The ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) 2022 was held between 6-16 July, in Kigali, Rwanda.
In her opening address to the Conference, BDT Director Doreen Bogdan-Martin emphasized the imperative of this particular WTDC, which took place in the backdrop of a pandemic-impacted world with growing digital inequalities.
While the number of those offline has fallen by more than 1.5 billion since the last WTDC in 2017, progress is still not being made fast enough in the hardest-to-connect communities and for people living in LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS.
WTDC-22 welcomed 2,152 delegates from 150 Member States, along with 340 Sector members and partners. Throughout the Conference delegates worked hard to build consensus and agreement on a Kigali Declaration and Action Plan, that will shape the work of ITU's Development Sector.
They also agreed upon 14 new Study Group Questions for ITU-D, confirmed a total of 28 Regional Initiatives, revised a total of 45 resolutions, and adopted four new Resolutions. This included a new Resolution to connect every school to the internet and every young person to ICT services, while ITU and UNICEF's Giga school connectivity initiative works towards achieving this goal.
Ms Bogdan-Martin mentioned that three important ''levers'' of the Conference were the inspiring Generation Connect Global Youth Summit (that preceded WTDC-22 and was co-created with youth); the Partner2Connect Digital Development Roundtable (as 418 Partner2Connect pledges, that make up on estimated financial value of over US$ 25 billion, were announced by the close of the Conference); and the Network of Women for ITU-D which featured a series of events and opportunities for women delegates.
She thanked Minister Paula Ingabire, Chair of WTDC-22, for her excellent leadership in steering the Conference towards such successful outcomes, and the entire Rwandan host country team for their tireless efforts. She also commended delegates' spirit of international cooperation, and affirmed ''I look forward to working with you all to implement the Kigali Action Plan, and to use that ambitious blueprint to help map out a better future for all.''
What did WTDC-22 look like in Kigali, Rwanda? Watch:
