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10:30 - 12:00 - SESSION 1: ICT AND E-GOVERNMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

With the rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT) and their mainstreaming into everyday life, the link between these technologies and human development has never been clearer. It has therefore become necessary to consider the development of an inclusive information society in the broader context of the Post-2015 Development Agenda that will succeed the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Governments are encouraged to implement appropriate national strategies and policies that make information and communication technologies enablers for social and economic development, and to promote enabling regulatory and legal environments that spur investment to facilitate ICT for development.

The adoption of ICTs to deliver enhanced and equitable government services, streamline complex planning processes, improve coordination among sectors and promote information sharing and monitoring of services through the Internet and other emerging digital technologies can be a powerful tool to accelerate sustainable development – among other things, ICTs can help increase the engagement of marginalized segments of the population for more inclusive societies, boost competitiveness among small-and-medium enterprises and create accountable institutions.

This session will examine: how ICTs can best be leveraged to support sustainable development and especially achieving the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be adopted in September this year; What is the role of the different stakeholders in the process, from design to implementation of the new development goals? The session is also aimed at discussion on trends in e-government development framework. 

Moderator: Mr. Brahima Sanou, Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), ITU

  Hon. Mohamed Ashmalee, Minister of State for Finance and Treasury, Maldives
  Mr. Ioane Koroivuki, Regional Director, ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
  Ms. Shamika Sirimanne, Director, Information and Communications Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction
     Division, UNESCAP