, and honored guests, assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. I am Jana Zghabi, and it’s an honor to stand before you today as a proud representative of the Misk Foundation and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I had the privilege of attending the thematic session Intergenerational Solidarity and Equity for a Shared Future. This session highlighted the importance of connecting generations to address the concerns, aspirations, and issues we currently face. And I’m here to present a few recommendations that emerged from those discussions. First, youth representation must be prioritized. Member states should commit to having meaningful youth involvement in national delegations to UN processes and conferences, fulfilling Article 39 of the Declaration. Youth are not only the leaders of tomorrow, but the changemakers of today, and our voices must be heard in the halls where decisions are made. Second, long-term thinking is essential. By leveraging science, data, statistics, and strategic foresight, member states can ensure governance structures that are both adaptable and forward-looking, in line with Article 35. These tools provide a roadmap for creating policies that are resilient to the uncertainties of the future. Finally, we must urgently reform the international financial architecture. This includes establishing a sovereign debt workout mechanism and embracing metrics beyond GDP. Financial systems should prioritize the people, not just the profits, and pave the way for equitable global development. In closing, the future of global governance depends on how well we listen to and act on the needs of young people today. It’s time to build a system that empowers youth and protects future generations. We the youth are not only the leaders of the future, we are the ones holding the torches for change today, and our opinions and contributions guide decision-makers and shed light on angles that they may not be aware of.

Felipe Paullier: Thank you. Leticia, It’s great to have you up on the stage. You are a young woman from the Kichwa-Otavalo people of Ecuador, and the first person to in your community to go to university. You participated in the Foresight Meeting for Climatic and Environmental Sustainability, and it would be great if you could share the recommendations from that meeting with us. Thank you. Go ahead.

Leticia: Thank you, Felipe. My native language is Kichwa, and, okay, it’s a joke. I’m sure that, at least for one second, it felt a bit strange. You were probably thinking, what’s she saying? Is she going to just end up only speaking her native language, Kichwa? What you felt at that second is something that indigenous populations, rural populations, have felt for a long time, for decades. They don’t know how to react to the disasters that they often face. So, I’m sure that, at least for one second, it felt a bit strange. You were probably thinking, what’s she saying? Is she going to just end up only speaking her native language, Kichwa? What you felt at that second is something that indigenous populations, rural populations, have felt for a long time, for decades. So, I’m sure that, at least for one second, it felt a bit strange. So, I’m sure that, at least for one second, it felt a bit strange. So, I’m sure that, at least for one second, it felt a bit strange. drought is increasing poverty among our populations in our countries, that’s such a frustrating feeling because we don’t have the tools that we need to control these disasters, not even to prevent them. And the truth is that I came with the intention of raising awareness about the situation that my country is going through due to drought and due to the huge amount of fires that we’re having in my country, but not only in my country, but rather in all countries in South America and not even only in South America, across the world actually, we’re seeing so many fires that are burning our natural resources. So against this backdrop, I want to mention that traditional and ancestral knowledge of indigenous peoples are also being undervalued as time goes on because the climate crisis affects our way of life and our natural resources to a huge extent, to the extent that our traditional knowledge cannot beat it, we can’t fight against it. Our water is increasingly polluted because we’re seeing more and more powerful chemical treatments and then we can’t reuse water because it’s polluted and due to these crises, we as the team here at this meeting have some recommendations. So the first recommendation I want to share with you is that we young people shouldn’t only be participating because we’re young, but because we have innovative ideas and because we combine knowledge and technology and we can have more impact, more impact and clout when it comes to caring for our environment and we can also make decisions at round tables, in political fora. So that’s my first recommendation. My next recommendation is for us to have… recognition, for our role as leaders to be legitimized in the traditional governance structure. That way, we can benefit from knowledge, technical assistance, and we can better help our countries and the initiatives that we’re working on. And number three, because there are a few recommendations, there were several actually, so I’ve just focused on the three main ones, which is dealing with the benefits and risks of digitalization initiatives for youth. As a woman from the global south, I want to tell you that first of all, we need to look at what problems each of our countries face. In my country, technological transfer has been very low. However, I think we can pull our traditional knowledge with technology and change the situation. I hope that that will be the case. Thank you.

Felipe Paullier: Gracias, Leticia. Thank you, Leticia, for bringing these recommendations. And thank you both, Jana and Leticia. And now, if you want, Leticia, you can also drop the recommendations of your session in this fishbowl. And I will invite you to change with the two next rapporteurs. But before that, DSG.

Amina Jane Mohammed: Thank you very much. And both incredibly important recommendations, particularly on the intergenerational aspect of this. It is about how we include you. I think this youth summit has been the beginning of that, but you have to make so many more demands that start from the country level. We could, and you could, a couple of your countries that would be willing to put in a resolution that makes that so for all meetings that are attended in the United Nations that youth are in the delegations. This is something you can do with the youth office. But that goes through a number of processes, and 193 family members is a lot of people to agree. And I would suggest that you begin to do this in parallel at the level of your countries. And there are many countries who are putting youth in their delegation. Just make sure it’s not token to the high-level week, that it’s in every delegation that comes here for the important discussions that are discussed at, you know, the CSW or the commission that we have on the rights of persons with disabilities. These are all important opportunities, so let that happen. We had at one point agreed here in the UN that we wouldn’t have panels that were just men, that we would try to find parity, and we wouldn’t attend panels with just men on them. Not in every issue can one do that, because this is not… We haven’t gotten to the mainstream yet, so on the peace and security side of our house, really hard. But you could say that about panels, that, you know, we would not attend panels where there is not at least one member of the panel, or, you know, one out of four are women and one with disabilities, and, you know, and we go on down to make sure that when you see the panel, you feel included. You see yourself in that panel. This matters, you know, what is visible to everyone is what is the beginning of change. We begin to normalize this and not see it as just a one-off, so I hope that we can take that from you as we do. And on the, of course, international financial architecture, that is, too, about what we do with long-term thinking. The implications of not being able to meet commitments today will affect future generations. Things don’t stand still. Climate change doesn’t stand still. It’s crossing borders. It is impacting life in ways that sometimes we are irreversible. And that has a financial cost. And so when we talk about the long-term thinking, technology, in the UN, we’re trying to brace up for our UN 2.0 that looks at the quintet of change. Data is a big part of it. But so is behavioral change. So is foresight. And I think all of these matter to what we’re saying. And I picked up the issue that you talked about with the sustainable debt, GDP. We cannot continue to measure things the way we did decades ago. This is a different environment. There are different challenges and, obviously, concerns that people need to be included. So really important. And last but not least, voice. That matters. And we need to find better ways to bring that in in an intergenerational way. Thank you, Leticia, for talking about how we are going to deal with it. First of all, again, it’s an inclusion, right? And when you first started to speak your language, it took me back to my visit to the Amazon not long ago. And I don’t think a picture, or even talking about it, can express what an asset we have. And the people that we met there, the kind of solutions that they will bring to our lives, I don’t know what it is that we’re doing, squirreling away for three, four years, when they will tell you in a few hours how to solve these problems. We need to give equal respect and space to indigenous solutions in the lives that we have today. They will not be sustainable if we don’t. The world is changing fast. And we also are saying that we’re one family, one humanity, but unless we use the tools that we have at our disposal to make those connections, to make sure that we’re all able to connect in this room, as I’m sure we connected here with people who are not in this room. But if COVID showed us one thing, we really were not alone. We were, maybe physically, we’re just down to our families or our friends, but it suddenly opened up a whole new world. When we were meeting, we were meeting with people that we couldn’t see. But out there were hundreds and thousands of people that were engaging, and we couldn’t always take on everything. But there was a connection there, technology made that happen. And I think that that’s what we need to make sure happens, is that we’re not just talking about across countries, but within the depths of each country. Who is in there? Who are we leaving behind? Map and identify that, and make sure, again, that everyone is connected. And we need to put targets on that, and not just, they are in the resolutions in principle. Implement the resolutions country by country. Use the UN. The UN is present in over 131 countries. It’s incumbent upon them to respond to your needs, because that’s why we’re there. So every time you see us in any one of your countries, please reach out, and let’s make sure that happens. Climate change is a really good entry point for this, because I think we all understand that this is an existential threat to our humanity and to the home as we know it. So use the momentum of climate. The sustainable development agenda, it’s about everything. And we need to use that in an integrated way. So out of the silos, when we talk about indigenous people, let’s not just wait until they meet. Let’s actually talk about them as an everyday member of the family, and that every issue we discuss, we need to ask, where are those with disabilities? Where are those with languages that are not in the six that we have, but we have the tools to do so? Guy, I think you remember recently, we saw the SG speaking Chinese. We know the SG doesn’t speak Chinese, but I can tell you that you wouldn’t know. And that actually connected him to people, because he was speaking in their language. So tools can do things to, I think, make us much closer, much more respectful and inclusive, and more understanding of the assets that this world has to offer and that we can use for good.

Felipe Paullier: Thank you DSG. Thank you once again Jana and Leticia. So this session is starting to wrap up and as we come into the last segment I want to invite two, the last but not the least, guests we want to have in our session to tell us about what happened in their rooms. So Martin and Aryan, welcome to this stage. So Martin and Aryan are joining us bringing the outcomes of the sessions that were happening on the conference room floor. That one was on governance for human rights, peace and security and political processes and the other one was on innovative solutions in humanitarian action. And I will start with Aryan. So Aryan, you are an award-winning young leader for refugees, migration and human rights and at the age of 14 you found it, forced to flee. So can you please share with us about the outcomes of the humanitarian session? The floor is yours.

Aryan Sanghrajka: Thank you Felipe. Deputy Secretary General, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Aryan Sanghrajka and I’m the global focal point of the Migration, Youth and Children platform. Today’s session on forced displacement and humanitarian context reminded me of two key things. The need to be bold in our ambitions and inclusive in our actions. Listening to the messages of young refugees, I couldn’t help but think of my grandmother. She was just 24 years old when she was forcibly displaced from Uganda in 1972. Forced displacement, then and now, is a tragic reality for millions of young children and youth around the world. But as my grandma is a testament, displacement doesn’t strip away resilience, it amplifies it. The tenacity, determination, and drive to overcome obstacles is alive in every young person and displaced leader today who refuses to let circumstances define their future. And the messages from youth, the UN system, and governments were clear. First, a need to scale support for youth-led action, delivering on the Compact for Young People and Humanitarian Actions objective. Multi-stakeholder support and platforms are essential for providing young people with the expertise, technical assistance, and accessible funding they need to turn their ideas into solutions. In forced displacement and protracted crises around the world, young innovators are already making an impact. With the right support, they can go further, faster. And second, we must ensure that young refugees move beyond education and into decent work. Access to quality education, training, employment, and entrepreneurship opportunities through programs like the Youth on the Move Fellowship has the potential to change lives. By supporting young refugees out of education and into work, and ensuring they have the means to access them, we can also rescue our current trajectory to achieve the SDGs by 2030. And finally, change cannot happen without investment. An investment which puts youth-led solutions on the fast track to success. An investment which unlocks the potential, talent, and leadership of young refugees and migrants. And an investment which creates a true, unshakable partnership with young displaced people by giving them an equal seat at the decision-making table. And crucially, to every young migrant, refugee, asylum seeker, and displaced person, invest in yourselves. Invest in yourselves to be an unequivocal force for peace and the development of our planet and its people. because the time to sit on the sidelines has passed. Action is truly no longer optional. The energy, attention, and revitalization youth have brought to addressing forced displacement and humanitarian crises cannot and must not fade when we leave this room today, because our common vision, led by and for young people, starts with action right here and right now. Thank you very much.

Felipe Paullier: Thank you, Aryane, and Martin, you’re the founder and the executive director of Clean Cities Project, which focuses on climate action, but we want us to share about the outcomes of the session on governance.

Martin Manyozo: Great. Honorable Deputy Secretary General, distinguished guests, and fellow young leaders, I stand before you today to share with you the recommendations from today’s governance thematic section and emphasize on the core and critical role that young people must play in order to shape the future of peace, security, and governance. Our world today is facing complex challenges, and the solutions to these issues demand youth active participation. It is no longer enough to have youth at the margins. We must empower them to take lead in decision-making processes that affect not only their future, but even our shared world. And the first recommendation is, youth must be empowered in global policy and global security decision-making. Platforms such as the Summit for the Future, Peace Building, Architecture Review, and Security Council Reform offer critical opportunities to integrate young people into global security dialogues. Meaningful engagement requires prioritizing education, capacity building, and transitional cooperation. Addressing systematic barriers that prevent youth from engaging in peace and security discussions will allow them to become true stakeholders in global governance. Structured laws for youth must be created in these spaces, giving them the power to shape decisions rather than simply observe them. And the second recommendation is, it is essential to advance the commitments laid out in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2020-50. Toxnic engagement of youth is no longer acceptable, and I believe young people in here can agree with me. Young people should not only be heard, but their voices should be embedded within peace and security processes. This involves investing in youth-led organizations, increasing financing to support their initiatives. The youth peace and security agenda will not only be and will not never be effective if comprehensive strategies and dedicated funding are implemented, enabling youth to lead, protect, and transform their communities. Thirdly, and the third recommendation is, youth must be engaged to be essential stakeholders in governance and violence prevention. Governments and international organizations should collaborate with young people to co-design and co-implement violence prevention strategies, programs, and policies. Institutions need to become inclusive, responsive, and accountable to youth voices. At every stage of program, development from conceptualization to evaluation, youth feedback must be integral. Their insights and experiences are critical to creating a lasting peace. Finally, the global community must really commit to peace, youth protection, and human rights. Countries worldwide are calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in all conflict zones. They demand the protection of civilians. They demand the protection of civilians, vulnerable population and aid workers as well as facilitation of humanitarian and medical need and aid to those in need, especially in fragile and conflict related and affected legions. Immediate action is necessary and youth voices must lead to these efforts. In conclusion, empowering youth with the legal decision-making processes and power, ensuring financing in their actions and efforts and promoting their lives and safety in all areas are critical and a critical step forward to a more peaceful, secure future. Deputy Secretary General, distinguished guests, young people in here and millions of young people watching us around the world, the meaningful inclusion of young people in global policy, global governance is not a light or it’s not just an option. Rather, it is a responsibility and we must act now. Thank you.

Felipe Paullier: Yes, Jane.

Amina Jane Mohammed: I think they said it all. I’m gonna start from the last speaker because I believe that we’re talking about governance that is rooted really in a functioning democracy. I think everyone in this room believes in the values of democracy but I think we can also all agree that the model itself is breaking, fragile, not performing in many of our countries and what we are seeing is a response to that, whether it is a unconstitutional change or it is protests or we are finding more terrorism, whatever it is, it’s democracy not functioning and I think today we are reinforcing that message to everyone back at home that we need to take that seriously and with, you know, the majority, the largest cohort of youth in the world, if we don’t, I think we’re just in really big trouble. We’re in big enough trouble as it is but it will get worse so states need to listen. Cities need to listen. The transforming education summit we had, you talked for capacity building. I’m not sure that that’s the Band-Aid we need. We need to be teaching people from the time that they go into school to the time that they leave, which is lifelong learning, about what you do to keep peaceful societies, how you lift and fight and protect democracies, and that it doesn’t just become an activity or a campaign. This is a lifelong endeavor to make that environment where the rule of law, people’s rights, ought not to be what we are asking for as an add-on or an activity. And we’ve lost it somehow. So maybe this is one of the things that we take out of the summit of the future, is how to do that reset and to make sure that truly, truly our voices are embedded in the fabric of democracy, human rights, and freedom for everyone. Thank you for that. Humanitarian action, people on the move. And people on the move are finding themselves in different, fragile, precarious situations where atrocities that are being committed today and many not seen should not be happening, not in 2024. When I recently visited the border of Sudan and Chad, the famine in Sudan is conflict-related. That means it’s man-made. And I can assure you there’s no woman’s hand in that except the suffering, the rape, the death of many children, the atrocities that are committed in the name of men fighting each other. That has to stop. That cannot be continued. It’s not acceptable. And women can no longer be used as a end to war. This is happening in every environment where you see a humanitarian crisis. It will be young people who are losing their futures. I’m so grateful that you’re really talking about what that environment looks like. don’t put our life on hold because we’re in a camp or we are fleeing, but there’s an education and after an education, there needs to be a livelihood and a livelihood to connect us. And with technology today, I mean, your home is where it is and in many places, it’s not where you would wish. And so how can we make sure that you’re not missing those opportunities and that you are included? And so, you know, take your message. Let’s not put your lives on hold. Let’s make sure that you are engaged and let’s really ask those who have made commitments to ensure that we save lives, that we understand we have to save livelihoods lest we lose the lives tomorrow. And the donors that we have that have really dug deep to do the best that they can, sadly, it’s just not enough. And I’m sure if you ask the average taxpayer in many of our countries, will they dig deeper to save a life or a livelihood? They will say yes, especially when they see the majority of these people were speaking about a young people and they are women. So let’s increase that and make sure that we have it so that we can scale what you’ve just talked about. It’s possible, there’s for sure we have the tools and I’ll say something for Chad. Chad is one of the poorest countries on God’s earth and they’ve received almost 2 million refugees and people that are displaced. What does that say for their generosity? They got poorer. They opened up their schools that in the end collapsed under the weight of the number of people that came and their hospitals that have collapsed and their health systems that have collapsed because they cannot bear the burden of a million or two million more people. In some parts of this world, we’re complaining about 10,000 and when we look at what we have, there surely is no justice in that. And so for an oasis of Chad that all around it is conflict, we must find the resources to put into those humanitarian crises so that when Chad sees itself in a village of poverty but opens its doors to everyone who is fleeing for safety, they should then get a dividend in a return that turns that village into a township, a township that has recognized that people must live together. especially those that are fleeing. No one wants to leave home. And the day that you have to leave home and you have open arms, we as a human family should be supporting that in every way that we can because this is part of our human family, it’s one of us. It could be us if we were born in a different place. And I think that’s what we all have to remember, there’s no one is not at risk of this and particularly when we talk about climate now in terms of our people on the move. So let’s dig deeper. We will certainly try to do that to respond better. We are already in our agencies that are our humanitarian heroes who are out there every day, but we’re also looking to see how can we start crossing these pillars of development of human rights of the political pillars to get a better understanding of how to make this work together. Ultimately, it’s about an end to conflict. And for that, we need young people, we need women, we need the political will, most of all, we need leaders. Today, we are quoting many, many leaders and often they’ve already gone. Can we talk about leaders today, incumbent upon them when they sit in a position of power, elected to power, that they have accountability? They are in this building in the next week or so. I hope many of you will stay behind and pass those messages in the halls. Don’t wait until you get into a room like this. Just as the SG said, you want power, you take it. Step in front of someone, I have a message for you. I know that you’re the president of this country, probably breaking protocol, don’t quote me. But I was once an activist. I didn’t wait for someone to give me permission to talk to a leader if I found the opportunity when I know that things are in terrible shape. So thank you for this. Thank you very much.

Felipe Paullier: Thank you, Martin, Aryan. And thank you also for leaving these recommendations in this. Thank you, guys. It was a pleasure to have you. So, I want to start to wrap up now, and want to thank not only the six rapporteurs, but all the young people, all the ministers, all the ambassadors, all the government officials that were in these conversations, and that brought us these recommendations. I also want to acknowledge the whole process and the whole work behind these recommendations. They are not only emerging from these rooms, from what happened this afternoon. They are echoing the recommendations and the demands we have heard before. In the ECOSOC Youth Forum, in the SDG Summit last year, or in the UN Civil Society Conference in the road to the summit of the future. And these recommendations need to be the foundation that drives action in the implementation of the pact for the future and beyond. And we are able to be here today and to have this space because many, many people were working also for it to happen. So, I want also to acknowledge and to thank all the amazing staff in this house, from the security guards, from the translators, to all the people working in the funds programs, agencies, member states, governments, that allow us to be here. And let me specifically and very especially recognize my team, the United Nations Youth Office team, for all the care and heart they put into this process. Thank you. and it’s clear, youth lead for the future. So I would like to invite you to give us some closing remarks after all this whole session we had this day.

Amina Jane Mohammed: So I have a four-page speech. And that’s one of the things that you have now, I think, blown out of the water. We don’t need that speech. I just heard from Philippe my marching orders. So thank you for that. Those marching orders, I believe, are in those love letters that you’ve given to the Secretary General, Guy Ryder, and myself. Thank you, Guy, for actually making this meaningful, and that we are here with our UN teams for doing that. The Secretary General said this morning, when asked the question about which world he would choose, and he talked about not choosing one, but building one. I think that’s a big message for us to take away, because life is about the years you have ahead of you, and each one is how do you make each step count more inclusively, more meaningfully, with more action and call to action for all the things that you’ve talked about here today. For us at the United Nations, we have taken this on board. I think you will see most of what you have said in the Pact of the Future. These conversations we’ve been having to plan this day that began the UN Summit of the Future and the High-Level Week, I think is an example of where we place youth, and I’m not going to say at the center, but at the helm of affairs, and in that intergenerational march forward, where we are co-creating, we are collaborating. That’s what we would like to see. This is, again, another attempt at resetting and making that. making that work for everyone, and I hope that this will be a reality in the lives of those that are not in this room and that you will be taking messages and be the messengers to take this forward over the next six years to the Sustainable Development Goals but more importantly into the work that I think for the first time we’ve had a conversation with young people about future generations. We never had that opportunity in my time to talk about future generations, but today you have and I think we’re talking about your future now, but as you shape that future it is also about what you leave for those that are yet to come, and I hear that in everything that you said which has been underscored by inclusivity, include, include, include, voice, voice, voice, meaningful, meaningful, meaningful and get past the jargon into actions that we need to take. So thank you very much and I wish you the very best in the next few days and I hope that you will continue to make your voices loud for everyone.

Felipe Paullier: Thank you DSG. So to end, let’s start, let’s end this day with the same energy we started and let’s invite our Master of Ceremony, but now our DJ, DJ Cuppy, happy to have you here.

Amina Jane Mohammed: I have a message for DJ Cuppy. You said you wanted to be the first president in Nigeria, woman president, and what did I say? After me, eh?

Music: Baby, you don’t know that you’re the one living my soul I want you to know, I won’t ever let you go All your past is your love, your love from the dead That past is your love, your love from the dead I can’t get enough, your love from the dead Your love from the dead All your past is your love, your love from the dead That past is your love, your love from the dead I can’t get enough, your love from the dead Your love from the dead Baby, you don’t know that you’re the one living my soul I want you to know, I won’t ever let you go All your past is your love, your love from the dead That past is your love, your love from the dead I can’t get enough, your love from the dead Baby, you don’t know that you’re the one living my soul I want you to know, I won’t ever let you go All your past is your love, your love from the dead That past is your love, your love from the dead I can’t get enough, your love from the dead Copy this here, press this I’ve been, I’ve been loving you for days Never said I didn’t want you Cause now you the form of mine I love you, love you, die It’s all because of you, baby Make a brother gonna sing this song It’s a day for you, my lover Nobody else, my lover Mashi se me ka we tonta blimata Si mi si wala, ya wago de o Mashi se me ka we tonta blimata Si mi si wala, ya wago de o Habena, habena, habena, habena No lu mi wa yo, no lu mi wa yo Habena, habena, habena, habena No lu mi wa yo, no lu mi wa yo Champion lover Tell you go be my lover I don’t fit in without my lover Tu te pambie mi, my lover I can’t hear the other thing move To copy this tune, press this

F

Felipe Paullier

Speech speed

110 words per minute

Speech length

1563 words

Speech time

850 seconds

Meaningful youth participation in decision-making

Explanation

Felipe Paullier emphasizes the importance of meaningful youth participation in decision-making processes. He argues that youth political apathy is a myth and that young people have shown interest and capacity to engage at the highest levels.

Evidence

The Youth Action Day and its various sessions demonstrate youth engagement and interest in high-level discussions.

Major Discussion Point

Youth Inclusion and Representation

Agreed with

Jana Zghabi

Zongxu Xie

Martin Manyozo

Amina Mohammed

Agreed on

Meaningful youth participation in decision-making

J

Jana Zghabi

Speech speed

143 words per minute

Speech length

306 words

Speech time

128 seconds

Youth representation in national delegations to UN processes

Explanation

Jana Zghabi advocates for member states to commit to meaningful youth involvement in national delegations to UN processes and conferences. She argues that youth voices must be heard in the halls where decisions are made.

Evidence

Reference to Article 39 of the Declaration, which supports youth involvement in UN processes.

Major Discussion Point

Youth Inclusion and Representation

Agreed with

Felipe Paullier

Zongxu Xie

Martin Manyozo

Amina Mohammed

Agreed on

Meaningful youth participation in decision-making

Long-term thinking in governance structures

Explanation

Jana Zghabi emphasizes the need for long-term thinking in governance structures. She suggests leveraging science, data, statistics, and strategic foresight to ensure adaptable and forward-looking governance.

Evidence

Reference to Article 35, which supports the use of tools for creating resilient policies.

Major Discussion Point

Intergenerational Solidarity and Equity

Reforming international financial architecture

Explanation

Jana Zghabi calls for urgent reform of the international financial architecture. She argues for establishing a sovereign debt workout mechanism and embracing metrics beyond GDP to prioritize people over profits.

Major Discussion Point

Intergenerational Solidarity and Equity

Z

Zongxu Xie

Speech speed

117 words per minute

Speech length

400 words

Speech time

203 seconds

Youth as active participants and co-creators, not passive recipients

Explanation

Zongxu Xie emphasizes that youth should be seen as active participants and co-creators in shaping the digital future, rather than passive recipients of technology and education. He argues for youth involvement in the development of technology and digital policies.

Evidence

Reference to speakers emphasizing youth as active participants and co-creators in the session.

Major Discussion Point

Youth Inclusion and Representation

Agreed with

Felipe Paullier

Jana Zghabi

Martin Manyozo

Amina Mohammed

Agreed on

Meaningful youth participation in decision-making

Ensuring digital skills are accessible through education

Explanation

Zongxu Xie advocates for ensuring that every youth, especially those in less developed regions, can access necessary digital skills through education. This is seen as crucial for realizing value in the digital economy.

Major Discussion Point

Technology and Digital Inclusion

Agreed with

Leticia

Amina Mohammed

Agreed on

Technology as a tool for inclusion and development

Cross-border cooperation and technology sharing

Explanation

Zongxu Xie calls for more cross-border cooperation and technology sharing. He argues that governments, businesses, and CSOs should collaborate to ensure equitable distribution of technological resources and narrow the technology gap.

Major Discussion Point

Technology and Digital Inclusion

Agreed with

Leticia

Amina Mohammed

Agreed on

Technology as a tool for inclusion and development

M

Martin Manyozo

Speech speed

124 words per minute

Speech length

550 words

Speech time

264 seconds

Empowering youth in global policy and security decision-making

Explanation

Martin Manyozo argues for empowering youth in global policy and security decision-making processes. He emphasizes the need for youth to take the lead in addressing complex global challenges.

Evidence

Reference to platforms such as the Summit for the Future, Peace Building Architecture Review, and Security Council Reform as opportunities for youth integration.

Major Discussion Point

Youth Inclusion and Representation

Agreed with

Felipe Paullier

Jana Zghabi

Zongxu Xie

Amina Mohammed

Agreed on

Meaningful youth participation in decision-making

Advancing commitments in UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security

Explanation

Martin Manyozo calls for advancing the commitments laid out in UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security. He argues that youth voices should be embedded within peace and security processes, not just heard.

Evidence

Reference to the need for investing in youth-led organizations and increasing financing to support their initiatives.

Major Discussion Point

Youth Inclusion and Representation

L

Leticia

Speech speed

135 words per minute

Speech length

592 words

Speech time

262 seconds

Combining traditional knowledge with technology to address climate challenges

Explanation

Leticia emphasizes the importance of combining traditional and ancestral knowledge of indigenous peoples with technology to address climate challenges. She argues that this combination can lead to more effective solutions.

Evidence

Reference to the undervaluation of traditional knowledge in the face of climate crisis.

Major Discussion Point

Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability

Agreed with

Zongxu Xie

Amina Mohammed

Agreed on

Technology as a tool for inclusion and development

Youth as leaders in caring for the environment

Explanation

Leticia argues that young people should be recognized as leaders in caring for the environment. She emphasizes the need for youth to have their role legitimized in traditional governance structures.

Major Discussion Point

Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability

A

Aryan Sanghrajka

Speech speed

150 words per minute

Speech length

453 words

Speech time

180 seconds

Scaling support for youth-led humanitarian action

Explanation

Aryan Sanghrajka calls for scaling support for youth-led humanitarian action. He emphasizes the need for multi-stakeholder support and platforms to provide young people with expertise, technical assistance, and accessible funding.

Evidence

Reference to the Compact for Young People and Humanitarian Action objective.

Major Discussion Point

Humanitarian Action and Forced Displacement

Agreed with

Amina Mohammed

Agreed on

Addressing humanitarian crises and forced displacement

Ensuring young refugees move beyond education into decent work

Explanation

Aryan Sanghrajka advocates for ensuring young refugees move beyond education into decent work. He argues for access to quality education, training, employment, and entrepreneurship opportunities for young refugees.

Evidence

Reference to programs like the Youth on the Move Fellowship.

Major Discussion Point

Humanitarian Action and Forced Displacement

Agreed with

Amina Mohammed

Agreed on

Addressing humanitarian crises and forced displacement

Investing in displaced youth potential and leadership

Explanation

Aryan Sanghrajka calls for investment in displaced youth potential and leadership. He argues for creating true partnerships with young displaced people by giving them an equal seat at the decision-making table.

Major Discussion Point

Humanitarian Action and Forced Displacement

Agreed with

Amina Mohammed

Agreed on

Addressing humanitarian crises and forced displacement

A

Amina Mohammed

Speech speed

0 words per minute

Speech length

0 words

Speech time

1 seconds

Using technology to connect and provide equal opportunities

Explanation

Amina Mohammed emphasizes the potential of technology to connect people and provide equal opportunities. She argues that technology can be used to leapfrog development and equalize capacities across the world.

Evidence

Reference to the COVID-19 pandemic as an example of how technology connected people during isolation.

Major Discussion Point

Technology and Digital Inclusion

Agreed with

Zongxu Xie

Leticia

Agreed on

Technology as a tool for inclusion and development

Leveraging technology for intergenerational dialogue

Explanation

Amina Mohammed suggests using technology to facilitate intergenerational dialogue and understanding. She argues that technology can help bridge language barriers and connect people across different backgrounds.

Evidence

Example of the Secretary-General speaking Chinese through AI technology.

Major Discussion Point

Technology and Digital Inclusion

Agreed with

Zongxu Xie

Leticia

Agreed on

Technology as a tool for inclusion and development

Climate change as an entry point for youth engagement

Explanation

Amina Mohammed proposes using climate change as an entry point for youth engagement. She argues that the existential threat of climate change makes it a compelling issue for youth involvement in global discussions.

Major Discussion Point

Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability

Addressing root causes of displacement and humanitarian crises

Explanation

Amina Mohammed emphasizes the need to address the root causes of displacement and humanitarian crises. She argues for increased resources and support for countries hosting large numbers of refugees and displaced persons.

Evidence

Example of Chad hosting nearly 2 million refugees despite being one of the poorest countries.

Major Discussion Point

Humanitarian Action and Forced Displacement

Agreed with

Aryan Sanghrajka

Agreed on

Addressing humanitarian crises and forced displacement

Intergenerational approach to shaping the future

Explanation

Amina Mohammed advocates for an intergenerational approach to shaping the future. She emphasizes the importance of youth considering not only their own future but also that of future generations.

Major Discussion Point

Intergenerational Solidarity and Equity

Agreed with

Felipe Paullier

Jana Zghabi

Zongxu Xie

Martin Manyozo

Agreed on

Meaningful youth participation in decision-making

I

Isidora

Speech speed

147 words per minute

Speech length

452 words

Speech time

183 seconds

Establishing consultative mechanisms with young people

Explanation

Isidora calls for establishing consultative mechanisms to work with young people, allowing all to participate in equal conditions. She emphasizes the importance of including persons with disabilities and women with disabilities in these mechanisms.

Evidence

Reference to the need for implementing good practices like Generation Equality and the UN Trust Fund for Ending Violence Against Women and Girls.

Major Discussion Point

Intergenerational Solidarity and Equity

Agreements

Agreement Points

Meaningful youth participation in decision-making

Felipe Paullier

Jana Zghabi

Zongxu Xie

Martin Manyozo

Amina Mohammed

Meaningful youth participation in decision-making

Youth representation in national delegations to UN processes

Youth as active participants and co-creators, not passive recipients

Empowering youth in global policy and security decision-making

Intergenerational approach to shaping the future

Multiple speakers emphasized the importance of meaningful youth participation in decision-making processes at various levels, from national delegations to global policy and security discussions.

Technology as a tool for inclusion and development

Zongxu Xie

Leticia

Amina Mohammed

Ensuring digital skills are accessible through education

Cross-border cooperation and technology sharing

Combining traditional knowledge with technology to address climate challenges

Using technology to connect and provide equal opportunities

Leveraging technology for intergenerational dialogue

Speakers agreed on the potential of technology to foster inclusion, bridge gaps in development, and address global challenges when combined with traditional knowledge and used for cross-border cooperation.

Addressing humanitarian crises and forced displacement

Aryan Sanghrajka

Amina Mohammed

Scaling support for youth-led humanitarian action

Ensuring young refugees move beyond education into decent work

Investing in displaced youth potential and leadership

Addressing root causes of displacement and humanitarian crises

Speakers emphasized the need to support youth-led humanitarian action, provide opportunities for young refugees, and address the root causes of displacement and humanitarian crises.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers strongly advocated for increased youth representation and empowerment in high-level UN processes and decision-making, particularly in the areas of peace and security.

Jana Zghabi

Martin Manyozo

Youth representation in national delegations to UN processes

Empowering youth in global policy and security decision-making

Advancing commitments in UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security

Both speakers emphasized the importance of combining different forms of knowledge and fostering cooperation to address global challenges, particularly in the context of technology and climate change.

Leticia

Zongxu Xie

Combining traditional knowledge with technology to address climate challenges

Cross-border cooperation and technology sharing

Unexpected Consensus

Reforming international financial architecture

Jana Zghabi

Amina Mohammed

Reforming international financial architecture

Addressing root causes of displacement and humanitarian crises

While most speakers focused on youth participation and technology, there was an unexpected consensus on the need to reform the international financial architecture to address global challenges, including humanitarian crises.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of agreement centered around meaningful youth participation in decision-making processes, leveraging technology for inclusion and development, and addressing humanitarian crises and forced displacement. There was also consensus on the need for intergenerational approaches and reforming global systems to better address current challenges.

Consensus level

There was a high level of consensus among the speakers on the importance of youth inclusion and empowerment across various global issues. This strong consensus implies a growing recognition of the crucial role young people play in shaping the future and addressing global challenges. It also suggests a potential shift in how international organizations and governments approach youth engagement in policy-making and implementation.

Disagreements

Overall Assessment

Summary

There were no significant disagreements among the speakers. The discussion was largely characterized by complementary viewpoints and shared goals.

Disagreement level

The level of disagreement was minimal. Speakers generally supported each other’s arguments and built upon them, focusing on different aspects of youth involvement, technology, and sustainable development. This alignment suggests a strong consensus on the importance of youth participation in shaping the future across various domains.

Partial Agreements

Partial Agreements

Both speakers agree on the importance of technology in shaping the future and involving youth. However, Zongxu Xie focuses more on youth as active participants in developing technology and policies, while Amina Mohammed emphasizes technology as a tool for equalizing opportunities and connecting people.

Zongxu Xie

Amina Mohammed

Zongxu Xie emphasizes that youth should be seen as active participants and co-creators in shaping the digital future, rather than passive recipients of technology and education. He argues for youth involvement in the development of technology and digital policies.

Amina Mohammed emphasizes the potential of technology to connect people and provide equal opportunities. She argues that technology can be used to leapfrog development and equalize capacities across the world.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers strongly advocated for increased youth representation and empowerment in high-level UN processes and decision-making, particularly in the areas of peace and security.

Jana Zghabi

Martin Manyozo

Youth representation in national delegations to UN processes

Empowering youth in global policy and security decision-making

Advancing commitments in UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security

Both speakers emphasized the importance of combining different forms of knowledge and fostering cooperation to address global challenges, particularly in the context of technology and climate change.

Leticia

Zongxu Xie

Combining traditional knowledge with technology to address climate challenges

Cross-border cooperation and technology sharing

Takeaways

Key Takeaways

Youth inclusion and meaningful participation in decision-making processes is crucial at all levels, from local to global

Technology and digital inclusion are key for empowering youth and creating equal opportunities

Intergenerational solidarity and long-term thinking are necessary for addressing global challenges

Climate change and environmental sustainability require combining traditional knowledge with new technologies

Humanitarian action and support for displaced youth need to be scaled up and focused on long-term solutions

Resolutions and Action Items

Member states should commit to including youth in national delegations to UN processes

Establish consultative mechanisms to work with young people, especially those with disabilities

Scale up support for youth-led humanitarian action initiatives

Advance commitments laid out in UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security

Reform the international financial architecture to be more inclusive and responsive to youth needs

Unresolved Issues

Specific mechanisms for implementing youth inclusion in global policy-making processes

Details on how to combine traditional knowledge with new technologies for climate action

Concrete steps for reforming the international financial architecture

Specific strategies for addressing root causes of displacement and humanitarian crises

Suggested Compromises

Balancing the use of technology with preserving traditional and indigenous knowledge

Integrating youth perspectives into existing governance structures rather than creating entirely new systems

Combining capacity building for youth with reforms in education systems to promote lifelong civic engagement

Thought Provoking Comments

Youth political apathy is a complete myth. This day has shown us the interest, the capacity of young people to engage at the highest level.

Speaker

Felipe Paullier

Reason

This comment challenges the common perception of youth disengagement and sets the tone for the entire discussion by emphasizing youth capacity and interest in high-level engagement.

Impact

It framed the subsequent discussion around youth empowerment and meaningful participation, encouraging speakers to focus on concrete ways to involve youth in decision-making processes.

We took that seriously every step of the way when we spoke with you, Philippe, that if it wasn’t meaningful, then of course everyone would say we ticked the box and what happened, what next?

Speaker

Amina Jane Mohammed

Reason

This comment highlights the importance of genuine, meaningful youth engagement beyond tokenism, showing a commitment to substantive youth involvement.

Impact

It set a standard for the discussion, encouraging subsequent speakers to focus on concrete, actionable ways to involve youth meaningfully rather than superficially.

Young people’s voice must be fully respected, and they should be invited to participate in the development of technology and digital policies.

Speaker

Zongxu Xie

Reason

This comment emphasizes the need for youth involvement specifically in technology and digital policy, areas where youth often have unique insights.

Impact

It broadened the discussion to include specific policy areas where youth participation is crucial, leading to more targeted recommendations.

What you felt at that second is something that indigenous populations, rural populations, have felt for a long time, for decades. They don’t know how to react to the disasters that they often face.

Speaker

Leticia

Reason

This comment powerfully illustrates the experience of marginalized communities, drawing a parallel between momentary confusion and long-term systemic exclusion.

Impact

It shifted the conversation to include perspectives from indigenous and rural populations, broadening the scope of the discussion on inclusion and representation.

Structured laws for youth must be created in these spaces, giving them the power to shape decisions rather than simply observe them.

Speaker

Martin Manyozo

Reason

This comment moves beyond general calls for youth inclusion to advocate for specific structural changes to empower youth in decision-making processes.

Impact

It pushed the discussion towards more concrete, actionable recommendations for youth empowerment in governance structures.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by consistently emphasizing the need for meaningful, structural youth inclusion across various domains – from technology policy to governance structures. They challenged existing perceptions of youth capacity and pushed for concrete actions to empower young people in decision-making processes. The comments also broadened the conversation to include perspectives from marginalized communities, emphasizing the intersectionality of youth issues with other forms of systemic exclusion. Overall, these insights drove the conversation towards more specific, actionable recommendations for youth empowerment and inclusion at the highest levels of policy-making and governance.

Follow-up Questions

How can we ensure meaningful youth involvement in national delegations to UN processes and conferences?

Speaker

Jana Zghabi

Explanation

This is important to fulfill Article 39 of the Declaration and ensure youth voices are heard in decision-making processes.

How can we leverage science, data, statistics, and strategic foresight to create more adaptable and forward-looking governance structures?

Speaker

Jana Zghabi

Explanation

This is crucial for developing policies that are resilient to future uncertainties, in line with Article 35.

How can we reform the international financial architecture to prioritize people over profits and pave the way for equitable global development?

Speaker

Jana Zghabi

Explanation

This includes establishing a sovereign debt workout mechanism and embracing metrics beyond GDP.

How can we better integrate traditional and ancestral knowledge of indigenous peoples with modern technology to address climate change?

Speaker

Leticia

Explanation

This is important to combine traditional wisdom with innovative solutions in tackling environmental challenges.

How can we scale support for youth-led action in humanitarian contexts?

Speaker

Aryan Sanghrajka

Explanation

This is essential for providing young people with the expertise, technical assistance, and accessible funding they need to turn their ideas into solutions.

How can we ensure young refugees move beyond education and into decent work?

Speaker

Aryan Sanghrajka

Explanation

This is crucial for changing lives and rescuing the current trajectory to achieve the SDGs by 2030.

How can we create structured roles for youth in global security dialogues and decision-making processes?

Speaker

Martin Manyozo

Explanation

This is important for empowering youth to shape decisions rather than simply observe them in global governance.

How can we advance the commitments laid out in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2020-50?

Speaker

Martin Manyozo

Explanation

This involves investing in youth-led organizations and increasing financing to support their initiatives in peace and security processes.

How can governments and international organizations collaborate with young people to co-design and co-implement violence prevention strategies, programs, and policies?

Speaker

Martin Manyozo

Explanation

This is critical for creating inclusive, responsive, and accountable institutions that incorporate youth feedback at every stage of program development.

Disclaimer: This is not an official record of the session. The DiploAI system automatically generates these resources from the audiovisual recording. Resources are presented in their original format, as provided by the AI (e.g. including any spelling mistakes). The accuracy of these resources cannot be guaranteed.

AI/Gen AI for the Global Goals

Session at a Glance

Summary

This discussion focused on the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate sustainable development and empower Africa’s youth. The panel explored how AI can be leveraged to address challenges in various sectors, including agriculture, education, and finance, while also considering the ethical implications and necessary infrastructure.

Speakers emphasized the importance of collaboration between governments, private sector companies, and youth-led startups in implementing AI-driven initiatives. They highlighted the need for policies that support AI integration into youth development programs and educational systems across Africa. The discussion also touched on the challenges of implementing digital innovation in Africa, including regulatory hurdles and the high cost of AI technology.

A key point raised was the importance of African ownership in the AI value chain, from hardware development to data ownership. Panelists stressed the need for African countries to participate beyond the service layer of AI to ensure long-term benefits and cost-effectiveness. The discussion also addressed the ethical considerations in implementing AI technology, particularly in preventing a widening digital divide.

The panel highlighted ongoing efforts to integrate AI skills into educational curricula and create platforms for young innovators to access funding and support. They emphasized the potential of AI to create job opportunities and drive economic growth in Africa, while also acknowledging the need to address potential job displacements.

Overall, the discussion underscored the transformative potential of AI for Africa’s development, while emphasizing the importance of inclusive, ethical, and collaborative approaches to its implementation. The panelists called for increased investment in AI education, infrastructure, and local innovation to ensure that Africa can fully harness the benefits of this technology.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The potential of AI to accelerate progress on sustainable development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

– The need for collaboration between governments, private sector, and other stakeholders to responsibly develop and implement AI

– Challenges around AI access, infrastructure, and skills gaps, particularly in developing countries and Africa

– Ethical considerations and risks associated with AI development and deployment

– The role of youth and innovation in driving AI adoption and solutions in Africa

The overall purpose of the discussion was to explore how AI, particularly generative AI, can be leveraged as a tool to accelerate sustainable development and empower youth in Africa, while addressing challenges and ethical concerns.

The tone of the discussion was generally optimistic and forward-looking, with speakers highlighting the transformative potential of AI. However, there was also a pragmatic acknowledgement of significant challenges that need to be overcome, particularly around access, skills, and ethical implementation. The tone became more action-oriented towards the end, with calls for concrete partnerships and initiatives to move the agenda forward.

Speakers

Speakers:

– Sanda Ojiambo – CEO and Executive Director of the UN Global Compact

– Shea Gopaul – Permanent Representative for the International Board Organization of Employers

– Chido Cleopatra Mpemba – African Union Youth Envoy

– Christopher P. Lu – Deputy Command Representative of the UN for Management Reform from the U.S. government

– Gerbrand Haverkamp – Executive Director of the World Benchmarking Alliance

– Henry Kipponen – Chief Innovation Officer from Unite AI Companies

– Dr. Jamila Bio Ibrahim – Nigeria’s Minister of Youth

– Priscilla Boa-Gue – Google’s head for pan-African institutions, government affairs and public policy

– Kolawole Olajide – CEO and co-founder of Sava (fintech company)

Moderators/Facilitators:

– Amelia (no last name given) – Moderated first panel discussion

– Farai Gundan – Moderator for second panel, inspirational youth leader at Harvard University

– Tonilyn Lim – Chief of Programs of the UN Global Conference, facilitated transitions between panels

Areas of expertise varied among speakers, covering topics such as:

– UN initiatives and global partnerships

– Business and employment

– Youth development in Africa

– AI and technology policy

– Sustainable development

– Government affairs

– Fintech and entrepreneurship

Full session report

Expanded Summary of AI and Sustainable Development Discussion

This comprehensive discussion explored the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate sustainable development and empower Africa’s youth. The panel, comprising experts from various sectors, delved into how AI can address challenges in agriculture, education, finance, and other key areas, while also considering ethical implications and necessary infrastructure.

Potential of AI for Sustainable Development

Speakers unanimously agreed on AI’s significant potential to drive progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sanda Ojiambo, CEO of the UN Global Compact, emphasized that AI, particularly generative AI, can be a “true game-changer for sustainability progress”. She highlighted its ability to democratize access to information, accelerate innovation through cross-disciplinary thinking, and increase productivity. Ojiambo also discussed the UN Global Compact’s recent report on AI for sustainable development, which outlines how AI can contribute to each of the 17 SDGs and provides guidance for businesses on responsible AI implementation.

However, the discussion also acknowledged the need for a balanced perspective. Ojiambo cautioned that while AI could help solve global goals, gaps in technology access could exacerbate global inequalities. This nuanced view set the tone for a broader exploration of both opportunities and challenges.

Challenges and Risks in AI Implementation

The panel identified several significant hurdles to AI implementation in Africa:

1. Infrastructure limitations: The lack of basic infrastructure such as internet access and electricity in many areas was highlighted as a major challenge.

2. Cost barriers: Kolawole Olajide, CEO of Sava, pointed out the high costs of AI development and implementation for African startups.

3. Ethical considerations: Priscilla Boa-Gue from Google stressed the need for responsible AI principles and ethical guidelines.

4. Informal sector challenges: Dr. Jamila Bio Ibrahim, Nigeria’s Minister of Youth, discussed the difficulties of implementing AI solutions in Africa’s large informal sector, where traditional data collection and digital integration are limited.

These challenges underscored the complexity of leveraging AI for development in Africa, prompting discussions on potential solutions and strategies.

African Initiatives and Strategies

The discussion highlighted several initiatives aimed at harnessing AI for Africa’s development:

1. African Union’s AI Strategy: Chido Cleopatra Mpemba discussed the African Union’s efforts to develop a comprehensive AI strategy and policy brief to guide the continent’s approach to AI adoption and regulation.

2. Make Africa Digital Campaign: Mpemba also mentioned this initiative, which aims to promote digital literacy and skills across the continent.

3. Google’s AI Research Centers: Priscilla Boa-Gue detailed Google’s investments in AI research centers in Ghana and Kenya, focusing on developing locally relevant AI solutions and supporting African AI researchers.

4. Nigeria’s Youth Empowerment Initiatives: Dr. Jamila Bio Ibrahim outlined Nigeria’s efforts to support youth in technology and AI, including plans to integrate AI and digital skills into educational curricula and provide funding for youth-led AI initiatives.

Empowering African Youth through AI

A key focus of the discussion was how to harness AI to benefit Africa’s youth. Strategies discussed included:

1. Investing in talent development and digital skills training for youth

2. Integrating AI and digital skills into educational curricula

3. Providing funding and investment opportunities for youth-led AI initiatives

4. Creating enabling policy environments to support AI startups

Importance of Collaboration and Partnerships

Speakers consistently emphasized the crucial role of multi-stakeholder collaboration in effectively developing and implementing AI technologies. Ojiambo called for partnerships between governments, private sector, and civil society. Boa-Gue highlighted the potential of collaborations between tech companies and African institutions to develop localized AI solutions. Olajide stressed the importance of cooperation between youth-led startups, established businesses, and governments.

African Ownership in the AI Value Chain

Kolawole Olajide raised a thought-provoking point about the need for African countries to participate beyond the service layer of AI: “If as a continent, we only participate in that service layer, we have a big problem in the long-term. We will continue to, it will be very expensive for us.” This insight highlighted the importance of building local AI capabilities and infrastructure in Africa, including manufacturing and hardware development.

Ethical Considerations and Governance

The panel addressed the importance of ethical AI development and deployment. Gerbrand Haverkamp, Executive Director of the World Benchmarking Alliance, emphasized the role of international bodies like the UN in AI governance, stating, “If we do not do it here in the UN, it will either be decided in the US, in Europe, or in China, and then we know which other countries will not be at the table.” This comment led to discussions on the need for inclusive global governance structures for AI.

Unresolved Issues and Future Considerations

Despite the productive discussion, several issues remained unresolved, including:

1. Ensuring AI benefits reach rural and marginalized communities

2. Ownership and control of African data used to develop AI systems

3. Increasing African participation in hardware development and other parts of the AI value chain

4. Balancing innovation with ethical concerns and responsible AI development

The discussion also touched on the upcoming UN Summit of the Future, which will focus on youth engagement and the role of emerging technologies in shaping global futures.

In conclusion, the discussion underscored the transformative potential of AI for Africa’s development, while emphasizing the importance of inclusive, ethical, and collaborative approaches to its implementation. The panelists called for increased investment in AI education, infrastructure, and local innovation to ensure that Africa can fully harness the benefits of this technology, while also addressing the significant challenges and ethical considerations that lie ahead.

A notable contribution came from a young Indian speaker who mentioned writing an AI book for African children, highlighting the growing global interest in promoting AI education for youth across continents.

Session Transcript

Sanda Ojiambo: Good afternoon, everybody, and thank you so much for making the time to be here. My name is Sanda Ojiambo. I’m the CEO and Executive Director of the UN Global Contact. It’s really great to welcome you to our offices. First, I just want to say sincere apologies. I know we’ve had to make some changes on venue. On the positive side, we’re now being streamed live on UN Web TV, so we do have a much larger and global following, which I think is great for the opportunity that we have. But just to say, yes, the negotiations for the pact for the future, which will be central to the summit of the future, happened to be, should I say, protracted. And so essentially, most available space, there was a request to avail space so that member states or governments could conclude this piece of negotiation and discussion. So thank you for being accommodating. I know we’re all here to rally behind the pact and what we want to achieve for the summit of the future, which includes a lot of the important work that we want to do around technology and AI. So thank you for accommodating that. I know a few of our guests are on the way. They had engagements at the United Nations, so they need to make their way over here. But we will certainly kick off. I will just make some comments to start. I know there’s a lot that we want to talk about. This has been a really exciting report that we’ve been able to compile with our partners and really marks, I think, for the Global Compact, a great launchpad into looking at the world of Gen AI for the global goals. I want to first just thank the African Union Office of the Youth Envoy. I know she’s on the way. She was a dear friend, a strong advocate for everything future looking and a great youth envoy. So I appreciate her and her effort. I know colleagues from her office are here. I’d also like to thank the International Organization of Employees. Who’s also a great friend and strong advocate for private sector and all the transformative work that it does in all of its phases. Your collaboration has allowed us to drive this conversation forward. So thank you very much. Cleo and Shiv for your support on this. The Summit and indeed the Pact of the Future, we will see by the end of the week, put a strong focus on young people. There’s a declaration by the youth that will come out and it’s really the opportunity to look at new solutions, chart a new vision of what the world can look like after these four years that have been particularly hard from an economic perspective, a social perspective and certainly in terms of governance and society functioning. So the Summit and the Pact call us to imagine a new future that is really grounded in multilateralism, that has strong global governance underpinning it, that embraces the global digital compact that I’m sure you’ll hear about over the next couple of days and certainly has young people and driving forward the sustainable development goals. And so then therefore technology and AI is so central to making sure that we can get there because as we reflected on last year at this time, as you know, we’re so far behind on where we need to be with the global goals. Business is uniquely positioned to drive this forward as we know. Business was called to the table in 2015 when the goals were being designed to look at the goals of a strong investment opportunity, an opportunity not only to bridge markets but really to bridge the gaps that exist between communities, people, societies and the world. So business still remains core to the work that we need to do for the remaining years till 2030. Gen AI gives us the opportunity to crunch large data sets, to find the insights that we need and to truly deliver the solutions to move the goals forward. We interviewed about 30 executives to put this report together and all of them recognized the capacity and the potentials for Gen AI to truly transform industry and what we need to do. A larger survey of about 1,600 CEOs revealed that 75% of those companies, admittedly large companies, are in the process of embedding AI into their work and their strategies. According to this new report, and thank you to Accenture, our partners, for working with us on this, Gen AI can be a true game-changer for sustainability progress because it will democratize access to information, it will accelerate innovation through the solutions, through cross-disciplinary thinking, and certainly by increasing productivity. Schools can help navigate complex and sustainable development problems, such as circular business, more productive supply chains, and I’m truly wishing I had Gen AI when I was in school. I’m told it solves a lot of the challenges I face trying to do my homework and my assignments. But imagine Gen AI combined with robotics and what the future would look like for many. I come from Kenya, the African continent, often referred, Kenyan specifically, no offense to the other African world, the Silicon Savannah, sometimes called the hotbed of innovation. You know, what do we need? We need scale, we need technology, we need access to crunch those data sets and make solutions that make sense, not only for those small startup entrepreneurs, but for the big issues that a lot of the developing and the emerging world needs to solve. At best, AI will help us solve the global goals, and that’s really important, but we must take a reality check because we realize that gaps in technology are really what keeps the world separate. On the one hand, we’re moving forward with large language models. On the other hand, the people who still don’t have access to connectivity can’t afford it or simply are still working using a feature phone. So, you know, there’s a lot of work that will go on around looking at what Gen AI can and should look like, how we bridge those technology gaps from a policy perspective, from an infrastructure perspective, from a device perspective, from a content perspective, from a pricing perspective. So much work to be done, even while we accelerate forward on this. Additionally, and under that, we need to look at issues such as rights, bias, ethics, complex areas because we’re really charting uncharted waters. Lots of work going on on this. Allow me to just mention the Secretary General’s high level advisory body on technology and AI that is doing some groundbreaking work on supporting efforts. and discussions on global governance, very important. Regional efforts are also key. We will hear from the African Union about how it’s building a vibrant and inclusive AI startup ecosystem. We must look at each region’s priorities and needs. Technology is not applied agnostically or across many different infrastructure and policy areas as well. This report, as you’ll see, will outline tangible actions to help companies use technology as it should and for the global goals. Companies, as we always say in the Global Compact, must work in partnership with governments, with civil society, with communities, empower young people, empower SMEs, empower innovators to really drive technology forward. Gen AI is already shaping the global landscape. Every day, I sense something new and really wonder where the future may lie. It’s really interesting that we’re here gathering the summit of the future, where we can really look at what a combined future for the world can look like. So really important. So I just want to say thank you so much to all those who helped put the report together. Many from my team here, who I know thoroughly enjoyed the exercise. I enjoyed reading the report, debating about some of the critical issues that were in there. And we’re very hopeful that this report will provide value, not just for Global Compact members, for anybody in the private sector and our broad stakeholder ecosystem, who’s really looking to see how we can get to 2030 and really deliver on the Sustainable Development Goal. So thank you so much to all of you for coming. I know we have a few people walking in also. They come over from the UN office, but welcome and we really look forward to an energizing discussion. Thank you.

Moderator: Great. Thank you, Sanda. I think we can hand it to Shea. Yeah. Great.

Shea Gopaul: So thank you, Sanda. And like Sandra, I’d like to thank the African Union, as well as Global Compact. is a co-sponsor with us today. My name is Shea Gopaul, I’m the permanent rep for the International Board Organization of Employers. For those of you that don’t know us, we are an organization representing 50 million companies with our employers federations and our members in over 150 different countries. We focus on social employment issues from policy to advocacy, to really capacity building at country level. So we too undertook a study with Deloitte and looking at G20 countries where we looked at their AI readiness and how prepared are countries as we embark on this new world of AI. And while there’s a dual nature to AI and its impact on the labor market and society, obviously there are some very positive significant points in particularly productivity and efficiency gains, but there’s also an awful lot and people are very worried about is job displacements and social disparities. The recent IMF report has said that AI will affect 40% of jobs around the world, but in advanced economies where we’re moving so quickly on this, it could be actively 60%. Now there will be job losses, but there will be job gains. And I think there’s some really interesting numbers, but they’re not all saying the same thing. If you look at MIT, some of the numbers are a bit alarming because they’re using also historical data. You have the ILO coming out, the West says 14 million jobs could be lost, that’s 2%. Whereas the OECD is saying, no, let’s look at this, it could be more positive. No matter what is happening in the AI world, there will be job loss and people need to be trained and retrained into these new positions. Women in particular are being very affected by this. And the first round, particularly in gen AI, is a lot of the administrative positions which are being taken by many women. And unfortunately, some of those are the jobs where they need to be re-skilled immediately so that they can move in and fit into other jobs. But women also have a disadvantage. And if you look at the statistics, they are not as much in STEM education. They’re at a disadvantage, and therefore men are much more educated and trained, and they will be able to move forward. But AI will not take your job away, but the person with AI skills will. So there are a lot of gains in productivity, as I said, and particularly in sectors like manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare, we see a lot of tasks being automated. And there is an increase in productivity, particularly, as I said, in these advanced economies. Routine tasks are being removed, and then people are being able to spend more time on creativity, strategic work, and overall productivity. So in general, in G20 countries, they all say that they’re well-prepared and positioning themselves for AI. And there are many opportunities, and they are all, however, at very different stages. Everyone says that they’re looking at a strategy, and they have actually set up ministries and groups that are really looking at AI governance and all the other issues around it. But as Sandra said, the current digital infrastructure is very serious. And while we’re talking about this and saying it’s so great in many advanced economies, you shouldn’t forget that 33% of the world is without access so you’re not gonna be using generative AI. There are various forms and levels of investment. AI takes investment and particularly private investment. And that’s where it’s very unevenly distributed. 81% of the private investment in AI is in two countries and that’s China and the US. That means that there are a lot of countries that don’t have the resources. And so therefore there’s a push by governments to be putting more of public funds into this. The skills gap is very serious, but most importantly there’s something called the skills mismatch. Particularly in South Africa, Brazil and Mexico, they have the largest skills mismatch. And this could cause some serious problems because young people who are educated and want to work but do not have the skills for a job that can cause very serious frustrations and eventually unrest, which is what we saw a lot in 2012 when we had a lot of the youth unemployment problems we’re dealing with. But also the IMF looked at several factors when you’re looking at readiness. And there’s things like doing business in a country, the startup environment, the human capital, again, investment. But there are common efforts across countries and everyone recognizes its importance. However, the infrastructure development is recognized as being serious. Digital infrastructure is the cornerstone. However, they are all putting prioritization on high-speed internet, cloud computing, advanced technologies in order to be able to integrate their AI. Workforce development and skills enhancement is a very serious issue and they’re trying to tackle it and R&D becomes very important in these G20 countries. However, there are some serious issues and I’m going to point to a few of them which I sort of raised. But there needs to be an equitable distribution of the AI benefits. And this is where there’s really serious concern. Because many countries are not ready with the infrastructure, and this is really going to cause even worse income inequalities. Private sector and public sector must come together on this to become a leader in AI. They’re working on workforce development, but they’re also looking at AI integration into the economy. The skills gap, I said, is huge, the mismatch, but we do see that a lot of countries are very quickly taking on targeted programs and efforts, and private sector is assisting with this in modernizing the educational curricula. And for instance, Brazil has a strategy right now where they’re putting a strong AI workforce development together with financial resources, scholarships, and AI degrees. But there needs to be the balance between innovation and ethical concerns. Strategies should really adapt to the address of emerging ethical concerns, such as algorithms and the implication of AI on privacy. So just to conclude, we have the study, it’s out there, lots is happening, but we need to share. Those that are at the advantage and those who are doing well really need to share with others to bring everyone up to the same level. To conclude, we need a human-centric approach, where we consider the workplace, education, misinformation, and ethics are absolutely critical for any strategy. We know we can’t do it alone, and we know that many could be left behind even more. The Global Compact Study is great because we know that we can achieve great outcomes in their examples, but we also know that we can’t do it alone, and we know that many could be left behind even more. of coming together, but we need to share, complement, and work in partnership. So, thank you.

Sanda Ojiambo: I just have an additional job with the MC, but allow me to welcome the delegates from the African Union. Welcome. I know you had to do a walk-off. Sincere apologies for the change of venue. Thank you for being accommodating. We kicked off the program. I provided my remarks. My dear colleague shared spoken from the international organization before us. So, if you’re ready, we’d very much welcome your remarks from the African Union and the President, Madam, the youth envoy. Thank you very much. Would you like to come up front?

Chido Cleopatra Mpemba: Thank you, everyone. First of all, my apologies for being late. This is my fifth event for the day. There’s one more to go. So, I’ve just come from the UN, where we’re closing an event on gender equality for young girls and adolescents. As you’re aware that today’s also the UN Summit of the Future Youth Action Day, but I’m happy to be here. First of all, to my sister, Sanda. Thank you for doing this in collaboration with the African Union, the Minister of Youth for Nigeria, the Minister of Youth Development for Nigeria, my dear sister, Dr. Jamila. Everyone, thank you for being with us today, and I see a lot of familiar faces that we have in the room, young professionals like Kola, like Melvin, just to name a few that have joined us here today. I’m going to speak mostly about the work in the Office of the Youth Envoy, and the reason I’m going to mention this is because knowing that UN Global Contact works with the private sector, I think it’s important that we raise the best practices of the private sector working with young people in Africa. So at the African Union with the Digital Transformation Strategy, and within this, the Office of the Youth UNWRADE launched a campaign, which is the Make Africa Digital campaign. This campaign is in partnership with Google and AfriZim Bank, and we also have the support from UN Global Compact in launching a policy brief. We’ve taken this campaign to seven countries with the partnership of the private sector because we believe it’s important that we have a digital literate, you know, future generation. So, you know, we’ve been going across the continent, partnering with local tech hubs and ensuring that young people get to learn about digital literacy and we prepare them for the future of work. But not only that, we realized when we went about this campaign, that some of the communities that we visited, for example, when we were in Ghana, we’re in a community just far up from Accra. And, you know, some of the people raised a concern when we’d gone there for the training and they said, actually, you’re here to train us, but we don’t have the digital access. So you might come and talk about digital literacy, but we don’t have the technology. And as a result, we then decided to actually start having consultations with young people in different communities to say, this is actually working. What more would you like within the context of Africa and the support from the private sector and the African Union? Because we all know that AI is a new thing, right? It’s a new buzz. Recently, the African Union actually launched an AI strategy, which was adopted by our member states at the AU Head of State Assembly in June. We know that the UN is also launching an AI strategy. I’m not sure if it’s been launched and it’s coming up very soon. And as a result, we came up with this policy brief. The policy brief is on AI and user sustainability in Africa. And we’re really excited for, you know, different stakeholders to get to appreciate this policy brief from the private sector to the member states and the governments. and ensuring that we do better really for African youth. When we talk to the youth in Africa, what comes up the most is unemployment is such an issue. A lot of young people are unemployed and we need to address that. We can address that through education, through working with the private sector as well, but we can also address this by raising entrepreneurs. How can we ensure that we capacitate our young people? How do we ensure that we raise funding for young people? Because it’s one thing if we capacitate them and if we train them, and there’s no funding, to further accelerate the initiative. So I think that’s what I would like to leave in the room. I hope my team will pardon me because I didn’t get a chance to read all their hard work and their research in this, but appreciating, and acknowledging my team really. I’m here with a delegation of a women-led delegation from across the continent that are here with me today from Cameroon. We have a delegation from Zimbabwe, Nigeria. We have a delegation from Mali. We have a delegation of young women that are with me in this room. And the reason I’m not missing it is because in as much as we talk about youth representation, it’s also important that we include those that are marginalized. And often the young women are marginalized. So let us also think about that. If we talk about AI, we talk about young people, but let us not forget the marginalized, the people in non-urban areas, that are often left behind. I was literally in the session I was in just now at the U.S. and I was just raising awareness of a statistic on young girls that are out of school compared to the ratio to boys. And it’s quite huge. The gap is quite huge in Africa. We need to do something about that. But in closing, just to appreciate everyone’s here and I’m looking forward to the discussions that will be ongoing in this room and for everyone to further contribute really in building and developing the Africa that we want and meeting the SDG goals, but also the Agenda 2063. So thank you very much.

Sanda Ojiambo: Thank you so much Chido, really for your leadership and as you said, bringing forward that generation of both, you know, marginalized young people as well as women and everything that is so important for the world that we live in. You don’t have a t-shirt. Thank you. You’re absolutely welcome. It’s good to have you here and sincere apologies, you might know more about the levels of negotiation that are going on within the United Nations. So please accept our apologies to everybody, once again, having to make a very last minute change of venue. As I mentioned before, here on The Positive, we’re now being streamed live on UN Web TV, so we are, you know, globally visible, but more importantly, I think it’s just great to be able to have this discussion as we continue to stream in. I just want to say a special welcome to the Ambassador. Thank you so much for all of your support in all that we do. I know we move on to an interactive panel and they’ve put these painfully high seats for all of you. But lovely to be able to welcome the panel and have you up here for this interactive panel. Allow me also to recognize, indeed, the Minister for Youth from Nigeria. Madam, thank you so much for joining us and all of our special guests who are making the time to come over. I’d love to be able to introduce the panel. The other Ambassador, Christopher Lu, is the Deputy Command Representative of the UN for Management Reform from the U.S. government. We have Gerbrand Haverkamp, the Executive Director of the World Benchmarking Alliance, to be here. And certainly Henry Kipponen, the Chief Innovation Officer from Unite AI Companies. Please, you are all welcome to join. And I’ll be moderated by Amelia. And we have moderation from Amelia.

Amelia: Thank you. I know there’s a little bit of shuffling, so I’ll let everyone find their seats. All right. Thank you all so much for joining us, and thank you to all the wonderful speakers for being here. And thank you all for joining me. I’m excited to have you all here. As we discussed, we are at a crossroads. As I discussed, we are at a crossroads. On the one hand, we are desperately behind where we need to be when it comes to the SDGs, with only 17% on-track spending. And on the other hand, as we discussed, we have exciting, amazing technology, such as Gen-AI, that can help accelerate the progress that we need, that can help close some of the gaps and really get us to where we need to be by 2030. Please speak up. Oh, I apologize here. I will try. As I said, we’re at a crossroads where we need to, on the one hand, accelerate our progress on the SDGs, and look at really taking advantage of the tools at our disposal, such as Gen-AI. Can you all hear me now? I’ll try and project more. So I’m really excited to have our three panels today, where we’re going to be talking about different perspectives, from government to private sector, on how Gen-AI can really be used to accelerate sustainable development and accelerate the global goals. And for those who might be interested, there are reports and postcards outside to read more. But during this panel, I really want to touch on three things. The first is innovation, the excitement around Gen-AI, really expanding on what Sanda already talked about at the beginning of the opening session. The second is some of the risks that Sherry touched on, from employment to misinformation to bias and more. And the third is the real importance of collaboration. When it comes to both enabling that acceleration, but also mitigating and managing those risks. I’d love to start off with innovation. So, we all know that, I’m sorry, I’m going to turn my back to you now, so we all know that several companies around the world have really made commitments when it comes to sustainability. Yet they’re facing headwinds, the geopolitical conflict, to the economy, and more. So, I’m curious, from your perspective, how can GEN-AI be used as a tool to really help accelerate some of this, to help overcome the challenges and accelerate some sustainability progress? I’ll open up with Henry.

Henry Kipponen: Yeah, so there are many cases, and we’ve heard here that AI is a new thing. I think I founded my first AI company in 2012 or 2013, so from that moment, it was pretty clear where things are going. So, for example, the private sector hasn’t done a very good job of implementing that, neither has the governments. And so, there are many things, for example, starting from precision farming, that’s a very obvious case. Then there are, for example, in construction, what you can do with algorithmic planning is to, for example, create structures that are as strong as done by using a lot of material like concrete and metals, but you can chip away some of the materials in those uses. You can reduce food waste, for example, by predicting the demand, and we’re not doing that currently. Like, 50% of everything that comes from farms goes to trashcans somewhere, and it doesn’t make any sense. Also, there are some other things that, for example, people usually tend to think that if algorithms make decisions based on, for example, who is hired where, then it’s always biased. But that’s just like, that’s humans who are doing the bias in that. So they are now like, understanding how to build the data sets. Because I mean, it’s about the data sets and how the algorithm works. But I would assume that if we would do that, for example, like, like, we would like make algorithms make all those decisions, for example, for jobs, then we would audit them. Everyone who’s the decision didn’t like the decision might ask from the corporation or whoever, and ask to show that how did the algorithm work. And that would actually create transparency. But those are like very obvious use cases. And we don’t need any technology. Technology was there like 10 years ago for doing that. But we just don’t have the way to do that.

Amelia: I think we all know that sometimes there’s a gap between having a tool and actually implementing it for good. But I do like the example of really taking away that bias and implementing more transparency. That brings me to the next one. From benchmarking perspective, that is a lot of essentially enabling transparency on the action that companies are taking. Will Jen and I be able to help with that transparency? How are you thinking about evaluating companies more?

Gerbrand Haverkamp: Yeah, so first, we look at the world’s 2000 most influential companies from a perspective of the Sustainable Development Goals. So what can these companies do to make sure that we achieve the SDGs? And I don’t want to be the parsley pooper here. But I’m going to be anyway a little bit. There is a lot of excitement. But if you look at what companies are actually doing, that’s what we know from benchmarking is they’re falling massively behind. And so I can be excited about precision agriculture. But I’m going to be excited when it’s in the hand of smallholder farmers, because that’s what is going to make a difference. And this is where we constantly see those challenges. So I am and I want to be and I am excited about new technologies. But it’s always a question about how do we make that available? Because right now, it’s quite what it is. something simple as internet access is a reflection of inequality, but it also widens inequality if we don’t fix it. I think for us as an organization, like we, so therefore we are constantly interested in how can we measure the impact that companies have on people and planets. And whilst these companies operate in a world of big data, when it comes to the data on their actual impact, we have mainly data gaps. So I’m really, really interested in, I think someone made a joke about data centers, right? There’s not a lot of data about data centers and their energy use, et cetera. So these are sort of the discrepancies that we need to start fixing. Like how do we actually start to deploy these solutions to get clarity and data on issues where we now don’t have sight? So I hope for us as an organization, that also means technological development in terms of how do we then utilize that? We’re an NGO, so we’re not the best at that kind of stuff, but we need to figure it out and how do we work with that? But I think that’s, for me, it’s really the critical bit, like how, with every new wave of technology, how are we going to make it accessible?

Amelia: I think absolutely we’ve touched on themes of accessibility and that is critical. I’m curious, Ambassador Lu, from the standpoint of both it being a innovative, nascent technology, but also having these issues of accessibility, et cetera, what’s the perspective of governments to be able to make it accessible to the people?

Christopher P. Lu: Yeah, I mean, look, AI is new, but it’s actually really not that new. I mean, we’ve been having this conversation for the last two years since the advent of chat GPT, but AI goes way before that. Every time you go online and you do a search and it suggests something to you, that’s AI. Every time you go on Google Maps to try to figure out how long it’s going to take you, that’s AI. I think the difference is the power and what it can do. And I think the challenge that governments have is how do we ensure that these benefits flow to everyone while mitigating the risks? And we know about some of the risks, this information. I think in some ways, the greatest risk that we face is that the benefits don’t flow to everybody and that it has the potential to both decrease inequality, but widen inequality. there’s a major capacity challenge right now. I mean, AI is like a very fancy sports car and a lot of countries don’t even have paved roads. So the question is, how do you connect people to the internet? How do you even give them reliable electricity so they can connect to the internet? So that’s kind of one challenge, but then it’s also understanding that countries don’t need to have the capability, particularly in the developing world to develop AI. They just need to be able to take advantage of it. So when you’ve got AI tools that help, you know, farmers better grow crops or that can predict floods or that can assess the credit worthiness for microloans, all of that can help the developing world. We just need to get those tools into the hands of people. And often you could do that through a smartphone connection. And so this is something we in the U.S. government have been thinking a lot about. The challenge that I think for the perspective of the U.S. is we often think about these as problems that governments can solve. And yes, governments have capacity to solve them. Truthfully, these will ultimately be solved by the private sector. The private sector and U.S. tech companies, European tech companies, will have the ability to lay the cable that will connect people to the internet and will provide the skilling. Government can provide an impetus to this, but government alone can’t solve it, nor can the U.N. solve this problem.

Amelia: Absolutely, and that actually takes us to the topic of collaboration. Because we do think, as you mentioned, Ambassador Liu, that collaboration is the key between the private sector and government to be able to really utilize the technology, the skills, the finances at our fingertips to be able to implement that change. So I’m sure it’s a big thing about collaboration from initially the private sector. What more would you both like to see from global cross-sector partnerships? How can we help close that gap in terms of access, in terms of potential employment changes, et cetera?

Henry Kipponen: Well, what I see is like, I look at it from the perspective of innovation. It’s something that’s like… This technological change is huge because now it’s democratized. So basically, anyone can create, for example, a learning algorithm using Gen AI and large language models and code that, for example. But unless you have access to the Internet, if you don’t have the devices, it doesn’t make any sense. But again, I’m a little bit skeptical about organizations or governments deciding on what to innovate, because we just don’t know. And this is where young people and this collaboration comes in, because I mean, this is the most important part. What I think is that since the future is not created, maybe we want to include all of those people who will be living this planet after, for example, I’m born. I’m young in Europe, by the way. European youth convoy looks like this. That’s how it is. But again, I think that is the part that when we’re trying to direct innovation to somewhere, it goes usually wrong, and especially with new technologies. We must create the platform, have the resources, as has been said here, have the access for that. And then, for example, funding it in a way that maybe there are some projects that the who gives the money decides what to do. But like it’s done in research that like you just give money to people who have some ideas and some of them might be groundbreaking, which are solving actual problems. But I’m very interested in about this point of like, in 2015 happened a big thing when Google democratized some of the tools, that was a huge thing that happened. And now it’s democratized for like all who have the access to the Internet and for these devices. And that, for me, is a creative revolution. And especially when people who have not been taken away from taking part of some of the things get access to that, then we’re going to see change. But it’s not going to be the change that we’re now protecting. It is going to be something totally different. And I’m just like hoping that it will be the sort of like the good people now doing it because, I mean, there are so many bad uses for AI and usually it’s the bad people who like take it first and do it to, for example, like reduce trust between people. So we have a crisis of democracy and we’ve seen that happening already. So now it’s the for the good people time to like move in.

Gerbrand Haverkamp: I think it’s, of course, absolutely right that it’s ultimately companies that deliver and I would not want to make any suggestions to change that. But I think if there’s one role for the UN, it is to spell out what the responsibility of business is when it comes to the deployment of technology. And because once we have clear norms and guidance, within parameters, we actually want to deploy this technology, we want to develop it. That’s different from saying what to develop, but it is giving the guardrails for how we do it. And the UN has done it before, right, with the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights. It sets out principles within business, which business can operate. And I think there’s now an opportunity, starting with the Global Digital Compact, to spell out for nations, and therefore for companies, what the ethical principles are that we want to apply when developing and deploying these new technologies. And I think the UN is really the only place where that can be done. Because if we do not do it here in the UN, it will either be decided in the US, in Europe, or in China, and then we know which other countries will not be at the table. So if we really want, if we’re talking about inclusivity, and we want this to be available for all, then we need to be able to set the norms and standards and parameters at a place and the UN is the only place where that can be done. Because otherwise, it will be set by the world’s biggest economies, or the world’s biggest economies will choose not to do it. And therefore, I think it’s really, really unique not to undermine that position of the UN, because the UN is the only place that has the legitimacy to do that. So if there’s one thing that I hope will come out of this Global Digital Compact, is articulation of what the responsibility of business is. That’s very different from saying what business should be doing, but it’s saying within these parameters is how we’re going to work. And we’ve done it before with human rights, and I think we have an opportunity to do it now as well for the generative AI and other new technologies.

Amelia: Absolutely. What are those ethical principles and frameworks that we need to be thinking about? Anything to add?

Christopher P. Lu: Yeah, it’s actually one of the reasons why we in the US led the effort on the first ever UN resolution on AI that passed in March. And it was to begin to set out some of these rules of the road for how AI should be operated and governed and how it should be developed. And I mean, the miraculous aspect of this is that we were able to get 193 countries to agree with this, even though, candidly, there’s only a couple dozen that have the capability of actually meaningfully developing AI. But it was essentially to start putting down some basic rules of the road that countries could adopt if they adopt their own regulatory scheme. And obviously, the US scheme is much different than the Chinese scheme, which is much different than the EU scheme. But there’s a basic set of principles that should guide it. And I do agree with the both panels. The UN has an important role in this. But what’s important to understand is that the importance of bringing every stakeholder to the table. And that’s a point of distinction within the UN. There are countries right now who do think the only people that should discuss AI are country to country conversations. And I think that’s short-sighted. I mean, other than China right now, if you look at the other major countries that are developing AI, the vast majority of the investments in AI are happening in the private sector. These are not government-funded investments. They’re private sector investments. So not to include those companies in the conversation leaves it both player, frankly, not including civil society NGOs, who can be the important check to ensure that human rights and civil liberties are all being protected. That’s an oversight as well. So those are some of the broad guiding principles of how we’ve tried to negotiate global digital compact.

Amelia: Thank you. I’m going to wrap up with one final quick question before we get applauded off the stage. I think it’s very exciting to hear about what we need coming out. Just very curiously, what, if I may ask you each, what do you find most exciting in the next five to 10 years about the potential of Gen AI to unlock sustainable development? what’s the one thing that you’re most excited about? And I’ll start, and that’s early.

Christopher P. Lu: I mean, it’s, I’m not even trying. I mean, you know, when you look at breast cancer detection, education, skilling, agriculture, I mean, sustainability, it’s all really exciting. And yet, we know what the risks are. And so I think that balance of how we get the benefits and mitigates them, the risk is both exciting and scary. I know that’s not an answer, but that’s about it.

Henry Kipponen: There are many interesting venues with that, but I’m still wondering all the time, the food waste part, because that doesn’t make any sense to anyone. Because our food system is not producing money for anyone. So it doesn’t make sense in that. And then we’re wasting resources, and people are starving, and that kind of stuff. And I think that would be at least partially solvable with AI technologies. And it’s not like DNA and AI, it’s like some of the basic machine learning algorithms that can do that too.

Amelia: Yeah, addressing that, I believe 40% of food waste, that doesn’t even help feed the population. Yeah. Absolutely.

Gerbrand Haverkamp: I hope climate change, my hope is on climate change. I mean, generally, AI will contribute hugely to the energy, but it will try to deal with its own problem. And in dealing with that, I hope it gets some breakthroughs on climate change.

Amelia: That’d be very exciting. Well, I would like to invite you all to thank your panelists.

Tonilyn Lim: Good afternoon, I’m Tonilyn Lim, Chief of Programs of the UN Global Conference. I’m not Sanda’s AI. I’m taking over. She has to go to another meeting. But anyway, I’d like to thank the panel who really gave us a very rich explanation. of the possibilities in many applications, the role of the private sector in providing infrastructure, skills development and support of the public sector’s initiatives, as well as how to get technology more accessible, especially to farmers, SMEs, small businesses and individuals as such, and the role of the UN in providing the guardrails and also partnerships on the ground as countries continue to develop their own regulations and how private sector can also support in that undertaking and all the other sectors of society. So we’ll now go on to the second panel. It will be an interactive dialogue on also empowering Africa’s future, AI as a catalyst for youth development. So I’d like to call on the moderator, Farai Gundan, from the inspirational youth leader at Harvard University. All right, thank you. And maybe also call to the stage now our other panelists from Bren Chiliabogwe, head of Pan-African institutions, government institutions and public policy of Google, Kolawole Olajide, CEO and co-founder of Sava, and Rodney Njika, UNESCO liaison head to the United Nations Economic Commission in Africa.

Farai Gundan: Sorry, the Honorable Minister of Youth from Nigeria will be joining us.

Tonilyn Lim: Okay, thank you. Honorable Minister, may we also invite you to the stage? Thank you.

Farai Gundan: Thank you so much. Good afternoon to all the parties in the room and the minister made some way to the chairs here. All protocol observed. I’m honored to be here today. I must say getting everyone in the room in one place is almost as rare as catching a New York cab during rush hour. So that was actually me going to AI to ask, okay, give me a joke that will fit this room. Africa boasts the youngest population in the world with over 60% of its population under the age of 25. So to the gentleman who said. and that’s European, this is Africa’s youth here. This is how young we look and how young we are. This dynamic youth demographic holds immense potential as a driving force for innovations, economic growth and social change. With proper investment in education, skills development and entrepreneurship, Africa’s youth could transform the continent into a global leader in technology, sustainable development, creative industries and unleashing the best energy and talent of its next generation. And no, that wasn’t AI, that came from my heart. This panel, Empowering Africa’s Youth, AI as a Catalyst for Youth Development, seeks to amplify our voices, the voice and role of youth, business, government as ethical stewards of AI development and guide the private sector as we make advances with Gen AI. Against the backdrop of the policy brief that was mentioned earlier, Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Youth Development in Africa, a multi-stakeholder collaboration including member states and the private sector. A sheet has gone around the room with a QR code for the link to the policy brief. I’m hoping we’ve all had a chance to actually scan it. So I’ll give a moment to figure out where the sheet is. It’s important that we actually scan and have access to this policy brief. I do want to congratulate you, Chido and Sandra in her absence and your various teams as well as your partners in the role and the work that you have done in putting together this policy brief. So can we just put our hands together for the equity? I certainly look forward to digging into it and sharing with my network. And I challenge all of us in the room to do the same. Now that is out of the way, I’m honored to introduce a very representative panel that reflects the promise and the potential of Africa. Her Excellency, Dr. Jamila Ibrahim, who’s a Nigerian medical doctor, development specialist and politician, currently serving as Nigeria’s minister of youth. She was appointed to the minister, to the position by President Bula to be in September, 2023. So please help me welcome your honours. To her right is Priscilla Boa-Gue. She currently serves as Google’s head for pan-African institutions, government affairs and public policy, where she oversees policy engagement with the African Union Commission, EU Economic Commission for Africa, African Development Bank, amongst other regional organizations. And then, right next to me is a fellow entrepreneur. It turns out that Paula and I are both Spintech founders and he is co-founder and CEO of Saba, and he has co-founded Bridge Labs, driven by his passion for creating high-quality tech solutions that empower organizations to excel in the modern era, while providing employment for young professionals across the continent. I’m so delighted to have this amazing panel and we’re going to be discussing, the title of our panel is, again, Empowering Africa’s Future, AI as a Catalyst for Youth Development. And I’m going to start with the minister herself. I know you’re new to the role. A significant portion of Africa’s youth is employed in the informal sector. How can AI be leveraged to support youth working in the sector? And what steps are actually being taken to formalize and optimize their contributions towards technology? And I want to also reflect on the ambassador. You mentioned that the fundamentals have to be in place for us to take advantage of AI, particularly on the continent. So I would love to hear your views on. on what, how can we leverage our AI, given the backdrop of no power in some instances, no water, and the infrastructure needs to be expanded.

Jamila Bio Ibrahim: Thank you. Thank you very much for having me on the panel. Well, looking at the infrastructure gaps in Africa and in Nigeria in context, we’re in the process of speaking, I’ll just speak in the context of what the Nigerian government is doing. We’re very committed to investing in young people. And of course, speaking out on talents, because we reflect, you know, from the recent past, most of the tech, we have about six of the tech influence that emerged from Africa are actually Nigerians. We have the founders of, the founder of Andela, Flutterwave, which is a fintech company, I’m sure you’re familiar with. We have this talents that are yet untapped, and we’re very aware of that. And we’re working very hard to ensure that we invest in these talents, regardless of the infrastructure gaps. And we’re also, in our part, at the Ministry of Youth Development, we’re tasked with the responsibility to ensure that we create a new environment for young people to thrive. And education, intelligence, and of course, the digital technology space, even though we have a Ministry of Digital Communications and Digital Technology, this ministry drives the policy of, you know, technology and digital communications. However, as a ministry of youth, we have a very robust collaboration. to ensure that we have this, we really identify young people and because we are the first point of contrast between young people and governments, right, and leveraging on a fund that we supervise or we superintend, the Mutual Investment Fund, which is about 17 million U.S. dollars, equivalent that has been approved by the Federal Executive Council to ensure that we empower or rather invest in young people across various sectors, including sectors that were earlier mentioned, the green and green economy and agriculture space. Of course, for us as well, we have an emerging space for that, for the view economy, right, and for extractive as well. And I was very excited when the previous panelists mentioned the deployment of technology to address waste and of course, when they mentioned agriculture. So, the Mutual Investment Fund is, we hope to empower young people in various sectors, including agriculture. And looking at agriculture alone and seeing that reference was made particularly to agriculture and how we can use young people’s creativity to create solutions in that space. And I believe that with efficient intentions and digital technology improvement in digital technology, we will be able to achieve a lot if we are leveraging on agriculture alone, which is our lowest-priority food experience for income from Nigeria. So, beyond that, we really want to invest in young people who are doing remarkable, you know, things in this space. And as a ministry, we’re also in the process of design or rehabilitating our youth development centres and making them up to standard, where we have various devices and all that young people require to, you know, design. softwares and just to create, basically to be digitally creative and as a matter of fact, we’re also going down to the grassroots to ensure that we’re very inclusive and ensure that we do not leave young people in these communities behind. We want to work with the private sector and telecoms companies to ensure that these communities have access and then reach the sub-divide in Nigeria. And you also are aware that a not very recent policy direction or statement was made by Nigeria or commitment rather, the cost of the main band cables for internet infrastructure was actually crushed. It was crushed a great deal. I think it’s about one and a half per metre now to leave fibre optic cables for the tech companies in order to ensure that we give access to rural communities and to people in rural communities to technology. So I think that is a very, it’s a remarkable achievement for us as a government. And we’re also ensuring that, I mean, if this policy comes to fruition and the private sector leverages on it, I think that’s enabling the environment to ensure that we increase access. Yeah, I’m excited about the TIFO administration. I also see that they also liberalise access to power as well. So that has been some exciting development, ensuring that even the most rural communities are able to access it.

Farai Gundan: Thank you so much for your remarks, Dr. Jamila. Over to you, Priscilla. You are over at Google. How should policies evolve to support the integration of AI into youth development? programs in Africa. And then I also want to add to that, who then owns that data? Because it’s one thing to actually begin to develop these training models with the data, but who should own data? Does it reside on the continent or does it reside here in the U.S. with the various companies?

Priscilla: Thank you so much. I’m humbled to be here next to the minister who is also a doctor on the side in your spare time. I think you’re a tremendous example of our African community. Google has been on the continent for about 17 years and we invest $1 billion. And we are in four countries across the continent, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya. And I bring this up because two of those countries actually host our African AI research centers. So we already employ PhD students, researchers, engineers who are African, who are from Africa, who are deploying and developing technologies for Africa. So the technology exists and we have researchers and experts who focus on how do we identify solutions to the pressing problems that we have on the continent. And they’ve been doing this since 2018. So now we have a new center in Kenya that focuses on food security, some of the agricultural precision, and some of the different food security issues that we mentioned. But it’s important to note that Africa is a regionally diverse space, right? And so is our digital ecosystem. It is very diverse. Now we have some very strong digital economies like Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, and Ghana. So we have a lot of work to do to distribute from some of that world, right? And this is where I think that young people have a really important role to play because they are developing some of this innovation, like our both of you are deploying some of these technologies. But we need to have supportive and enabling systems in place. So, what I’ve been doing is working with the African Union, with our colleagues at the Commission to see how do we do this at scale? How do we take a really positive example to expand it to those 55 member countries? And I think one of the greatest examples that we have is African Startup Policy Framework that recently just came out. And so, this will enable all of the member states to develop policies that incentivize founders to go and take a leap from work, to then go and start their startups, to have incubators in place, to have grants, and to really be able to have a community that supports the development of startups. Because Google was once a startup, once upon a time as well. And so, we think about what was in place in order for a company like Google to thrive? And how do we create more of those that are African, that are African-based? And so, policy is really, really critical. In addition to putting in place policies to support our young people, we also have to get our policymakers at a level where they are literate and really conversant in subjects that we are discussing, right? It’s hard to have a conversation with someone who’s not speaking the same language, right? We’re speaking past each other. And this is globally, not just in Africa. My colleagues in the EU face some of the same issues. And I think the advantage that we have is that we can take some of the lessons from the other regions and then choose what will be best and what will work for the continent. So that we can determine how we leapfrog, because we don’t have some of the same legacy issues that some of the developing countries have, right? So I think in some spaces, we actually have some advantages when it comes to policy. And then we have some disadvantages that we know about, but we’re doing a lot in this space. And I would love to invite everyone here, actually, to our AI policy training, short plug, at the Global Africa Business Initiative. So it will be on Wednesday. Right here in the city. We hope you can come. It’s basically an AI policy training course for policymakers and government officials. If you’re not a government official, you can still reach out to me. We have other programs. But it’s basically intended to make sure that our policymakers are literate in this domain and that they also can see the value and how we can help them in the delivery of government services to citizens. And then can also feel empowered to regulate AI.

Farai Gundan: Amazing. I love the fact that it is centralizing, at least at a policy development level. I actually was involved in the market entry for a flood away in South Africa. And so that is part of my journey as a FinTech founder. So I’m so excited. But essentially what happens and speaks to this is we literally have to go to every central bank in Africa, 55, and ask for permission and understand the regulatory environment in each marketplace. And then begin to build our API stack for each marketplace. So you can imagine how challenging this can be, but excited about what Gen AI can do for us. So to you, Kola, founder to founder, FinTech founder to founder, from your experience as CEO of Sava, a FinTech payment system, what are the main challenges facing the implementation of digital innovation in Africa? And I’ll let you share the pain, what keeps us up at night. And hopefully they’re quite similar.

Kolawole Olajide: Thank you so much. So at Sava we built the smartest bank card in Africa. And, you know, with the partnership with MasterCard and raising $5 million from investors. The goal was, you know, how do we enable investment in Africa in the next 20 pages. We built software that allows businesses to issue cards and write rules. You can write rules across four verticals, budget, time, location, and merchant. You could write a rule to say, hey, Conrad business of Africa is traveling to the United States. This card will only work on these days. This card will only work on these merchants, and these merchants, this card will only work at this time of the day. If Conrad will submit certain receipts on time, he wouldn’t be able to use the card anymore. So now you might have so many merchants coming up every day on the continent, and we need these rules to be active in real time. There’s just so much computing power going to be keeping this system active. And, you know, building this solution has opened my eyes to, I mean, deeply into the world of AI. And I’ll start with the point on the regulations, right? With this solution now, with the MasterCard partnership, we can basically operate in any country, MasterCard operates in the United States today, but we still need regulatory approval in each country to be able to go live. Right now, we have approvals in South Africa, and we have approvals in Kenya, and we’re growing. But I think what’s really important for me, I mean, in this, for my experience, was the cost of training this machine. I think there’s a lot of conversations we’re having around at the service layer, which is what can we do with these tools? But if as a continent, we’re not, you know, intentional about being in the value chain of what creates these tools, it would always continue to be a barrier for entry, even if we have the best centers on the continent. Right. And, you know, I’ll just quickly talk you through the value chain of, you know, AI, before it gets into your hands on certificate. Yeah. There’s a specialized hardware that needs to be developed. And a lot of that is designed with resources from the continent, but made in China. Then because of high demand for computing power, these devices, and then this specialized hardware is already fully bought out by two to three companies, Google, Microsoft. Then there are some intellectual property models, proprietary models, called the foundational models that hosts the machine learning ops. And then we have custom layers for different applications, and then we have the services. If as a continent, we only participate in that service layer, we have a big problem in the long-term. We will continue to, it will be very expensive for us. And I think it’s important that for government, we need to be intentional about being participating in this chain. How do we get Google and Microsoft and some of these players to localize some of the technology and help bring down the costs, so that the top talent on the continent can deal with better solutions at an affordable price and also scale up.

Farai Gundan: Thank you so much. And it is definitely a pipeline issue, it’s definitely a value chain issue, where we have to play and own, I’m really big on ownership, ownership of the data, because it comes from us, right? So we have to own that data, even where the data resides, it has to reside on the continent. I was in Rwanda, and President Parker Ghani has said, Rwanda is a proof of concept country. And so come in and play and try all these things, but we retain that knowledge, we retain our failures, we retain our successes, because we understand our people. When talking about value chain, Minister Jamila, Dr. Jamila, what is being done to integrate AI and digital skills at the inter-educational systems across Nigeria, but also across the continent? And I have a two-part question for you. And the second part is, how can governments and the private sector work together to put young people with the necessary AI skills to thrive in the future economy? Taking what Paula has said in mind, that we’re not at the service level, so we’re not creating like fun games, service level games, but really at a hardware. Can we create the hardware that’s necessary to capture this data? Can we play at every level? So what are we doing from an educational perspective? And it’s a pipeline question.

Jamila Bio Ibrahim: Yes, very, very interesting question. Integrating AI at government level, in the schools and curriculum and all of that. I had engagements with the Minister of Education, because that’s the responsibility. Yes, policy mandates of the Ministry of Education. And I’m very excited to tell you that earlier this year, we had the EdTech conference in Abuja, in partnership with Mastercard Foundation. It was fully collaborated with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Youth and Ministry of Education. And then there’s also an ongoing review of the curriculum at the national level to ensure that we integrate AI into our learning model. Right. And that’s, I mean, the direction, that’s the policy direction for this administration to ensure that we capacitate young people for learning, to think of AI within ethical limits. And, well, partnerships, I was just going to speak to how to engage and see how we can collaborate, yes, with Google, see how we can work together, even beyond the software, the games and the hardware. I mean, I have set some stages here, but I just went on the floor around some of the government offices in Nigeria, and realized that there were a lot of these components that were only here. So it raised a lot of concern here, and I had to talk to some of the heads of government to see how we can leverage the power of creativity and the potential of young Nigerians to actually start designing and fabricating and creating these components. So for local consumption.

