UN leaders at WSIS Forum 2026 showcase coordinated push for inclusive and trusted digital transformation

WSIS+20 mandate puts cooperation at the centre

Leaders from across the United Nations system used the WSIS Forum 2026 to demonstrate how digital technologies and AI are already supporting sustainable development, while stressing that stronger cooperation will be essential to deliver on the renewed WSIS+20 mandate through 2035. The dialogue brought together heads and senior officials from more than a dozen UN agencies, highlighting a shared commitment to building inclusive, trusted, and people-centred digital transformation.

Opening the session, ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin reminded participants that, despite two decades of progress, 2.2 billion people remain offline, underscoring the importance of continued cooperation across the UN system.

‘The past 20 years have proven that multistakeholder cooperation works,’ she said, describing the WSIS framework as a platform that continues to unite governments, civil society, academia, the private sector and international organisations around common digital goals.

She challenged the UN system to use technology not only to better serve member states but also to strengthen the organisation itself, arguing that digital transformation should support wider UN reform efforts.

Beyond connectivity: Trust, capacity and governance

A recurring theme throughout the first panel was that digital transformation extends far beyond expanding internet access.

Masahiko Metoki, Director General of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), argued that post offices remain essential digital access points, particularly in rural communities. While postal operators increasingly provide e-commerce, digital financial and government services, he noted that around 100,000 post offices worldwide still lack meaningful internet connectivity, limiting their ability to support local communities.

For WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, digital inclusion is inseparable from public health.

‘The digital divide is a health divide,’ he warned, arguing that countries lacking connectivity, digital skills and governance risk seeing inequalities widen as healthcare becomes increasingly digital.

He highlighted WHO initiatives, including the Global Digital Health Certification Network, which now supports more than 80 countries representing over two billion people, alongside efforts to develop ethical and trustworthy AI for health.

The importance of trustworthy data was echoed by Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), who argued that AI systems are only as reliable as the data underpinning them.

Pointing to WMO’s WIS2 open data platform, now connecting more than 90 countries, Saulo said international cooperation on data sharing remains the foundation for trustworthy AI applications, particularly in weather forecasting and disaster resilience.

‘Weather data is a global public good,’ she said, adding that ‘trustworthy AI does not begin with algorithms but with open data.’

Making digital transformation meaningful

Several speakers argued that connectivity alone is no longer sufficient.

Pedro Manuel Moreno, Acting Secretary-General of UNCTAD, said the real question is whether digital technologies create economic opportunity.

‘The phone in your pocket can either entertain or employ,’ he observed, noting that many people in developing countries primarily use digital devices for social media rather than productive economic activities.

He pointed to UNCTAD’s eTrade for All initiative, which now includes 35 partner organisations, helping developing countries strengthen payments, logistics, legal frameworks and digital entrepreneurship.

Meanwhile, Michelle Gyles-McDonnough, Executive Director of UNITAR, introduced the concept of a growing ‘capacity divide’, arguing that countries increasingly need leadership, institutions and policy expertise, not just technology, to benefit from digital transformation.

UNITAR now reaches nearly 600,000 learners across 105 countries annually through executive education, AI governance training and digital capacity-building programmes.

Adding a social perspective, Magdalena Sepúlveda of the UN Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) argued that AI should ultimately be judged by its contribution to society rather than its technical capabilities.

‘Social justice cannot be an afterthought,’ she said, insisting that questions of who benefits, and who risks being left behind, must remain central to AI governance.

From strategy to implementation

The second panel shifted from high-level principles to practical implementation across the UN system.

UNESCO Assistant Director-General Mariya Gabriel highlighted the organisation’s work on AI governance and public-sector capacity-building, noting that more than 35,000 civil servants have completed UNESCO’s AI and Digital Transformation in Government programme.

UNICEF Chief Information Officer Kaan Cetinturk presented Ahead of the Storm, an AI-powered initiative that combines climate forecasts with vulnerability data to help governments better protect the 1.1 billion children exposed to climate hazards by enabling earlier humanitarian action.

Child protection also featured prominently in UNICRI’s presentation. Irakli Beridze, Head of the Centre for AI and Robotics, described the AI for Safer Children initiative, which has trained more than 3,500 law enforcement officers from 60 countries and contributed to rescuing over 100 children and arresting more than 250 offenders involved in online child exploitation.

Other agencies highlighted practical digital innovations already being deployed across the UN system.

The UN Joint Staff Pension Fund presented its digital identity solution, which enables more than 80,000 pensioners across 192 countries to verify their identities remotely, while UNICC showcased shared AI infrastructure designed to help UN agencies safely deploy AI applications in line with common governance standards.

UNOPS demonstrated shared procurement and grant management platforms used across multiple UN agencies, while UNDP outlined how digital transformation has been embedded across its new strategic plan as a cross-cutting accelerator for development.

A shared agenda for the next decade

Despite representing organisations with different mandates, speakers consistently converged around several common priorities.

Trustworthy AI, high-quality data, digital skills, human rights, and stronger institutional cooperation were repeatedly identified as prerequisites for responsible digital transformation. Capacity building emerged as equally important as connectivity, while many participants stressed that digital inclusion must ultimately be measured by improvements in people’s lives rather than technology deployment alone.

Closing the dialogue, Bogdan-Martin said trust had become the common thread linking all contributions, from health and climate to trade, education and public services.

‘The UN system succeeds when we work together,’ she said, describing the WSIS process as proof that coordinated multistakeholder cooperation remains one of the strongest foundations for advancing digital development worldwide.

Track all key moments from the WSIS Forum 2026 on our dedicated WSIS page.

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