BDT Director Doreen Bogdan-Martin addressed the Regional Preparatory Meeting for the upcoming World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) in the CIS region.
She noted that since the last WTDC, the CIS region “has continued to notch up impressive growth in digital infrastructure deployment, access, and uptake.'' Specifically, the region has shown achievement in mobile cellular coverage, mobile broadband uptake, internet usage, and gender parity in internet access. It also boasts impressive affordability rankings, and has a high number of youth connected to the internet (with almost 85% of people aged 15- 24 online at the start of 2020). The region has also virtually closed its own gender gap in terms of access to the internet.
However, challenges exist, for example with the urban-rural divide and outdated regulatory frameworks. ITU has been supporting progress towards regional initiatives adopted by the WTDC in 2017, that focus on the key areas of: digital health; safe and inclusive capacity building; smart, resilient urban development; climate change; and ICT infrastructure and innovation.
ITU has been working with authorities in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan on the planning and design of telemedicine networks and specialized e-health training courses for doctors, medical students and ICT professionals. ITU has also been delivering targeted assistance on digital skills in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, with a particular focus on rural and remote communities and gender-focused digital skills projects. An online training course on the new Child Online Protection (COP) Guidelines in Russian has already been completed by over 35,000 users, and in 2020 ITU helped Armenia translate this important educational resource into its national language. The list of initiatives goes on to encompass other activities to tackle climate change, school connectivity and COVID recovery with the help of ICTs.
Results from discussions held by the Generation Connect Group for the CIS region were presented during the RPM, and Ms Bogdan-Martin stated that she was ''most encouraged by the energy and enthusiasm that the young people of this region have been bringing to ITU's youth engagement strategy.''
As the RPM was held on International Girls in ICT Day, joint celebrations were held for the occasion and to launch the Network of Women in the CIS region. Ms Bogdan-Martin observed that ITU's Girls in ICT Day and Network of Women initiatives have one very core message in common: ''Girls and women are key players in addressing the challenges our world faces today, and their meaningful contributions to the digital sector will create powerful, positive social transformation.''
In conclusion, she encouraged delegates that ''Our role, at WTDC-21, is to help forge new partnerships and define new ways of working together, that accelerate the reach – and reachability – of the networks and services that will transform people's lives.''