Farai Gundan: So manufacturing.

Jamila Bio Ibrahim: Manufacturing.

Farai Gundan: On the continent.

Jamila Bio Ibrahim: On the continent.

Farai Gundan: So our inputs from the continent, beneficiation has to go on the continent.

Jamila Bio Ibrahim: That’s right. So there is the call to all partners to come to the table to work with us. I mean, we may not have all the resources, but we have a little change we can use to invest in new materials.

Farai Gundan: I don’t think Nigeria, you can put a little of Nigeria.

Jamila Bio Ibrahim: Well, I really, really think it’s time. I mean, who doesn’t invest in presidential initiatives to develop enterprises across the various digital technologies space, creative industry, agriculture, extractive industry as well. And there are also opportunities for investment in health sector as well. I mean, we have tech solutions in health as well. The continent has over 100 million young people who are unemployed and underemployed. Yes. And 53 million of these young people are Nigerians.

Farai Gundan: Yeah. So 100 million across the continent, 53 are Nigerian.

Jamila Bio Ibrahim: That is correct. So that leaves me with sleepless nights at the wedding to ensure that we continue to create opportunities to replace the youth capacity of these young people. and place them in meaningful employment. And that’s what, you know, inspired us to create or to design the initiative called the Co-exemption Initiative on Regions and Vice-Versa. I mean, all the sectors we’ve mentioned and we’ve been passing it on to people beyond just faculty, field and health, we’re handing it on to people through that process, the process of ideation of their, you know, conception of their ideas, all the way down to the creation of, I mean, access to markets and to the point of return on investment. We’re highly committed to that. And we’re, I mean, what’s it called? Partners, general and board and private sector, I mean, governments. Inquilus here, and Google is here.

Farai Gundan: So I do want to quickly jump in. You mentioned that you want to pull our sister to the side and maybe talk about collaboration. And I’m really excited to see that already, you know, partnerships are coming out of this. So talking about that, well, on the Google side, should a partnership or collaboration come out of this? The question would be, AI is one of Google’s priority areas in Africa. What ethical considerations should be taken into account when implementing AI technology? So here you are, the minister wants to talk to you about a collaboration. What should, what ethical consideration from your side, from your perspective, that should go into this? Just a quick answer to that.

Priscilla: I’ll just say there are many ethical considerations. We have ethical, responsible AI principles that we developed in 2018, actually, that we use to guide our company’s deployment of AI. But particularly in Africa, some of the things we think about a lot is how do we prevent a widening digital divide? Right. So, we’re deploying these amazing technologies. How do we make it more accessible and useful to more people on the continent? And how do we make sure that we’re not left behind in a lot of these conversations? A lot of that, for us, will have to do with having African data, African data sets, like you were saying, and making sure that we have local languages included as part of the development of data. And so, we’re doing a lot more partnerships with African universities and African researchers in this particular context.

Farai Gundan: Excellent. Thank you so much. In the interest of time, I’m going to move over to Kola. And I want you to wrap up our panel by answering this question. How can collaboration between youth-led startups, such as Atlas, because we are the youth, private sector, and governments be beneficial for the implementation of AI-driven initiatives?

Kolawole Olajide: Great question. So, yeah, I think technology would always move faster than innovation. We would always have both entrepreneurs trying to push the boundaries, right? But I think it’s, we need to be intentional about, you know, shortening that gap. And instead of solving for the perfect framework, because this moves so fast, let’s solve for having the right people in the room, right? And believe me, if we have the right people in the room, no matter how fast technology moves, you know, with the right people in the room, we’ll be able to catch up much faster, and hopefully at some point, we will be ahead, right? You know, and with that being said, I think, you know, sharing my experience, we would need a lot more, you know, private, you know, I would say investors in Africa to take the startup scene seriously, right? Now, a lot of the funding is international, and then you come to a lot of, you know, foreign PCs, and that also influences, you know, our goals. And yeah, of course, and also investment in education, right? We need the right talent to be able to take this forward on the continent. And yeah, I think it’s a super exciting time. You know, I remember when cloud was the hottest thing, right? And everyone, you know, we were late to that game. Now we’re paying so much to get, you know, great, I mean, good quality access to stable cloud. Let’s just make sure the same doesn’t happen with AI.

Jamila Bio Ibrahim: I really think it’s important to encourage young innovators and creators. I really think I need to just let you know that there’s a lot of hope, you know, that the Ministry of Youth is bringing to young people in that space. And in the coming months, we hope to actually create a platform where through venture capital funding, I mean, young people can have access to, you know, some form of an investment. So we have a platform where we’re working very hard to see, we bring young people across the states to teach potential investors. And of course, we leverage as well on the youth development bank that we hope to establish. And that’s in the long term. But in the interim, we can leverage temporarily in the short term, yes, on the youth investment fund and just, you know, do this venture capital thing where people can teach their ideas. And we’re calling on partners to work with us to achieve this.

Farai Gundan: Yes. Thank you so, so much. Thank you for indulging us. To the Honorable Minister, thank you. Priscilla, thank you. Kola, thank you. Thank you to the partners, to Chido, and to everyone else at the A&E.

Moderator: In lieu of a full question and answer, since we’re running out of time, but please, you have the floor. Thank you so much for all these panels and information. I want to make a reflection about who could be involved in this especially too. I’m just coming back from Africa, precisely from the people in Dava, I’m sure some of you know it. It’s an amazing organization of grassroots researchers from all over Africa. They’re doing an amazing work on AI for good. In fact, I think they are leading the AI for good research in the world and we have a lot to learn internationally from what’s happening there. And so all this to say that I think academia and research, it’s not just a discussion, it seemed to me that it was a little bit discussion of private sector startups and government trying to put some regulation of what’s happening from the private sector. Maybe we have to think deeper. What are the goals of AI? Is it just innovation? Innovation for what, right? We are working on many different uses of generative AI and other types of AI, simulations for new policies, informing new global development indicators. This is also AI. And this is happening in Africa too. So this is just what I wanted to say. Let’s include all the stakeholders, especially in Africa. They’re doing an amazing work and we all have to learn from what’s happening there, especially in Dava.

Tonilyn Lim: Thank you very much. I think that was also a message that we got from the other panelists, the partnership, the involvement of different stakeholders from the UN to the private sector and certainly also academia and the research community certainly have to come together all to make this work, scale it for better adoption while respecting freedoms and rights as such. So anyway, I would like to close this session. I actually am not happy to do that, but we have to close at some point. Oh, sorry. We have a youth representative. I can’t, I just have to give like everything. Yes. Oh, okay. Do you want to come here?

Little boy: I just want to say that I am, I’m from India. I’m the world’s youngest speaker on technology and innovation. I’ve written a book on AI and I feel that can impact many lives of African kids who cannot be educated. Thank you. Sorry, I’m his father. No, thank you. It was a pleasure to be reading this book.

Tonilyn Lim: Yes. Thank you very much. So, along with the publication of Ranveer, please also have a chance to download publications from the UN Global Conference on AI for the Global Goals and also publications from IOE and our partners from AU. Thank you very much. And thank you all for attending this session. Thank you.

S

Sanda Ojiambo

Speech speed

183 words per minute

Speech length

1832 words

Speech time

598 seconds

AI can accelerate innovation and increase productivity to drive SDG progress

Explanation

Sanda Ojiambo argues that AI has the potential to accelerate innovation and increase productivity, which can help drive progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This suggests that AI can be a powerful tool for achieving global sustainability targets.

Evidence

A survey of about 1,600 CEOs revealed that 75% of large companies are in the process of embedding AI into their work and strategies.

Major Discussion Point

The potential of AI for sustainable development and achieving the SDGs

Agreed with

Gerbrand Haverkamp

Agreed on

AI has significant potential for sustainable development and achieving SDGs

Disagreed with

Kolawole Olajide

Disagreed on

Focus of AI development and implementation

Gen AI can help solve complex sustainability problems like circular business models and food waste reduction

Explanation

Sanda Ojiambo suggests that Generative AI can be used to address complex sustainability challenges. This includes developing circular business models and reducing food waste, which are important aspects of sustainable development.

Major Discussion Point

The potential of AI for sustainable development and achieving the SDGs

Agreed with

Gerbrand Haverkamp

Agreed on

AI has significant potential for sustainable development and achieving SDGs

AI has potential to transform industries and deliver solutions for the global goals

Explanation

Sanda Ojiambo argues that AI has the capability to revolutionize various industries and provide solutions that can help achieve global sustainability goals. This implies that AI can have a wide-ranging impact across different sectors.

Evidence

Interviews with about 30 executives revealed recognition of AI’s capacity to truly transform industry and drive progress towards global goals.

Major Discussion Point

The potential of AI for sustainable development and achieving the SDGs

Agreed with

Gerbrand Haverkamp

Agreed on

AI has significant potential for sustainable development and achieving SDGs

Need for multi-stakeholder collaboration including governments, private sector, and civil society

Explanation

Sanda Ojiambo emphasizes the importance of collaboration between various stakeholders, including governments, private sector, and civil society. This multi-stakeholder approach is seen as crucial for effectively developing and implementing AI technologies for sustainable development.

Major Discussion Point

The importance of collaboration and partnerships

Agreed with

Priscilla Boa-Gue

Kolawole Olajide

Agreed on

Importance of collaboration and partnerships in AI development and implementation

C

Christopher Lu

Speech speed

0 words per minute

Speech length

0 words

Speech time

1 seconds

Lack of basic infrastructure like internet access and electricity in many areas

Explanation

Christopher Lu points out that many areas, particularly in developing countries, lack basic infrastructure such as internet access and electricity. This poses a significant challenge to the implementation and adoption of AI technologies in these regions.

Evidence

Lu mentions that 33% of the world is without internet access, making it impossible for them to use generative AI.

Major Discussion Point

Challenges and risks of AI implementation in Africa

Risk of widening inequality if AI benefits don’t reach everyone

Explanation

Christopher Lu warns that if the benefits of AI are not distributed equally, it could lead to increased inequality. This highlights the importance of ensuring that AI technologies are accessible and beneficial to all segments of society.

Major Discussion Point

Challenges and risks of AI implementation in Africa

K

Kolawole Olajide

Speech speed

157 words per minute

Speech length

807 words

Speech time

306 seconds

High costs of AI development and implementation for African startups

Explanation

Kolawole Olajide highlights the significant costs associated with AI development and implementation for African startups. This financial barrier can hinder innovation and adoption of AI technologies in the African context.

Evidence

Olajide mentions the high costs of training AI models and the need for specialized hardware, which is often bought out by large tech companies.

Major Discussion Point

Challenges and risks of AI implementation in Africa

Disagreed with

Sanda Ojiambo

Disagreed on

Focus of AI development and implementation

Collaboration between youth-led startups, private sector and governments

Explanation

Kolawole Olajide emphasizes the importance of collaboration between youth-led startups, the private sector, and governments. This collaborative approach is seen as crucial for the successful implementation of AI-driven initiatives in Africa.

Major Discussion Point

The importance of collaboration and partnerships

Agreed with

Sanda Ojiambo

Priscilla Boa-Gue

Agreed on

Importance of collaboration and partnerships in AI development and implementation

P

Priscilla Boa-Gue

Speech speed

0 words per minute

Speech length

0 words

Speech time

1 seconds

Need for ethical considerations and responsible AI principles

Explanation

Priscilla Boa-Gue emphasizes the importance of ethical considerations and responsible AI principles in the development and deployment of AI technologies. This ensures that AI is used in a way that respects human rights and societal values.

Evidence

Boa-Gue mentions Google’s ethical and responsible AI principles developed in 2018 that guide the company’s deployment of AI.

Major Discussion Point

Challenges and risks of AI implementation in Africa

Creating enabling policy environments to support AI startups

Explanation

Priscilla Boa-Gue argues for the creation of supportive policy environments to foster AI startups. This includes developing policies that incentivize founders and provide necessary support structures for startup growth.

Evidence

Boa-Gue mentions the African Startup Policy Framework as an example of an initiative to enable member states to develop policies that support startups.

Major Discussion Point

Strategies for empowering African youth through AI

Partnerships between tech companies and African institutions to develop local AI solutions

Explanation

Priscilla Boa-Gue highlights the importance of partnerships between tech companies and African institutions. These collaborations aim to develop AI solutions that are tailored to local needs and contexts in Africa.

Evidence

Boa-Gue mentions Google’s partnerships with African universities and researchers to develop AI solutions with African data and local languages.

Major Discussion Point

The importance of collaboration and partnerships

Agreed with

Sanda Ojiambo

Kolawole Olajide

Agreed on

Importance of collaboration and partnerships in AI development and implementation

J

Jamila Bio Ibrahim

Speech speed

130 words per minute

Speech length

1415 words

Speech time

651 seconds

Investing in talent development and digital skills training for youth

Explanation

Jamila Bio Ibrahim emphasizes the importance of investing in talent development and digital skills training for youth. This strategy aims to prepare young people for the AI-driven future and enable them to contribute to technological innovation.

Evidence

Ibrahim mentions the Nigerian government’s commitment to investing in young people and tapping into untapped tech talents.

Major Discussion Point

Strategies for empowering African youth through AI

Integrating AI and digital skills into educational curricula

Explanation

Jamila Bio Ibrahim discusses the integration of AI and digital skills into educational curricula. This approach aims to ensure that young people are equipped with the necessary skills to thrive in an AI-driven economy from an early age.

Evidence

Ibrahim mentions an ongoing review of the curriculum at the national level in Nigeria to integrate AI into the learning model.

Major Discussion Point

Strategies for empowering African youth through AI

Providing funding and investment opportunities for youth-led AI initiatives

Explanation

Jamila Bio Ibrahim discusses the importance of providing funding and investment opportunities for youth-led AI initiatives. This strategy aims to support young innovators and creators in developing AI solutions.

Evidence

Ibrahim mentions plans to create a platform for venture capital funding and leverage the youth investment fund to support young people’s ideas.

Major Discussion Point

Strategies for empowering African youth through AI

G

Gerbrand Haverkamp

Speech speed

202 words per minute

Speech length

808 words

Speech time

239 seconds

AI can contribute to breakthroughs on climate change

Explanation

Gerbrand Haverkamp expresses hope that AI can lead to significant breakthroughs in addressing climate change. This suggests that AI technologies could play a crucial role in developing solutions to one of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.

Major Discussion Point

The potential of AI for sustainable development and achieving the SDGs

Agreed with

Sanda Ojiambo

Agreed on

AI has significant potential for sustainable development and achieving SDGs

U

Unknown speaker

Speech speed

0 words per minute

Speech length

0 words

Speech time

1 seconds

Inclusion of academia and grassroots researchers in AI development

Explanation

An audience member argues for the inclusion of academia and grassroots researchers in AI development. This suggests that a broader range of perspectives and expertise should be involved in shaping AI technologies and their applications.

Evidence

The speaker mentions the work of Dava, an organization of grassroots researchers from Africa, as an example of important contributions to AI for good research.

Major Discussion Point

The importance of collaboration and partnerships

Agreements

Agreement Points

AI has significant potential for sustainable development and achieving SDGs

Speakers

Sanda Ojiambo

Gerbrand Haverkamp

Arguments

AI can accelerate innovation and increase productivity to drive SDG progress

Gen AI can help solve complex sustainability problems like circular business models and food waste reduction

AI has potential to transform industries and deliver solutions for the global goals

AI can contribute to breakthroughs on climate change

Summary

Multiple speakers emphasized AI’s potential to drive progress towards sustainable development goals through innovation, productivity increases, and addressing complex sustainability challenges.

Importance of collaboration and partnerships in AI development and implementation

Speakers

Sanda Ojiambo

Priscilla Boa-Gue

Kolawole Olajide

Arguments

Need for multi-stakeholder collaboration including governments, private sector, and civil society

Partnerships between tech companies and African institutions to develop local AI solutions

Collaboration between youth-led startups, private sector and governments

Summary

Speakers agreed on the crucial role of collaboration between various stakeholders, including governments, private sector, civil society, and academic institutions, in effectively developing and implementing AI technologies.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers highlighted significant challenges in implementing AI in Africa, particularly related to infrastructure and cost barriers.

Speakers

Christopher Lu

Kolawole Olajide

Arguments

Lack of basic infrastructure like internet access and electricity in many areas

High costs of AI development and implementation for African startups

Both speakers emphasized the importance of creating supportive environments for AI startups and youth-led initiatives through policy and funding mechanisms.

Speakers

Priscilla Boa-Gue

Jamila Bio Ibrahim

Arguments

Creating enabling policy environments to support AI startups

Providing funding and investment opportunities for youth-led AI initiatives

Unexpected Consensus

Importance of local data and context in AI development

Speakers

Priscilla Boa-Gue

Unknown speaker

Arguments

Partnerships between tech companies and African institutions to develop local AI solutions

Inclusion of academia and grassroots researchers in AI development

Explanation

Despite representing different sectors (tech industry and academia), both speakers emphasized the importance of involving local institutions and researchers in AI development, highlighting a shared recognition of the value of local context and expertise.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of agreement centered around AI’s potential for sustainable development, the need for collaboration and partnerships, and the importance of addressing infrastructure and cost challenges in AI implementation in Africa.

Consensus level

There was a moderate level of consensus among speakers on key issues. This consensus suggests a shared understanding of AI’s potential benefits and challenges in the African context, which could facilitate more coordinated efforts in AI development and implementation. However, the diversity of perspectives also highlights the complexity of the issues and the need for continued dialogue and collaboration among various stakeholders.

Disagreements

Disagreement Points

Focus of AI development and implementation

Speakers

Sanda Ojiambo

Kolawole Olajide

Arguments

AI can accelerate innovation and increase productivity to drive SDG progress

High costs of AI development and implementation for African startups

Summary

While Sanda Ojiambo emphasizes the potential of AI to drive progress towards SDGs, Kolawole Olajide highlights the financial barriers that African startups face in developing and implementing AI technologies.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of disagreement revolve around the challenges of implementing AI in Africa, including infrastructure limitations, costs, and the need for ethical considerations.

Disagreement level

The level of disagreement among the speakers is relatively low. Most speakers acknowledge both the potential benefits and challenges of AI implementation in Africa. The differences in their arguments mainly stem from their different areas of expertise and focus, rather than fundamental disagreements. This suggests a generally aligned perspective on the topic, which could facilitate collaborative efforts in addressing the challenges and leveraging the opportunities of AI for sustainable development in Africa.

Partial Agreements

Partial Agreements

Both speakers agree on the need to address potential negative impacts of AI, but they focus on different aspects. Christopher Lu emphasizes the risk of widening inequality, while Priscilla Boa-Gue focuses on the need for ethical considerations and responsible AI principles.

Speakers

Christopher Lu

Priscilla Boa-Gue

Arguments

Risk of widening inequality if AI benefits don’t reach everyone

Need for ethical considerations and responsible AI principles

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers highlighted significant challenges in implementing AI in Africa, particularly related to infrastructure and cost barriers.

Speakers

Christopher Lu

Kolawole Olajide

Arguments

Lack of basic infrastructure like internet access and electricity in many areas

High costs of AI development and implementation for African startups

Both speakers emphasized the importance of creating supportive environments for AI startups and youth-led initiatives through policy and funding mechanisms.

Speakers

Priscilla Boa-Gue

Jamila Bio Ibrahim

Arguments

Creating enabling policy environments to support AI startups

Providing funding and investment opportunities for youth-led AI initiatives

Takeaways

Key Takeaways

AI has significant potential to accelerate sustainable development and progress on the SDGs, particularly in areas like agriculture, healthcare, and climate change mitigation

There are major challenges to AI implementation in Africa, including lack of infrastructure, high costs, and risks of widening inequality

Empowering African youth through AI requires investment in education, skills training, supportive policies, and funding opportunities

Multi-stakeholder collaboration between governments, private sector, academia, and civil society is crucial for responsible and inclusive AI development in Africa

Resolutions and Action Items

Google to host an AI policy training for African policymakers and government officials

Nigerian Ministry of Youth to create a platform for young innovators to pitch ideas to potential investors

Nigerian government to review and update educational curricula to integrate AI

African Union to implement the African Startup Policy Framework to support AI startups

Unresolved Issues

How to ensure AI benefits reach rural and marginalized communities

Ownership and control of African data used to develop AI systems

How to increase African participation in hardware development and other parts of the AI value chain

Balancing innovation with ethical concerns and responsible AI development

Suggested Compromises

Partnering with tech companies to localize AI technology development in Africa to reduce costs

Balancing government regulation with allowing space for innovation in AI startups

Combining international investment with local African investment in AI initiatives

Thought Provoking Comments

Gen AI can be a true game-changer for sustainability progress because it will democratize access to information, it will accelerate innovation through the solutions, through cross-disciplinary thinking, and certainly by increasing productivity.

Speaker

Sanda Ojiambo

Reason

This comment highlights the transformative potential of AI for sustainable development in multiple dimensions.

Impact

It set the tone for the discussion by emphasizing AI’s positive potential, leading to further exploration of specific use cases and applications.

At best, AI will help us solve the global goals, and that’s really important, but we must take a reality check because we realize that gaps in technology are really what keeps the world separate.

Speaker

Sanda Ojiambo

Reason

This balanced perspective acknowledges both the potential and challenges of AI adoption, particularly in developing regions.

Impact

It shifted the conversation to address issues of access and equity, prompting discussion on infrastructure needs and policy considerations.

AI will not take your job away, but the person with AI skills will.

Speaker

Shea Gopaul

Reason

This succinct statement captures a key concern about AI’s impact on employment in a memorable way.

Impact

It focused attention on the critical need for AI skills development and education, which became a recurring theme in later discussions.

If we do not do it here in the UN, it will either be decided in the US, in Europe, or in China, and then we know which other countries will not be at the table.

Speaker

Gerbrand Haverkamp

Reason

This comment underscores the importance of inclusive global governance for AI.

Impact

It emphasized the role of international bodies like the UN in AI governance, leading to discussion of ethical principles and regulatory frameworks.

If as a continent, we only participate in that service layer, we have a big problem in the long-term. We will continue to, it will be very expensive for us.

Speaker

Kolawole Olajide

Reason

This insight highlights the need for African countries to participate in all layers of the AI value chain, not just as end-users.

Impact

It shifted the discussion towards strategies for building local AI capabilities and infrastructure in Africa, including manufacturing and hardware development.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by highlighting both the transformative potential of AI for sustainable development and the critical challenges that need to be addressed, particularly in developing regions. The conversation evolved from general optimism about AI’s potential to a more nuanced exploration of access issues, skills development needs, governance challenges, and the importance of building local AI capabilities across the entire value chain. This led to a rich discussion of practical strategies and policy considerations for leveraging AI to benefit youth and drive sustainable development in Africa while addressing equity concerns.

Follow-up Questions

How can AI be made more accessible and affordable for developing countries and rural communities?

Speaker

Sanda Ojiambo, Christopher P. Lu, Jamila Bio Ibrahim

Explanation

Multiple speakers emphasized the need to bridge the digital divide and ensure AI benefits reach all communities, not just advanced economies.

What ethical principles and governance frameworks should guide AI development and deployment globally?

Speaker

Gerbrand Haverkamp, Christopher P. Lu

Explanation

Speakers highlighted the need for clear ethical guidelines and governance structures for AI, potentially developed through UN-led efforts.

How can African countries participate more in the AI value chain beyond just the service layer?

Speaker

Kolawole Olajide

Explanation

Olajide stressed the importance of Africa being involved in hardware development and other upstream aspects of AI, not just applications.

What steps are needed to integrate AI and digital skills into educational curricula across Africa?

Speaker

Farai Gundan, Jamila Bio Ibrahim

Explanation

Speakers discussed the need to update education systems to prepare youth for an AI-driven future economy.

How can governments and private sector collaborate to create more local manufacturing of AI hardware in Africa?

Speaker

Jamila Bio Ibrahim

Explanation

Ibrahim expressed interest in developing local manufacturing capabilities for AI components currently imported.

What measures can be taken to ensure African data used for AI development remains owned and stored on the continent?

Speaker

Farai Gundan

Explanation

Gundan raised concerns about data ownership and storage location for AI systems trained on African data.

How can more African private investors be encouraged to fund local AI and tech startups?

Speaker

Kolawole Olajide

Explanation

Olajide noted the reliance on foreign investors and the need for more local investment in African tech startups.

What role can academia and research institutions play in shaping AI development in Africa?

Speaker

Audience member

Explanation

An audience member highlighted the importance of including academic and research perspectives in AI discussions, not just private sector and government.

Disclaimer: This is not an official record of the session. The DiploAI system automatically generates these resources from the audiovisual recording. Resources are presented in their original format, as provided by the AI (e.g. including any spelling mistakes). The accuracy of these resources cannot be guaranteed.

Building Bridges through Science Diplomacy: Accelerating progress toward sustainable development

Building Bridges through Science Diplomacy: Accelerating progress toward sustainable development

Session at a Glance

Summary

This discussion focused on the role of science diplomacy in addressing global challenges and fostering international cooperation. Speakers highlighted how scientific collaboration can build trust between nations and contribute to sustainable development. Several case studies were presented, including marine conservation efforts between Costa Rica and Ecuador, the SESAME particle accelerator in the Middle East, and gorilla conservation work in Africa. These examples demonstrated how science can transcend political boundaries to tackle shared problems.

Participants emphasized the need to embed scientific expertise more deeply in diplomatic and policymaking processes. There were calls to increase funding for international scientific partnerships and to ensure developing countries are included. The importance of indigenous knowledge systems was highlighted, with a plea for their equal recognition alongside Western scientific approaches. Challenges facing science diplomacy were discussed, including geopolitical tensions, sanctions that hinder collaboration, and the undermining of trust in science.

Young scientists face particular obstacles in engaging in science diplomacy, such as visa restrictions and limited mobility. Speakers advocated for more inclusive policies to involve researchers from countries currently excluded from global scientific discourse. The discussion emphasized the need to simplify and communicate science effectively to the public to combat misinformation. Overall, participants agreed on the critical importance of strengthening the role of science in multilateral efforts to address urgent global issues like climate change and emerging technologies.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– Science diplomacy is crucial for addressing global challenges and building trust between nations

– There is a need to better integrate scientific evidence and expertise into policymaking and diplomatic processes

– Young scientists and researchers from underrepresented regions face challenges in participating in international scientific collaboration

– Indigenous knowledge systems should be recognized and integrated with Western scientific approaches

– Building public trust in science and combating misinformation is important for effective science diplomacy

Overall purpose/goal:

The discussion aimed to highlight the vital role of science in strengthening multilateralism and diplomacy to address urgent global challenges like climate change and sustainable development. It sought to showcase examples of successful science diplomacy and explore ways to enhance collaboration between scientists, policymakers and diplomats.

Tone:

The overall tone was optimistic and action-oriented, with speakers emphasizing the potential for science to build bridges between nations and drive positive change. However, there were also notes of urgency and concern, particularly regarding challenges like declining trust in science and barriers to international scientific cooperation. The tone became more impassioned during some of the calls to action in the closing remarks.

Speakers

Moderators/Facilitators:

– Melissa Fleming (Undersecretary General for Global Communications at the UN) – Moderated first part

– María Estelí Jarquín (Coordinator of international relations at UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology) – Moderated second part

Speakers:

– Maritza Chan (Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the UN) – Expertise in diplomacy and marine conservation

– Omar Hilale (Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Morocco to the UN) – Expertise in science, technology and innovation for Africa’s development

– Peter Gluckman (President of the International Science Council) – Expert on science diplomacy

– Gihan Kamel (Principal scientist at SESAME) – Expertise in science diplomacy in the Middle East

– Tara Stoinski (President of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund) – Expertise in gorilla conservation and research

– Evelina Santa-Kahle (Women in Science Diplomacy Association) – Expertise in promoting women in science diplomacy

– Jose Julio Casas (Eastern Tropical Marine Corridor) – Expertise in marine conservation

– Sandrine Dixson-Declève (Co-president of the Club of Rome) – Expertise in facilitating difficult conversations on climate and sustainability

– Dalee Sambo Dorough (Arctic indigenous peoples expert) – Expertise in indigenous rights and knowledge systems

– Mohammad Hosseini (Assistant professor at Northwestern University) – Expertise in research ethics and trust in science

– Tshilidzi Marwala (Rector of the United Nations University) – Expertise in higher education and science policy

– Emran Mian (Director General at UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology) – Expertise in science policy and international collaboration

Full session report

Science Diplomacy: Bridging Nations and Addressing Global Challenges

This discussion, moderated by Melissa Fleming and María Estelí Jarquín, brought together a diverse panel of experts to explore the critical role of science diplomacy in addressing global challenges and fostering international cooperation. The conversation highlighted successful case studies, identified key challenges, and proposed strategies for enhancing collaboration between scientists, policymakers, and diplomats.

Importance of Science Diplomacy

Speakers emphasized the crucial importance of science diplomacy for tackling global issues. Ambassador Maritza Chan highlighted how scientific collaboration can bridge gaps between nations, while Ambassador Omar Hilale stressed its potential to leverage scientific expertise for developing comprehensive, long-term sustainable solutions, particularly in amplifying Africa’s voice in international discussions. Sir Peter Gluckman, President of the International Science Council, underscored the urgency of utilizing scientific knowledge wisely, warning of the risks if we fail to do so.

Challenges and Opportunities

Despite its importance, speakers identified several challenges facing science diplomacy. Sir Peter Gluckman noted that the era of globalization and commitment to global interdependence in science is in retreat, with new technologies challenging existing frameworks. Dr. Gihan Kamel of SESAME acknowledged that while science alone cannot solve political and economic problems, science diplomacy can play a crucial role.

The discussion highlighted the need to embed scientific expertise more deeply in diplomatic and policymaking processes. Professor Tshilidzi Marwala argued for bringing scientists into the core of political decision-making, while Dr. Emran Mian emphasized the importance of governments putting science at the heart of decision-making and funding international scientific collaboration. Dr. Mian also noted the UK’s significant investment in international science partnerships and suggested that governments sometimes need to “get out of the way” to allow natural scientific collaboration.

Diversity and Inclusion in Science Diplomacy

Several speakers stressed the importance of promoting diversity and inclusion in science diplomacy. Evelina Santa-Kahle introduced the Women in Science Diplomacy Association (WSDA), highlighting its mission to increase female representation in science and science diplomacy. Dr. Dalee Sambo Dorough emphasized the need to recognize and respect indigenous knowledge systems alongside scientific research, calling for the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in relation to science diplomacy.

Dr. Mohammad Hosseini provided a personal perspective on the challenges faced by young scientists and researchers from countries currently excluded from global scientific discourse. He highlighted issues such as visa restrictions and limited mobility, underscoring the transformative potential of science diplomacy as a source of hope for researchers from politically isolated countries.

Building Trust and Implementing Science in Policymaking

A recurring theme was the need to build public trust in science and combat misinformation. Professor Tshilidzi Marwala emphasized the importance of science literacy as a human rights issue and called for simplifying scientific language to make it more accessible to the general public. Sandrine Dixson-Declève of the Club of Rome forcefully argued for the integration of scientific evidence into policymaking, calling for accountability from governments in respecting scientific evidence.

Case Studies and Successful Initiatives

The discussion featured several case studies demonstrating the power of science diplomacy:

1. Jose Julio Casas presented the Eastern Tropical Marine Corridor, a collaborative effort between Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador to protect marine biodiversity and promote sustainable fishing practices.

2. Dr. Gihan Kamel provided insights into the SESAME particle accelerator project in the Middle East, illustrating how scientific collaboration can transcend political boundaries.

3. Dr. Tara Stoinski discussed gorilla conservation efforts in Africa, highlighting how scientific research has informed conservation strategies and fostered cooperation between countries sharing gorilla habitats.

Resolutions and Action Items

The discussion concluded with several calls to action and proposed resolutions, including:

1. Deeper investment in science, especially in inclusive ways

2. Building more local forums for collaboration between community leaders, businesses, scientists, and the public

3. Creating more public repositories of scientific research and data

4. A commitment from the United Nations University to support efforts to build trust in science and take science to the people

Professor Marwala also mentioned the UN’s International Decade of Sciences and Sustainable Development as an opportunity to further promote science diplomacy.

Unresolved Issues and Future Directions

Despite the productive discussion, several issues remained unresolved, including:

1. How to effectively integrate science into diplomatic processes and policymaking

2. Addressing restrictions on scientific collaboration due to geopolitical tensions and sanctions

3. Improving science communication and literacy among the general public

4. Balancing national interests with the need for global scientific collaboration

In conclusion, the discussion highlighted the vital role of science diplomacy in addressing global challenges and fostering international cooperation. While acknowledging significant obstacles, speakers remained optimistic about the potential for science to build bridges between nations and drive positive change. The conversation emphasized the need for more inclusive, diverse, and effective approaches to science diplomacy to navigate the complex global challenges of the 21st century.

Session Transcript

Melissa Fleming: I can feel the buzz in the room. But I could I get your attention, please? Hello, everyone. It’s great to see the energy in this room, especially around a topic that’s linked to science. So that’s I find very exciting because we do have excellencies in the room. That means diplomats. We have scientists, we have scholars, and we also have young people. And I’d like to give a special welcome to the young people who are with us today. So welcome to this Summit of the Future Action Day side event, Building Bridges Through Science Diplomacy, Accelerating Progress Towards Sustainable Development. And I’m really pleased to convene this group of member states, representatives of the scientific and academic communities and other stakeholders for this important discussion. And we’re here to showcase the vital role of science in strengthening multilateralism to respond to the urgent global challenges that our world is facing. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Melissa Fleming, and I am the Undersecretary General for Global Communications here at the United Nations. And I’m really honored to be moderating the first part of this event. A quick procedural note before we begin. This event is paper smart, so you can access the program through the QR code provided. QR codes also to full biographies of the speakers will appear on the title slides displayed before each speaker speaks. I’d like to thank the co-organizing partners of today’s event, the International Science Council, the German Center for Research and Innovation of New York, the United Nations Academic Impact, the IMPACT Coalition, Science and Policy Solutions for the Planet, as well as the Permanent Missions of Costa Rica and South Africa to the UN. Special thanks also to our esteemed speakers whose insights and leadership will guide our discussions today. Your contributions are invaluable as we work together to strengthen the relationship between science and diplomacy and to build a more sustainable and just future for all. Dear friends, we meet in turbulent times. Science diplomacy has arguably never been more needed, and probably it’s a term that not many people know, and that we need to popularize because we need policymakers to be informed as they navigate complex and interlocking global crises and as they endeavor to make the world a more sustainable, peaceful, and equitable place. So the department that I lead, the Department of Global Communications, has had a long and fruitful collaboration with the scientific community to bring robust science to global audiences, and we’re trying to do that using cutting-edge strategic communications as well as insights from behavioral science as well. This has been the backbone of some of our key campaigns. This has included sharing life-saving public health guidance during the pandemic, boosting vaccine confidence, and making the scientific case for an urgent transition away from fossil fuels. This, I have to say, has become an increasing challenge in the digital age, in the age of social media, where lies seem to surface and travel much faster than facts. So we have a communications challenge, and I know, speaking to many scientists, that they feel that they need a lot of help in how to communicate and navigate in this information age. So our speakers will explore these and many other forms that science diplomacy takes today, from peace building to harnessing the potential for AI for all of humanity. And they will share insights on how science diplomacy can help drive sustainable development, not just for those of us alive today, but as the theme is very much at this summit of the future and these action days for future generations. And we hope that this side event is the start of a big galvanization of support for deeper science policy engagement. It is my pleasure now to welcome our first speaker, Her Excellency Ambassador Maritza Chan, Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the UN. Costa Rica has been a champion in science diplomacy for decades. An example of this has been leading the creation of the Eastern Tropical Marine Corridor, a regional initiative led by the governments of Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Panama. And this initiative seeks the conservation of biological diversity and sustainable use of marine resources. Ambassador Chan has been recognized by the United Nations Regional Center for Peace, Disarmament, and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean as one of the leading agents for change, advocating for arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation in 2014 and again in 2021. Excellency, the floor is yours.

Maritza Chan: Thank you very much, Melissa. It’s so invigorating to see so many faces today. Thank you for being here. Costa Rica is thrilled to be part of the organizers. Today is a day of celebration. The summit of the future action days just kicked off, and this afternoon we have enjoyed the voice of youth in the multilateral system. And what better message could we send to the younger generation than the importance of building bridges through science? This is precisely the goal of this side event, to highlight science as a vital tool for fostering peace, collaboration, and diplomacy. Since I started my journey as a diplomat, I have believed that evidence, scientific evidence must inform diplomatic decisions. Please allow me to provide two examples where science has been essential to enhance multilateral action. In December 2020, Costa Rica and Ecuador submitted the first joint partial presentation to the UN Secretary General seeking to extend the limits of our continental shelves in the Pacific Ocean. According to Article 76 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, countries that provide field data demonstrating scientific geomorphical conditions on the ocean floor can secure exclusive rights to explore, exploit, and conserve areas of the seabed and subsoil beyond their existing 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zones. Costa Rica and Ecuador met these conditions in the Martan region between Scocos Island in Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. This achievement marks the culmination of a decade-long negotiation process, which relied heavily on scientific experience that supported the diplomatic efforts of both countries. Geologists, volcanologists, and biologists came together with diplomats to advance one of the most inspiring science diplomacy examples in Latin America. And today we celebrate this success as a milestone in the establishment, as you mentioned Melissa, of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor, one of the world’s largest marine conservation areas. This case study will be explored in greater detail in this event. The second example is around space technology. The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs has demonstrated how space technology supports the achievement of the SDGs, which are essential for maintaining peace and international security. There’s no development without peace and no peace without human rights. Similarly, states have discussed in various UN forums how technologies like Earth observation satellites can improve the verification and monitoring of international peace and security treaties. This capacity fosters trust in an area that would need it the most and can provide crucial data to inform even security council deliberations. Although many outer space systems, such as those designed for debris removal or on orbit servicing, were initially created for benign purposes, then often have dual use capabilities like robotic arms that could be repurposed to harm other space objects. By leveraging the expertise of those who develop and operate these technologies, we can better address concrete threats and enhance space security. This, in turn, helps in crafting effective legal and policy measures to ensure the safety and security of space activities. As we have seen in these two examples, we can agree that scientists and diplomats, scientists need diplomats and diplomats need scientists. to build to accelerate progress towards sustainable development. And my last point relates to the intricate link between peacekeeping and evidence-based policymaking. Allow me to share a critical message as the President of the 4th UN Review Conference on Small Arms and Light Weapons that ended in June and as the current Chair of the 1st Committee that is related to disarmament and international security. One critical area where peacekeeping capabilities need significant strengthening via significant increase of evidence and information is weapons, technical, intelligence, and police contingents. Documenting the proliferation of arms, ammunitions, and explosions is essential for UN peacekeeping civilian protection mandates. However, these activities often suffer from insufficient resources and lack systemic operationalization, partly due to limited technical intelligence capacity in peacekeeping. Enhancing these capacities would improve the mission’s ability to provide actionable intelligence to national authorities for legal accountability in crimes involving illicit weapons, support counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations, and monitor UN security arms embargoes. Hence, evidence-based policymaking ensures that our responses are founded in reality and driven by the best available data. In closing, I would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to the organizers for the hard work and dedication in making this event possible. Your efforts have created a platform for minimal dialogue and collaboration. And let me finish calling you to ensure that developing economies and underrepresented regions are also included in this undertaking, so they will not or we will not be left behind. I wish you a very successful and action-oriented Action Days. The summit of the future is already here, and we just need to agree on the pact.

Melissa Fleming: Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, Ambassador Marisa Chan. examples that demonstrate how scientific evidence can inform diplomatic decisions and also how they need each other, right? So excellent examples in marine conservation, space technology, and in security. Now it is my pleasure to introduce His Excellency Ambassador Omar Hilal, permanent representative of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United Nations. Ambassador Hilal has recently taken over as chair of the Coalition on Science, Technology, and Innovation, or STI, for Africa’s development. This coalition has a significant initiative for science diplomacy that we’re going to hear about, I think. So Excellency, you have the floor.

Omar Hilale: Thank you very much, dear Melissa. Your preliminary remarks inspired me some ideas. It’s that science is the field of evidence and concrete actions. Diplomacy is the art to make the impossible possible. And as Eliza just said, we need scientists as they need diplomacy. And when they gather all together, they are able to reach the best results, to help the world, to heal the wounds of our planet, and also to contribute to the implementation of SDGs. So together we can do a lot, and I’m very happy to be part of this meeting today. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, esteemed colleagues, and honored guests, it is an honor for me to welcome you all to today’s discussion on the theme Building Bridges Through Science, Diplomacy, Accelerating Progress Towards Sustainable Development. As we navigate the complexities of our interconnected world, the intersection of science and diplomacy offers us a unique opportunity to address global challenges collaboratively. As we embark into this crucial topic, particularly in the context of the Summit of the Future and the Pact of the Future, the discussion around the role of science, diplomacy, and in advancing sustainable development becomes increasingly vital. Science, diplomacy allows us to bridge gaps between nations, facilitating collaboration and knowledge sharing that are essential for addressing global challenges. Working toward the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, it is crucial to recognize that effective science, diplomacy can enhance our collective ability to implement policies that are informed by research and evidence. Through collaborative efforts, we can ensure that the benefits of scientific advancements are shared equitably, and that all voices are heard in the decision-making process. In an era marked by pressing issues such as climate change, resource scarcity, and public health crisis, science, diplomacy offers framework for leveraging scientific expertise and innovation. By fostering partnerships across borders, we can develop comprehensive strategies that not only tackle immediate problems, but also lay the groundwork for long-term sustainable solutions. In my capacity as the incoming chair of the Coalition on Science, Technology, and Innovation for Africa, I would emphasize that Africa stands at a pivotal moment, rich in potential and brimming with talents, yet we also face significant challenges that require innovative solutions and collaborative approaches. Science diplomacy offers us a unique pathway to address these issues by fostering partnerships that transcend borders and disciplines. Africa’s commitment to regional and international cooperation enhances its potential in science diplomacy. By aligning with global initiatives such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Africa can showcase its dedication to addressing critical issues while amplifying its voice in international discussions. In this transformative era, Africa’s involvement in science diplomacy is not just an opportunity, it is a necessity. By fostering collaboration, promoting inclusivity, and championing innovative solutions, Africa can lead the way toward a more sustainable and equitable future for all. Colleagues are not just conscious of the huge potential of the science diplomacy, Morocco’s vision adopted an innovative approach to science diplomacy, emphasizing on collaboration, sustainability, and capacity building, positioning the country as a key player in addressing regional and global challenges. As such, Morocco concluded partnerships focused on research and technology to exemplify the role of science initiatives in renewable energy and water management initiatives for sustainable agriculture. Our collaborations are extended projects with institutions focused on sustainable agriculture practices. These partnerships aim to improve food security and resilience against climate change, showcasing the benefits of science diplomacy in agriculture. Together with the International Science Council, regional initiatives are launched to facilitate knowledge sharing and training for Moroccan scientists, enhancing their capacity to address local sustainability challenges. These examples, among others, illustrate how science diplomacy not only fosters international collaboration, but also directly contributes to the national sustainable development goals by leveraging scientific knowledge. knowledge and technology. I would like to reiterate my thanks for joining us today. Let us engage in this discussion with an open mind and commitment to harnessing the power of science diplomacy as a tool for sustainable development. Together we can build a resilient and prosperous future for all. I thank you very much.

Melissa Fleming: Thank you Omar, His Excellency Omar Hilale, and also for talking about how science and diplomacy can make the impossible possible in your words and that can heal wounds of our planet and bridge gaps between nations through policies informed by evidence and through that to lay the groundwork for sustainable solutions. So that was a very inspiring words. Thank you very much and it’s now my great pleasure to welcome our esteemed keynote speaker, the President of the International Science Council, Sir Peter Gluckman. Sir Gluckman is a leading expert on science diplomacy. His rich experience includes serving as the first Chief Scientific Advisor to the Prime Ministers of New Zealand and serving as Foundation Chair of the International Network of Government Science Advice. I’m delighted to give him the floor to deliver today’s keynote address.

Peter Gluckman: Thank you very much and thank you to the two co-chairs for inspiring words to start this session off. In the decades during and after the Cold War, science diplomacy was an important component of the foreign policy toolkit of major countries, a part of international efforts to respond to both global challenges and reduce global tensions. The Antarctic Treaty, IASA, the Montreal Protocol and the IPCC are all examples of the success of science diplomacy in that era. While often encapsulated within international science cooperation, science diplomacy is something more. It’s about achieving diplomatic goals, both domestic and global, through science-assisting diplomacy. However, the rationale and the conditions under which science diplomacy blossomed 20 years ago are changing and fragmenting as the linkage between science and technology, geostrategic and economic interests grow. In this paradoxical and changing context, science diplomacy also must evolve. The era of globalization and with it the commitment to global interdependence and cooperation on global science issues is in some, sadly, in retreat. It’s offered the space in which science diplomacy can operate. The drive to open science is being replaced in political declarations from many countries with the mantra as open as possible, as closed as necessary and greater restrictions on scientific interchange between the political poles are emerging. Yet the world faces common and global challenges which science and technology must address. The paradox is obvious. We need actions that could help navigate the inherent conflict. conflict between the real politic of geostrategic tensions and the globalism that many in the global science community and most of the citizens of this world want to see happen. We’re challenged by the new technologies that do not respect national boundaries, rapidly emerging advances in AI, in synthetic biology, quantum, in the use of the ocean bed, in inner and outer space, in extraterrestrial resources, are all examples which are challenging us. Adding to the complexity is that much emergent technology is driven by companies that largely avoid both national and transnational regulation and even challenge the role of nation states. As the conditions that gave value to science diplomacy change, its practice must change. And although at times science diplomacy has seemed very academic, as our two chairs have already said, it is the key linkage between the very different worlds of diplomacy and science that are essential for all our futures. In this confused and conflicted space, we must consider the potential roles of different actors. Formal diplomatic processes must be informed by science, and the international science community has a key role to now play in advancing track two efforts, which, given the context, may take on greater importance if the multilateral situation does not improve. The International Science Council is unique in its membership, including the World Scientific Academies and international science organizations from the global north, the global south, the global east, the global west, and across both the natural and social sciences, across large countries, across small island developing states. Increasingly it’s both seen the need to, and is now being requested, to take a greater role in track two diplomacy. Today we’re in an era where domestic science, economic, and national security policies can conflict with broader objectives relating to the global commons. Diplomats will need to take a much more multi-stakeholder approach, including governments, business, academia. The global community must give greater support to the international science community, allowing it to be an integral partner in these discussions, than rather simply, as is too often, a tokenistic afterthought. Real politics demands that first and foremost, science diplomacy will serve a nation’s interest. Science diplomacy can do so in domains such as security, trade, environmental management, and technology access, but it must also be recognized by every government that it’s in every nation’s interest to advance the global commons. And here, science diplomacy has a critical domestic role to ensure that every nation understands that it is in their interests, their interests are best served by acting collaboratively. Track two, science diplomacy, can be a valued partner to a somewhat stuttering multilateral system. Too few countries have embedded science diplomacy within their diplomatic toolkit. Only with science advisors and foreign ministries connected to domestic science communities can the two-way interchange between track two and track one approaches become more effective. The world has slipped sadly on its commitment to sustainable development goals, and I hope that this summit really does achieve what it must, which is to rebuke the global commitment to these goals. The science community must and will play its role in ensuring progress is in fact made. I’m famous for talking bluntly, and last year at the high-level political forum, I ended my keynote address then with the words which I’ll use again now. Unless we use science wisely and urgently, we are all at risk. Thank you very much.

