BDT Director Doreen Bogdan-Martin joined expert speakers at WEF's 2020 Sustainable Development Summit on “Accelerating Digital Inclusion During COVID-19".
The event comprised of an opening panel discussion and breakout sessions, which aimed to identify how to embed digital inclusion policies and investments within national priorities that lead to greater access and affordability of digital technologies and drive rapid digitization of critical industries, especially for small and medium size businesses and organizations. Other panellists included Mr Jan Kimpen, Chief Medical Officer, Phillips; Ms Tae Yoo, Senior V.P. Corporate Affairs, Cisco; and Mr Sigve Brekke, CEO, Telenor.
Ms Bogdan-Martin recounted that in the wake of the COVID crisis, ITU recognized that digital resources were going to be absolutely critical and moved quickly to set up the REG4COVID platform. This platform serves as a repository of emergency actions that the digital community around the world can take to ensure the continued availability, accessibility and resilience of networks and resources. It very quickly registered dozens of examples of rapid and effective action across the entire digital sector, from governments and regulators to commercial entities. Given such collaborative efforts, Ms Bogdan-Martin commended the “encouraging spirit of camaraderie that the digital community has demonstrated" in the ongoing battle to fight the virus.
She also mentioned that ITU joined forces with WEF, the World Bank and the GSMA to rapidly release a five-point Digital Development Joint Action Plan and Call for Action setting out principles to guide operators and regulators in developing policies and strategies to cope with unprecedented network use. Ms Bogdan-Martin explained that an emergency session of the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development was convened, and Commissioners released “a three-pillared Agenda for Action for governments and the digital community to support not just first-response efforts, but the rebuilding of the global economy, post-crisis, focusing on resilience, access and online safety."
She underlined that affordability remains a major issue, and cost of services and devices remains prohibitively high in many parts of the world that could most benefit from greater access to digital technologies. In this regard, she highlighted the importance of regulatory environments, and said, “with online access now so very critical to social and economic inclusion, finding ways to bring down prices remains an urgent priority".
Ms Bogdan-Martin noted the importance of cybersecurity, and mentioned that there has been a surge in online criminal activity as the pandemic gained momentum. To address this, ITU has been working with online security partners such as UNODC and others to set up and maintain a repository of latest cybersecurity information and resources.
While pointing to the importance of ensuring safety online for children who have had to shift to online learning in an unprecedented manner, Ms Bogdan-Martin remarked the timeliness of ITU's Child Online Protection Guidelines that was released in June. “Ensuring their safety is one area that is going to require our sustained focus, going forward," she said.