Melissa Fleming: Thank you very much, Sir Peter Gluckman, on your powerful insights and also outlining the complexities of today’s world and all of the challenges and the critical role that the science community will play to advance what you call the global commons and that it’s in every nation’s interest. I really appreciate that. I’d like to now pass the floor to Ms. Maria Esteli-Jarquin. who coordinates the international relations of the U.K. Center for Ecology and Hydrology. In parallel, Ms. Jarquin is a special advisor to the International Science Council and member of their standing committee of outreach and engagement. And I am pleased that she will now moderate the remainder of today’s program. So Ms. Jarquin, the floor is yours.

María Estelí Jarquín: Thank you so much, USG Melissa Fleming. When this event was selected to take place on Action Day number one, dedicated to youth, we felt it was a natural decision. As a young person myself, I like to think of young people full of hope for the future, driven by curiosity and imagination for the unknown, elements that are also present in science, hope and curiosity, two engines that move humanity forward. Now why it is so important to discuss about science in the United Nations? We are in one of the world’s greatest epicenters of diplomacy, and diplomacy has been many times inspired by science, always in constant evolution as a collective effort, always striving to help us work towards a concert of nations. As a Latin American young person, it is my absolute honor to now serve as your moderator for the next part. For the last five years working in science diplomacy, I have been deeply inspired by the great stories that have brought science and diplomacy together to advance sustainable development. So let’s discover four case studies where science has strengthened multilateralism. For our first case study, we will travel to the Middle East to hear about the region’s first major international center of excellence. Dr. Gihan Kamel, principal scientist, will tell us the story of Sesame. All eyes on the screen, please.

Gihan Kamel: To all of you and thank you who are building bridges rather than walls. I would like to thank the organizers for the kind invitation to present Sesame as a case of science, diplomacy and the Middle East, a region that is distant to instabilities, to blood and tears, to conflicts and wars. Sesame is the first and only facility of its kind in the Middle East and neighboring regions, a particle accelerator that produces a unique type of radiation which allows researchers over a huge range of domains to investigate matter, similar to many large-scale infrastructures known as synchrotron light sources all over the world, not only providing cutting-edge technologies but also cutting-edge relationships. Modeled on CERN and established as an intergovernmental organization under the umbrella of the UNESCO, the only factor that governs Sesame is science and this is the simple one-line story about Sesame, a facility existing in the heart of the Middle East owned by eight members, Jordan where it’s hosted, Egypt, Palestine, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Cyprus and Pakistan, clear enough why Sesame is addressed as a successful model on science diplomacy. We go beyond experiments inside labs being directed towards the sustainable development goals. Our motto is not only science for peace but also for society. Together with a close follow-up of the international Science Council Collective Projection of Science Missions for Sustainability. Collaboration is not a stranger in the business of science. Totally coherent, fair and an obvious strategy to get fruitful results. But sometimes it’s not enough. Because what if what we need is more than budget? What if what we need is peace? A lesson learned from CERN was that successful bridge building through scientific collaboration can work with two conjugated and complementary pillars, excellent science and reliable diplomacy. With this in mind, Sesame was established thanks to the huge, extensive and continuous international support. Without it, Sesame wouldn’t exist. It was integrated in 2017 and in 2019, it became the world’s first large accelerator, fully powered by renewable energy. It allows for brain drain reversal. And it opens a door to women scientists in the region and beyond. A key factor in our success is that we leave all the differences outside the fence. We only take our expertise and time. We only take our expertise and knowledge. We take patience, dedication, persistence, despite the so many challenges that we face on a daily basis, above all the geopolitical and the financial instabilities. Can science save us? Can science save Sesame? Can Sesame save the Middle East? No. The only fact that we know is that science alone cannot solve the many political security and economic problems that we are facing. But we know very well that science diplomacy can. It has an important role to play in addressing health, environment, energy and food challenges that contribute to our regional instability. Thank you so much.

María Estelí Jarquín: Africa, where we will learn about conservation efforts to protect mountain gorillas via extensive research and development. Thank you. extensive scientific research, education, and community outreach. Let’s hear this story from Dr. Tara Stoinski, president of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

Tara Stoinski: Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak with you today on our work in conservation and the key role that science plays in this work. I’m Dr. Tara Stoinski, CEO and chief scientific officer of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. The Fossey Fund is the world’s longest running and largest organization dedicated to the study and conservation of gorillas, and we have been on the literal front lines of gorilla conservation for almost 60 years. Our work in both Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo focuses on four key pillars, providing daily boots on the ground protection to gorillas and their critical ecosystems, conducting the science needed to develop effective conservation strategies, training the conservation and scientific leaders of today and tomorrow, and building resiliency in the human populations who share the gorilla’s habitat to improve their lives and lessen their dependence on forest resources. These activities touch on at least nine of the 17 UN sustainable development goals, including conserving life on land, climate action, gender equity, reduced inequalities, zero hunger, quality education, and no poverty. They have also played a critical role in bringing mountain gorillas back from the brink of extinction. In fact, mountain gorillas are the only great ape on the planet besides us that are increasing in number, an all too rare conservation success story. While the scientific work that we do focuses on advancing our understanding of gorillas and their forest habitats, its impact extends much beyond that. It is the building block for training the next generation of scientific and conservation leaders and creating the communities of multinational and multidisciplinary researchers that are desperately needed to solve the environmental crises facing our planet. Biodiversity loss and climate change, the two largest of these crises, do not recognize national boundaries and the science to solve them must not either. Working together ensures different perspectives and experiences are represented in the effort to find solutions at the national, regional, and international level. And we at the FOSSE fund see this in practice every day. In the last five years, we have collaborated with 400 scientists from around the world on more than 75 publications. These collaborations have expanded the impact of our science much beyond what we would be able to do alone. At our Ellen DeGeneres campus, a state-of-the-art research and education center in Rwanda that opened in 2022, we focus on bringing together early career scientists from across Africa to receive training, conduct science, and build multinational professional networks. These collaborations have produced papers at a continent-wide scale, for example, examining how climate change is affecting great ape habitat across Africa. This type of research is crucial to demonstrating the need for collective action across nations and creating solutions at scale. We need to be doing more to facilitate these types of collaborations and to ensure that the work is led by range country scientists and centered in the range countries where the studies are done. Thank you again for the opportunity to speak today. And if you would like to learn more about our work, please visit us at guerrillafund.org.

María Estelí Jarquín: Our third case study is an initiative that started in Washington and aims to make a global impact. The Women in Science Diplomacy Association. We are honored to have Ms. Evelina Santa-Kahle here with us today. Go ahead.

Evelina Santa-Kahle: Thank you very much and thank you for the opportunity to speak here today and introduce to you the Women in Science Diplomacy Association, or in short WSDA as we call it. WSDA was founded out of a necessity, actually out of the necessity for representation, claiming our voice, claiming also our place in the area of science diplomacy was the driving force behind founding WSDA. Because we thought it’s not possible that in an area that is so important for the future, namely science and science diplomacy, that this area is so heavily underrepresented by female and gender minorities. So let me also start with a small story, a very personal story. When I arrived in D.C., I just saw that we have a very little, like a very low number of female working in the diplomatic community in D.C. And I was lucky enough to meet some colleagues who felt the same. My French and Italian colleague in D.C., we joined forces and we said we need to do something against that. So we founded WSDA and developed a joint vision, a mission and a vision for WSDA to be clear in what we want to achieve and what we want to deliver. Can I have my next slide, please? So our aim is to, our mission actually is to strengthen diversity and promote female representation in science and science diplomacy, to address the gender gap and bias throughout all levels of S&T policy and policymaking areas. WSDA aims to be the global platform to spark, to connect, to mentor, support and sponsor more women science diplomats and policy makers. Our vision is really to connect women in science diplomacy globally to advance the gender gap. and ensure science and science diplomacy is for all. Next slide, please. So how do we want to achieve that? We are currently like a network of more than 60 members based in DC, and our action items are currently to promote related gender equality and diversity in science diplomacy, to speak up and get involved where it’s possible, to promote the representation of female and diverse researchers and science diplomats. And how do we do that? We organize regular meetings. We organize every year in the framework of the UN Girls and Women in Science a whole week of events to represent and to showcase the contribution of female and gender diverse minorities to science and science policy. We intend to strengthen the networking among female and diverse science diplomats. We intend to build a supportive community to share best practices, resources, and knowledge. So what we do here concretely is to really provide training for the onboarding of new science diplomats, and we really want to extend our network also to science diplomats from other countries, especially from the global south, for those also countries that do not have a science diplomat but need that expertise and advice and networking. That’s what we are here for in Washington, DC. And we also train the next generation of science diplomats. Science diplomacy is still an area that is growing that is not well known as a career opportunity. So what we do, we go to universities. We talk to students there and introduce them to that career opportunity, actually. Next slide. So how do we get there? And that’s where you all come into play. We build on partnership, on volunteerism, and community building. And that’s where I call all of you and ask you to join our network, to join forces here, and to contribute and take actions together. Thank you very much.

María Estelí Jarquín: Thank you. Thank you so much and we will now travel to the heart of the Americas. Four countries working together using scientific evidence to build one of the most important marine corridors of the planet. Let’s hear the story of the Eastern Tropical Marine Corridor in the voice of Mr. Jose Julio Casas, who kindly recorded this video to us from the Galapagos Island.

Jose Julio Casas: The Eastern Tropical Marine Corridor is a special region in the Pacific, known as SEMAR. The Eastern Tropical Marine Corridor is a special region in the Pacific, known as SEMAR. The Eastern Tropical Marine Corridor is a special region in the Pacific, known as SEMAR. The Eastern Tropical Marine Corridor is a special region in the Pacific, known as SEMAR. The Eastern Tropical Marine Corridor is a special region in the Pacific, known as SEMAR. In addition, it acts as an essential corridor for the migration of many species, allowing them to travel long distances in search of food, reproduction and refuge. However, this invaluable ecosystem faces serious threats. Illegal fishing, pollution, climate change and uncontrolled exploitation. Protecting the Sea does not only mean preserving its biodiversity, but also ensuring the livelihood of millions of people who depend on fishing and tourism in the region. This is why the Sea collaborates closely with scientists and academic institutions, non-governmental organizations and public and private donors. This strengthens cooperative governance, facilitates the design and implementation of marine protection strategies and ensures long-term sustainable financing. All this work together, between civil society, between government entities and between different partners, has ensured that the Corridor, in these 20 years, has grown, has increased and is taking big steps towards the future, generating protection at the regional level. The Sea is a natural gem that we must protect for future generations. By working together, we can ensure that these ecosystems maintain a rich marine biodiversity for the benefit of all, from the local communities that depend on them for their livelihood to the whole world that benefits from their environmental and scientific value. Working with the Academy allows the generation of new knowledge that provides information with a scientific basis for decision-making at the governmental level. Our responsibility is to act today to ensure a sustainable future where marine life flourishes and the beauty of these oceans lasts for future generations.

María Estelí Jarquín: We have just heard inspiring action-oriented stories shaped by years of resilience, hard work and vision at the intersection of science and diplomacy. Now let’s turn our focus to discussing current challenges and opportunities that lie ahead of the future. We have brought together an outstanding group of panelists to lead this discussion. I will first introduce each of them and explore their work and perspectives on science diplomacy. I will start with Ms. Sandrine Dixson-Declève who is co-president of the Club of Rome and the executive chair of Earth for All. Sandrine brings extensive experience chairing European Commission’s expert groups on research and innovation and climate change amongst others. I’ll ask our esteemed panelists if they could merge and turn into a statement their prepared questions. So Sandrine, what does science diplomacy mean to you? We are navigating a multipolar world often marked by conflicting positions and I was struck by what I read in your bio. You dedicate part of your time to facilitating difficult conversations, an invaluable skill in today’s landscape. So my question to you is, how can science diplomacy be leveraged as a tool to facilitate challenging dialogues, build bridges between nations or groups with conflicting interests and use science as a driving force for diplomacy?

Sandrine Dixson-Declève: Thank you so much, Maria. It’s such a pleasure to be here amongst all of you. Maybe let me bring in 35 years of trying to build bridges and facilitate these difficult conversations, starting off with actually working with the Global Legislators Organization for a Balanced Environment, which was one of the first organizations anchored in science diplomacy. Already 35 years ago, trying to bring members of the U.S. Congress across both sides of the political spectrum and across Europe, Japan, at that time the Soviet Union, and also other. countries to do pre-discussions around scientific evidence in the area of the environment in order to foster diplomatic negotiations. This was a time when science was actually respected, as was so prominently said by Sir Peter Gluckman. And I think it’s very important that we take into consideration that we are absolutely in a very different world. Those 35 years of experience were actually science and evidence decision making was part of the way in which we put in place our environmental policy making, as well as our social policy making. But today, I want to come with a plea, a really deep plea and a humility and reality check. The science element is weak already in our declaration and in our pact for the future. And yet here we are talking about its importance. We are in a planetary emergency, which has already been declared by the Secretary General himself. We do not have one anchored planetary emergency plan based on the scientific evidence that shows we’re in an emergency in any country across the globe. Updated science is rarely brought into negotiations. None of our COP negotiations are anchored in updated science. They are updated in past scientific evidence. Policy negotiators are rarely taken, taking scientists with them when in bilateral or multilateral negotiations. Those very important days that were referred to again by Sir Peter Gluckman no longer exist. Scientists also often, to be fair, do not have the time to join necessary meetings or delegations as they are time bound and funding bound to deliver their own scientific results. This is the reality check. So what can we do about it? First of all, we need to bring evidence and. back into the fold of all policymaking and we all as a community need to call for it. We need to hold our governments accountable for not actually respecting the scientific evidence that we have before us. I’ve been called in so many ways an activist and yet I have worked for the oil and gas companies, I have worked for policymakers, I’ve worked for presidents and kings and yet now I’m an activist. I’m an activist because I’m a realist, because I understand that for the last 35 years we were able to use science and evidence in making very important decision-making and yet today we are no longer doing so. Now the problem is exactly as the undersecretary indicated, the fact that we have social media, that we have different narratives and story building which are taking a precedence over scientific decision-making. So together we need to actually be much more forceful in our call and our drive for science but we have to also build the capacity for scientific decision-making to happen in multilateral negotiations and also bilateral negotiations and lastly we need to ensure that our educational system, our universities are actually fostering better science diplomacy and undertaking that looks at the complexity of the world that we have before us. So I will end with that in the hope that actually we will all mutually work together to ensure that science is anchored back in to the way in which we solve our planetary emergency, in the way in which we have done in our work at the Club of Rome and through Earth for All by looking at system dynamic modeling, social and environmental tipping points and solutions for both. Thank you.

María Estelí Jarquín: Thank you for your statement, and I will now turn to Dr. Dalee Sambo Dorough, who has been instrumental in advancing the UN declarations on the right of indigenous peoples, reflecting her commitment to justice and indigenous empowerment. She currently holds the Arctic region seat on the UN expert mechanism on the right of indigenous peoples and is currently a senior scholar and a special advisor on Arctic indigenous peoples at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Dali, we saw key lessons from the Science Policy Society interfacing the case studies, and I would like to ask your thoughts on how science diplomacy can close the action knowledge gaps. In your experience, how can science diplomacy be used to bridge the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous knowledge systems, and how important is mutual recognition in this context? Thank you very much.

Dalee Sambo Dorough: First of all, allow me to say that my people span a long, linear region of the world, from the Russian Far East throughout Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. In relation to the questions that were set to me in terms of what has shaped my contributions, I want to harken back to June of 1977, the late Eben Hopson, who’s recognized as the founder of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, an indigenous peoples organization. He stated, our language contains the memory of 4,000 years of human survival through the conservation and good managing of our Arctic wealth. Our language contains the intricate knowledge of the ice that we have seen no others demonstrate. Without our central involvement, there can be no safe and responsible Arctic resource development. For decades, Inuit have dealt with multifaceted, interconnected problems that transcend national boundaries. Our contributions feature our own diplomacy. Inuit were the first to prepare a comprehensive Arctic policy. The preamble affirms that we are committed to contributing our knowledge for the betterment of humanity, the common security of all peoples and states, and world peace. The document addresses environmental issues, renewable resource management, scientific research within our communities, and decision making, among many other issues. We have highlighted that Inuit are an integral part of Arctic ecosystems. For centuries, our hunting, fishing, and harvesting activities have been and continue to be in harmony with and an important part of the dynamic processes of Arctic ecosystems. Therefore, the profound relationship between Inuit and other living species of the natural world must be fully recognized in any strategies pertaining to our Arctic homelands. We have also affirmed that indigenous knowledge and scientific research are both valid systems of knowledge that should be recognized within the context of cooperative research. In this way, scientists and, importantly, decision makers will have the best available information on which to base their actions. We believe that through the recognition of and respect for indigenous knowledge, we can make further extraordinary contributions to science diplomacy. In relation to bridging the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous knowledge systems, mutual respect and mutual recognition are paramount. Presently, the major gap is lack of implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The UN Declaration Preamble, adopted by the General Assembly and a whole not far from here, affirms that recognizing that respect for Indigenous knowledge, cultures, and traditional practices contributes to sustainable and equitable development and proper management of the environment. The Declaration explicitly recognizes the right of Indigenous peoples to self-determination, the prerequisite for the exercise and enjoyment of all other human rights. The UN Declaration also affirms our right to maintain, control, protect, and develop Indigenous knowledge. Though there is a corresponding obligation of UN member states to implement this right, there appears to be little political will to do so. To generate understanding, Inuit, myself, we’ve developed our own definition of Indigenous knowledge. We have also used Inuit diplomacy within the Arctic Council, the UNFCCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and many other venues of diplomacy and politics. We seek to advance ethical and equitable co-production of knowledge, which requires creative and culturally appropriate methodologies that use both Indigenous knowledge and science applied across all processes of knowledge creation. In our view, the substantive and procedural elements of this right must be recognized and respected. Equity, trust, being deliberate and intentional, building relationships, reciprocity, communication, and many other elements are necessary to ensure that one knowledge system is not privileged over another. Both must be valued and recognized as equally important. I believe that if our objectives are heeded, and the objectives of Indigenous peoples across the globe, if they are heeded, scientists, diplomats, and policymakers will actually gain the best available knowledge on which to inform their decisions. A byproduct, they will also contribute to the implementation of our fundamental human rights as distinct peoples, as Indigenous peoples. And to the moderator and also to the co-organizers of this important event, I hope the message lands somewhere.

María Estelí Jarquín: Thank you, Dalee. And finally, I would like to introduce you to Dr. Mohammad Hosseini, who is an assistant professor of ethics in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University, where he collaborates with various institutes around research projects related to technology ethics and AI. He currently leads the Trust in Science workgroup at the Global Young Academy. And Mohamed, as a young researcher based in the U.S. and a member of the Uganian scientific diaspora, I’d like to hear your insights on the lessons you have learned throughout your scientific career, especially through your involvement in global networks such as the Young Academy. So my question to you is, what challenges do young scientists face when engaging in science diplomacy? And how can this challenge be addressed by multilateral institutions and governments?

Mohammad Hosseini: Well, thank you so much. As a young researcher who was born in Iran and is now in the U.S., I can tell you that science diplomacy means one thing to me and people like me, and that is hope. Hope that we can be better than our politicians, and we can do better, and we can inspire them. And it is my hope that I can work together with researchers around the globe, and it is also my hope and ambition that I can help improve our DEI policies to also include researchers who are based in countries that are currently excluded from the global scene. Think of people who are based in places like Cuba, DRC, Palestine, North Korea, Russia. There’s many examples. Do you think these countries don’t have researchers? Boy, I’ve got news for you. They do. They have researchers, but we are unable to connect with them. And you might be thinking, well, look at this young person, so full of hopes and dreams. I can tell you, in research, we dream all the time. When we start thinking about a project, when you conceptualize, we first dream about it. We conceptualize. We dream. And I’m here to also encourage you all to dream. You might be thinking, well, doing science with North Korea, how about dual use? How about national interests? Well, I get that, and I agree with you. But I think we can start with areas that do not threaten our national security. We can start with water and crop management. We can start with humanity, social science. We can think about those areas to collaborate with them, to get them out of the silos where they are put into because of their politicians and because of our politicians. One challenge we face is mobility. As a member of the Global Young Academy, I can tell you, this year, we had our AGM a little bit further in DC. Believe it or not, 15% of people who registered could not join the meeting because of visa issues, including our co-chair. We have other challenges that might be hailed by politicians as a victory, international and unilateral sanctions. In my case, it kind of makes me sad to say this, but the sanctions have made it impossible to work with anyone in Iran. And I’m not talking about working on a nuclear physics project, no. I’m talking about a project about, and I’m not joking, ethics in library sciences. You know why? Because the sanctions have not excluded scientific collaborations and communications. And consider any kind of collaboration above undergraduate level as an instance of import or export of services, and therefore subject to sanctions. I think this is ludicrous. And I think as a community of researchers who dream all the time, we can dream of a better world. And on that, I hope that I can encourage all of you to be dreamers, to be like researchers who can dream big, and connect the world through building bridges. Thank you.

María Estelí Jarquín: Thank you, Mohammad. And before we move on to the closing remarks, I want to acknowledge our great panelists for collaborating with such precise statements, and also to the incredible team that worked tirelessly for months to bring us all together today. Now it is my privilege to hand over to Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, Rector of the United Nations University, and Dr. Emran Mian, Director General, Digital Technologies and Telecoms of the UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, for their closing remarks. Rector, you have the floor.

Tshilidzi Marwala: Thank you, thank you very much, distinguished colleagues. And thanks to the International Science Council for hosting this event on one of the most important questions facing us today. How science can help us meet global priorities like sustainable development, climate change, and the AI revolution. We have had examples of countries coming together around science, like Costa Rica and Ecuador, around marine areas, and groups of countries agreeing on Earth observation satellites. And I think the message is clear. Science can help to build trust amongst countries, helping to form the basis for greater collaboration. And this obviously has a direct bearing on the reduction of confrontation. We also had a strong message from the Moroccan PR. We need a deeper investment in science. And this has to be inclusive. Because many of the problems that we actually face are actually common. We are not going to deal with issues of climate change unless we allow data to flow. We are not going to deal with issues. of climate change if we do not allow scientists to move from one place to another. If we restrict scientists from actually sharing data, of sharing models, and actually of coming together. We also heard from Peter, that the science community needs to be an integral partner to diplomatic processes. The scientists are too excluded from the political power metrics. I think we need to bring them to the core. The biggest force for whether it is social, political, and economic transformation is actually science. Why do we not hear the voices of scientists in our politics? And of course, this obviously makes our movement forward actually restricted. We had case studies from places like the Middle East and the Democratic Republic of Congo in my own continent on how science and policy makers can partner to address complex problems like resource sharing, like environmental protection, like the advancement of SDGs. These examples show that science can form the foundation for stronger and more effective policy making. Policy needs to be adaptive. One of the most important dinners that I had in Tokyo was with Sir Peter, where he was talking about the concept of adaptive policy making. When we talk about adaptive policy making, we are talking about policy making in a very simple way. When we talk about adaptive policy making, we are talking about policy making in a very we think of the old work of Darwin. The idea of adapting whatever we do, especially if we are operating in an environment that is changing much, much more rapidly than we can actually be able to respond is absolutely essential. So we need new tools of analysis. We need to talk more with leaders of higher education institutions because these are the people who are responsible for creating an atmosphere for the next generation of thinkers. Today, earlier on, we were talking about even going to the school levels so that we can be able to respond, we can build systems that are robust and so on and so forth. I think for us to make progress, we really need to bring more trust in science. And I think on the question of how to build trust in science because around the world we see science being under attack. Why is science under attack? I think it’s because science now is entangled with vested interests. The funding, the private funding of science has been good but the problem is that the private players actually have another motive. Some of it is profit maximization. And because of that, this has undermined science. And the real contributions, real discussions around how to deal with issues of climate change are actually being undermined because the founders of science, especially the private sectors, are some of the biggest culprits. And of course, this we need to change. Of course, the issue of policy makers policy makers using scientific science to make decisions is very important. For me, the value chain of using science to make policy is the issue of data. How do we use data? How do we use logic with all its imperfection? Because it is not perfect in order to deal with issues of science. Earlier on, we heard about the role of uncertainty because science is fundamentally uncertain. There is no theory that is around that is certain. It’s as certain as the best information we have and it can change in time. And of course, because that whole concept of uncertainty is embedded in science, whether it is a vaccine that is 80% effective, which is good, but it can be 20% wrong because that is what 80% certainty actually means. It actually means we need to go back to the people so that they understand science, they understand uncertainty, and they understand that because of this concept of high certainty, it means, yes, there will be cases where things are not going to work, but the greatest amount of people are going to be helped. Our scientific advisory board offered several ideas and proposals after our retreat last week. We can build more local forums where community leaders, businesses, scientists, and public could come together and work together. We can build more public repositories of. scientific research and data where the latest developments and data can actually be deposited for everybody to have access to it. We have to simplify science. We have to simplify science because science literacy is now a human rights issue. And if it is a human rights issue, we need to migrate from using bombastic language that confuse people so that we can actually broaden access to science. We can invest in programs to combat misinformation and disinformation. And we can establish international forums such as this. But this international forum should not actually just be restricted to this room. As a UN official, I think the issue of taking the values of the United Nations to the people is very important. It means that person who is sitting in a village where I come from, who does not have the luxury of reading the latest articles from Science Magazine and Nature, must also be brought into the discussion, which means we need to go out there and simplify the concepts and go out there and educate. This year, the UN launched an international decade of sciences and sustainable development. This is an important initiative that highlights how science can deliver for people around the world. But it can only do that if we build trust in science and scientific organizations. And I think I need to say this because we have many scientific organizations, but they are fragmented. Sometimes we hear people saying, we don’t trust this because it comes from country X and country Y. And this, obviously, is dangerous for all of us. I’m, however, delighted that the International Science Council is playing its rightful role. which is central. In this, and I am committing the United Nations University to support all efforts to build trust in science and to take science to the people. Thank you very much.

Emran Mian: I thank you. I’m following remarks made by a set of very distinguished scientists and I should begin by admitting that I’m merely a bureaucrat and so these are bureaucrats reflections on some of the things that we’ve just been hearing about. The first thing I wanted to emphasize is just the importance of countries such as the UK contributing, playing their part in funding collaboration between countries on science. And this is something that we invest in across the world, over 300 million pounds that we’re currently investing in international science partnerships. We’ve recently come back into the horizon framework that enables collaboration between a large number of principally European but not exclusively European countries. And I think the role that the UK plays by that match by lots of other countries I think in fostering those international networks is a really important one. And I think a one that sort of is really important for governments to continue to do. The second thing that I think is really important thing for governments to do is to put science at the heart of decision-making. And I think Sandra Eden’s challenge on this is a really important one. The way we manage this in the UK system is in every government department, every single government department, we have a chief scientific advisor who sits as part of the leadership team of that department. And then we have a government chief scientific advisor who’s part of the top table in government. Obviously that’s not the only model by which you can achieve this, but the principle of bringing scientists and really scientists themselves and not people speaking on behalf of scientists into the heart of decision-making I think is something that has real importance. And then the third thing I just mentioned, and again this is me being self-conscious about being a bureaucrat, is sometimes the bureaucrats need to get out of the way and enable science collaboration, science diplomacy to happen. I was really thinking about this a few weeks ago. I was in a room with a set of physicists and talking about something that one of my teams is working on to foster international partnerships on compute. As people here will know, lots of countries are investing lots… and lots of money in building these massive clusters of compute to enable AI development. And in the same way as countries have collaborated on other elements of science infrastructure such as particle accelerators and telescopes, this is an element of scientific infrastructure that countries can be collaborating on. And this is beginning to happen. And we’re doing a lot of work to try and sort of play our part in making this happen. And I was talking about this with a research group of physicists and then one of them sort of held out his telephone and said, this is how we do international computer partnerships. And he showed me a group that they have, which is a global group of particle physicists, who simply message each other and ask, where do you have some compute capacity? I’ve got some code that I need to run. And then somebody will say, I’ve got some compute capacity next week, send me your code. And I think there’s the important point here is that I think scientific collaboration simply wants to happen. Scientific knowledge simply wants to happen across national boundaries. It’s not bounded nationally. Governments can help to make this happen, but also sometimes governments just need to get out of the way and let scientists do it.

María Estelí Jarquín: Thank you so much for your closing remarks. And this finishes our side event. Thank you so much for joining us today. Please connect to our experts and feel out the evaluation form of this event, which can be accessed on the QR code on the screen. Thank you.

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Science diplomacy can bridge gaps between nations and facilitate collaboration

Explanation

Ambassador Chan emphasizes that science diplomacy is a tool for fostering peace, collaboration, and diplomacy between nations. She argues that scientific evidence should inform diplomatic decisions.

Evidence

Examples of marine conservation collaboration between Costa Rica and Ecuador, and the use of space technology for monitoring international peace and security treaties.

Major Discussion Point

The importance of science diplomacy for global challenges

Agreed with

Melissa Fleming

Ambassador Omar Hilale

Sir Peter Gluckman

Agreed on

Importance of science diplomacy for global challenges

M

Melissa Fleming

Speech speed

121 words per minute

Speech length

1123 words

Speech time

554 seconds

Science diplomacy is needed to navigate complex global crises and make the world more sustainable and equitable

Explanation

Fleming highlights the critical need for science diplomacy in addressing interlocking global crises. She argues that policymakers need to be informed by science to create a more sustainable and equitable world.

Evidence

Mentions the Department of Global Communications’ collaboration with the scientific community on campaigns related to public health, vaccine confidence, and climate change.

Major Discussion Point

The importance of science diplomacy for global challenges

Agreed with

Ambassador Maritza Chan

Ambassador Omar Hilale

Sir Peter Gluckman

Agreed on

Importance of science diplomacy for global challenges

A

Ambassador Omar Hilale

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0 words per minute

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0 words

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1 seconds

Science diplomacy allows for leveraging scientific expertise to develop comprehensive strategies for long-term sustainable solutions

Explanation

Ambassador Hilale emphasizes that science diplomacy offers a framework for using scientific expertise and innovation to address global challenges. He argues that it can help develop strategies for both immediate problems and long-term sustainable solutions.

Evidence

Mentions Morocco’s partnerships in renewable energy, water management, and sustainable agriculture initiatives.

Major Discussion Point

The importance of science diplomacy for global challenges

Agreed with

Ambassador Maritza Chan

Melissa Fleming

Sir Peter Gluckman

Agreed on

Importance of science diplomacy for global challenges

Science diplomacy can help address critical issues while amplifying Africa’s voice in international discussions

Explanation

Ambassador Hilale highlights the potential of science diplomacy to address Africa’s challenges while increasing its influence in global discussions. He argues that Africa’s involvement in science diplomacy is necessary for a sustainable and equitable future.

Evidence

Mentions the Coalition on Science, Technology, and Innovation for Africa’s development.

Major Discussion Point

The importance of science diplomacy for global challenges

Agreed with

Ambassador Maritza Chan

Melissa Fleming

Sir Peter Gluckman

Agreed on

Importance of science diplomacy for global challenges

S

Sir Peter Gluckman

Speech speed

0 words per minute

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0 words

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1 seconds

The era of globalization and commitment to global interdependence in science is in retreat

Explanation

Sir Peter Gluckman observes that the conditions that previously supported science diplomacy are changing. He argues that the commitment to global interdependence and cooperation on global science issues is diminishing.

Evidence

Mentions the shift from open science to a more restricted approach in many countries.

Major Discussion Point

Challenges and opportunities in science diplomacy

New technologies that don’t respect national boundaries are challenging existing frameworks

Explanation

Gluckman points out that emerging technologies are creating challenges for existing diplomatic and regulatory frameworks. He argues that these technologies operate beyond national boundaries, complicating traditional approaches to governance.

Evidence

Mentions AI, synthetic biology, quantum technology, and use of ocean beds as examples of challenging new technologies.

Major Discussion Point

Challenges and opportunities in science diplomacy

There is a need to embed science diplomacy within countries’ diplomatic toolkits

Explanation

Gluckman emphasizes the importance of integrating science diplomacy into national diplomatic strategies. He argues that few countries have fully incorporated science diplomacy into their foreign policy approaches.

Evidence

Suggests the need for science advisors in foreign ministries connected to domestic science communities.

Major Discussion Point

Challenges and opportunities in science diplomacy

Agreed with

Professor Tshilidzi Marwala

Dr. Emran Mian

Agreed on

Need for greater integration of science in policymaking

D

Dr. Gihan Kamel

Speech speed

0 words per minute

Speech length

0 words

Speech time

1 seconds

Science alone cannot solve political and economic problems, but science diplomacy can play an important role

Explanation

Dr. Kamel acknowledges that science by itself cannot resolve all political and economic issues. However, she argues that science diplomacy can significantly contribute to addressing regional challenges and instabilities.

Evidence

Mentions the role of science diplomacy in addressing health, environment, energy, and food challenges that contribute to regional instability.

Major Discussion Point

Challenges and opportunities in science diplomacy

E

Evelina Santa-Kahle

Speech speed

143 words per minute

Speech length

603 words

Speech time

251 seconds

There is a need to promote female representation in science and science diplomacy

Explanation

Santa-Kahle emphasizes the importance of increasing female representation in science and science diplomacy. She argues that this area is heavily underrepresented by women and gender minorities, necessitating action to address the gender gap.

Evidence

Mentions the founding of the Women in Science Diplomacy Association (WSDA) to address this issue.

Major Discussion Point

The role of diversity and inclusion in science diplomacy

D

Dr. Dalee Sambo Dorough

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0 words per minute

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0 words

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1 seconds

Indigenous knowledge systems should be recognized and respected alongside scientific research

Explanation

Dr. Dorough argues for the recognition and respect of indigenous knowledge systems in scientific research and diplomacy. She emphasizes the importance of mutual recognition and equity between indigenous and non-indigenous knowledge systems.

Evidence

Mentions the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Inuit contributions to Arctic policy and research.

Major Discussion Point

The role of diversity and inclusion in science diplomacy

D

Dr. Mohammad Hosseini

Speech speed

0 words per minute

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0 words

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1 seconds

Young scientists face challenges in mobility and international collaboration due to visa issues and sanctions

Explanation

Dr. Hosseini highlights the difficulties young scientists encounter in participating in international collaborations. He argues that visa issues and international sanctions create barriers to scientific exchange and cooperation.

Evidence

Mentions that 15% of registered participants couldn’t attend a recent Global Young Academy meeting due to visa issues, and discusses how sanctions prevent collaboration even on non-sensitive topics.

Major Discussion Point

The role of diversity and inclusion in science diplomacy

P

Professor Tshilidzi Marwala

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0 words per minute

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0 words

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1 seconds

There is a need to bring more trust in science and combat misinformation

Explanation

Professor Marwala emphasizes the importance of building trust in science and scientific organizations. He argues that combating misinformation is crucial for effective science diplomacy and policy-making.

Evidence

Suggests creating public repositories of scientific research and data, and investing in programs to combat misinformation.

Major Discussion Point

Building trust and implementing science in policymaking

Scientists should be brought into the core of political decision-making processes

Explanation

Marwala argues for greater inclusion of scientists in political decision-making. He emphasizes that science is a major force for social, political, and economic transformation and should be central to policy discussions.

Major Discussion Point

Building trust and implementing science in policymaking

Agreed with

Sir Peter Gluckman

Dr. Emran Mian

Agreed on

Need for greater integration of science in policymaking

Disagreed with

Dr. Emran Mian

Disagreed on

Role of governments in facilitating scientific collaboration

D

Dr. Emran Mian

Speech speed

0 words per minute

Speech length

0 words

Speech time

1 seconds

Governments need to put science at the heart of decision-making and fund international scientific collaboration

Explanation

Dr. Mian emphasizes the importance of governments prioritizing science in decision-making processes. He argues for increased funding for international scientific partnerships to foster collaboration between countries.

Evidence

Mentions the UK’s investment of over 300 million pounds in international science partnerships and the presence of chief scientific advisors in every UK government department.

Major Discussion Point

Building trust and implementing science in policymaking

Agreed with

Sir Peter Gluckman

Professor Tshilidzi Marwala

Agreed on

Need for greater integration of science in policymaking

Sometimes bureaucrats need to get out of the way and let scientists collaborate naturally

Explanation

Dr. Mian suggests that while governments can facilitate scientific collaboration, they should also allow scientists to cooperate freely. He argues that scientific knowledge naturally transcends national boundaries and sometimes bureaucracy can hinder this process.

Evidence

Provides an example of particle physicists using informal messaging groups to share compute capacity internationally.

Major Discussion Point

Building trust and implementing science in policymaking

Disagreed with

Professor Tshilidzi Marwala

Disagreed on

Role of governments in facilitating scientific collaboration

Agreements

Agreement Points

Importance of science diplomacy for global challenges

Speakers

Ambassador Maritza Chan

Melissa Fleming

Ambassador Omar Hilale

Sir Peter Gluckman

Arguments

Science diplomacy can bridge gaps between nations and facilitate collaboration

Science diplomacy is needed to navigate complex global crises and make the world more sustainable and equitable

Science diplomacy allows for leveraging scientific expertise to develop comprehensive strategies for long-term sustainable solutions

Science diplomacy can help address critical issues while amplifying Africa’s voice in international discussions

Summary

Multiple speakers emphasized the crucial role of science diplomacy in addressing global challenges, fostering collaboration between nations, and developing sustainable solutions.

Need for greater integration of science in policymaking

Speakers

Sir Peter Gluckman

Professor Tshilidzi Marwala

Dr. Emran Mian

Arguments

There is a need to embed science diplomacy within countries’ diplomatic toolkits

Scientists should be brought into the core of political decision-making processes

Governments need to put science at the heart of decision-making and fund international scientific collaboration

Summary

Several speakers argued for the increased integration of scientific expertise in policymaking processes and diplomatic strategies.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers highlighted the importance of inclusivity and diversity in science diplomacy, emphasizing the need to recognize and include underrepresented groups and knowledge systems.

Speakers

Dr. Dalee Sambo Dorough

Dr. Mohammad Hosseini

Arguments

Indigenous knowledge systems should be recognized and respected alongside scientific research

Young scientists face challenges in mobility and international collaboration due to visa issues and sanctions

Unexpected Consensus

Balancing government involvement and scientific freedom

Speakers

Dr. Emran Mian

Dr. Gihan Kamel

Arguments

Sometimes bureaucrats need to get out of the way and let scientists collaborate naturally

Science alone cannot solve political and economic problems, but science diplomacy can play an important role

Explanation

Both speakers, despite their different backgrounds, acknowledged the limitations of both science and bureaucracy alone, suggesting a balanced approach where governments facilitate but don’t overly restrict scientific collaboration.

Overall Assessment

Summary

There was broad agreement on the importance of science diplomacy for addressing global challenges, the need for greater integration of science in policymaking, and the importance of inclusivity and diversity in scientific collaboration.

Consensus level

High level of consensus on core principles, with some variation in specific implementation strategies. This suggests a strong foundation for advancing science diplomacy initiatives, but potential challenges in agreeing on precise mechanisms for implementation.

Disagreements

Disagreement Points

Role of governments in facilitating scientific collaboration

Speakers

Professor Tshilidzi Marwala

Dr. Emran Mian

Arguments

Scientists should be brought into the core of political decision-making processes

Sometimes bureaucrats need to get out of the way and let scientists collaborate naturally

Summary

While Professor Marwala argues for greater inclusion of scientists in political decision-making, Dr. Mian suggests that sometimes governments should allow scientists to cooperate freely without bureaucratic interference.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of disagreement revolve around the role of governments in facilitating scientific collaboration and the specific challenges facing international scientific cooperation.

Disagreement level

The level of disagreement among the speakers is relatively low. Most speakers agree on the importance of science diplomacy and the need for greater international collaboration. The disagreements are mainly about the specific approaches to achieve these goals, which suggests a generally unified vision for the future of science diplomacy with some differences in implementation strategies.

Partial Agreements

Partial Agreements

Both speakers agree on the challenges facing international scientific collaboration, but they focus on different aspects. Sir Peter Gluckman emphasizes the broader retreat from globalization, while Dr. Hosseini highlights specific barriers like visa issues and sanctions.

Speakers

Sir Peter Gluckman

Dr. Mohammad Hosseini

Arguments

The era of globalization and commitment to global interdependence in science is in retreat

Young scientists face challenges in mobility and international collaboration due to visa issues and sanctions

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers highlighted the importance of inclusivity and diversity in science diplomacy, emphasizing the need to recognize and include underrepresented groups and knowledge systems.

Speakers

Dr. Dalee Sambo Dorough

Dr. Mohammad Hosseini

Arguments

Indigenous knowledge systems should be recognized and respected alongside scientific research

Young scientists face challenges in mobility and international collaboration due to visa issues and sanctions

Takeaways

Key Takeaways

Science diplomacy is crucial for addressing global challenges and fostering international collaboration

There are significant challenges to science diplomacy, including geopolitical tensions and lack of trust in science

Diversity and inclusion in science diplomacy need to be improved, including representation of women, indigenous knowledge, and young scientists

Governments need to prioritize science in policymaking and fund international scientific collaboration

Building trust in science and combating misinformation are essential for effective science diplomacy

Resolutions and Action Items

Calls for deeper investment in science, especially in inclusive ways

Suggestion to build more local forums where community leaders, businesses, scientists and public can work together

Proposal to create more public repositories of scientific research and data

Commitment from the United Nations University to support efforts to build trust in science and take science to the people

Unresolved Issues

How to effectively integrate science into diplomatic processes and policymaking

How to address restrictions on scientific collaboration due to geopolitical tensions and sanctions

How to improve science communication and literacy among the general public

How to balance national interests with the need for global scientific collaboration

Suggested Compromises

Starting scientific collaboration in non-sensitive areas like water and crop management with countries currently excluded from global scientific community

Simplifying scientific language to make it more accessible to the general public

Allowing scientists more direct involvement in political decision-making processes

Balancing government support for international scientific collaboration with allowing scientists to collaborate naturally without bureaucratic interference

Thought Provoking Comments

Science is the field of evidence and concrete actions. Diplomacy is the art to make the impossible possible. And as Eliza just said, we need scientists as they need diplomacy. And when they gather all together, they are able to reach the best results, to help the world, to heal the wounds of our planet, and also to contribute to the implementation of SDGs.

Speaker

Omar Hilale

Reason

This comment succinctly captures the complementary nature of science and diplomacy, framing their combination as a powerful force for positive change.

Impact

It set the tone for the discussion by emphasizing the importance of integrating science and diplomacy to address global challenges.

Unless we use science wisely and urgently, we are all at risk.

Speaker

Peter Gluckman

Reason

This stark warning underscores the critical importance of leveraging scientific knowledge to address global threats.

Impact

It added a sense of urgency to the discussion and highlighted the high stakes involved in effectively utilizing science for diplomacy and policymaking.

Can science save us? Can science save Sesame? Can Sesame save the Middle East? No. The only fact that we know is that science alone cannot solve the many political security and economic problems that we are facing. But we know very well that science diplomacy can.

Speaker

Gihan Kamel

Reason

This comment realistically assesses the limitations of science while emphasizing the potential of science diplomacy to address complex regional issues.

Impact

It shifted the discussion towards a more nuanced understanding of how science and diplomacy must work together to solve multifaceted problems.

We need to bring evidence and back into the fold of all policymaking and we all as a community need to call for it. We need to hold our governments accountable for not actually respecting the scientific evidence that we have before us.

Speaker

Sandrine Dixson-Declève

Reason

This comment forcefully argues for the integration of scientific evidence into policymaking and calls for accountability from governments.

Impact

It challenged participants to consider how to more effectively advocate for science-based policymaking and hold decision-makers accountable.

As a young researcher who was born in Iran and is now in the U.S., I can tell you that science diplomacy means one thing to me and people like me, and that is hope. Hope that we can be better than our politicians, and we can do better, and we can inspire them.

Speaker

Mohammad Hosseini

Reason

This personal perspective highlights the transformative potential of science diplomacy, especially for researchers from politically isolated countries.

Impact

It brought attention to the human dimension of science diplomacy and its potential to bridge political divides, shifting the conversation to consider more inclusive approaches.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by emphasizing the urgent need for integrating science and diplomacy to address global challenges, highlighting both the potential and limitations of science diplomacy, and calling for more inclusive and accountable approaches. The speakers brought diverse perspectives from different regions and career stages, enriching the conversation with real-world examples and personal insights. The discussion evolved from defining the relationship between science and diplomacy to exploring concrete ways to leverage this relationship for sustainable development and peace-building, while also addressing challenges such as political barriers and the need for greater inclusivity in scientific collaboration.

Follow-up Questions

How can we strengthen the role of science in diplomatic processes and policy-making?

Speaker

Sir Peter Gluckman

Explanation

Sir Peter emphasized that the science community must play a more integral role in diplomatic processes, as science is often excluded from political decision-making. Strengthening this connection is crucial for addressing global challenges effectively.

How can we rebuild trust in science and combat misinformation in the digital age?

Speaker

Melissa Fleming

Explanation

Melissa Fleming highlighted the challenge of communicating scientific facts in the age of social media, where misinformation spreads rapidly. Exploring ways to rebuild trust in science and effectively communicate facts is crucial for informed decision-making.

How can we ensure that developing economies and underrepresented regions are included in science diplomacy initiatives?

Speaker

Maritza Chan

Explanation

Ambassador Chan emphasized the importance of including developing economies and underrepresented regions in science diplomacy efforts to ensure no one is left behind in addressing global challenges.

How can we improve the integration of indigenous knowledge systems with scientific research?

Speaker

Dalee Sambo Dorough

Explanation

Dr. Dorough highlighted the need for better recognition and integration of indigenous knowledge systems in scientific research and policy-making, emphasizing the importance of mutual respect and recognition.

How can we address the challenges young scientists face in engaging in science diplomacy, particularly those from countries excluded from the global scientific community?

Speaker

Mohammad Hosseini

Explanation

Dr. Hosseini raised concerns about the barriers young scientists face, especially those from countries excluded from global scientific collaboration due to political reasons. Addressing these challenges is crucial for fostering truly global scientific cooperation.

How can we simplify scientific communication to make it more accessible to the general public?

Speaker

Tshilidzi Marwala

Explanation

Rector Marwala emphasized the need to simplify scientific language and concepts to make them more accessible to the general public, viewing science literacy as a human rights issue.

How can we develop more effective models for integrating scientific advice into government decision-making processes?

Speaker

Emran Mian

Explanation

Mr. Mian discussed the UK model of having chief scientific advisors in every government department and suggested exploring various models to effectively integrate scientific advice into government decision-making.

Disclaimer: This is not an official record of the session. The DiploAI system automatically generates these resources from the audiovisual recording. Resources are presented in their original format, as provided by the AI (e.g. including any spelling mistakes). The accuracy of these resources cannot be guaranteed.