Speech by Malcolm Johnson, ITU Deputy Secretary-General

Meeting on the Regional Review of the World Summit on the Information Society Action Line Implementation: Keynote address

4 October 2016, Bangkok, Thailand

Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

It is a pleasure to be here at this first Regional Review meeting of the World Summit of the Information Society following the UN General Assembly’s invitation to the regional commissions to coordinate the implementation of the WSIS at the regional level.

I would like to congratulate ESCAP for taking this initiative to support the Member States and stakeholders in this region in the implementation of the WSIS action lines.

ITU in its capacity as lead facilitating agency for implementation of Geneva Plan of Action is looking forward to working in close collaboration with all the five UN regional commissions towards this strengthened focus on implementation at regional level, and is pleased to have worked with ESCAP in jointly co-organizing this meeting today, along with our sister UN Agencies and the WSIS Action Line Facilitators.

The United Nations General Assembly in its ten-year review of WSIS, highlighted the cross-cutting contribution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to the SDGs and poverty eradication, and called for close alignment between the WSIS process and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, noting that ICTs can accelerate progress towards all 17 SDGs.

With ICTs permeating all walks of life and business, the challenge is to work together with many diverse interests and stakeholders that previously worked in isolation. This is true at the national, regional and international level. Only by working together, exchanging best practices and successful innovation, pooling resources and coordinating our progress will we achieve the goals of the 2030 development agenda.

The main purpose of the regional review meeting is therefore to form a cohesive partnership for regional capacity building on the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines and their alignment with the 2030 Agenda, and increase awareness of the enabling role of ICTs in sustainable development.

In the true WSIS spirit this meeting brings together real implementation projects from the around the region.  The WSIS Prize winners from the region will showcase their winning projects in the different action lines, providing real life examples of how ICTs can help achieve the SDGs.

The outcomes of this WSIS Review Meeting will feed into the WSIS Forum 2017 Open consultation process, helping to bring the regional perspectives to the global debate.

I look forward to the discussions and outcomes of today’s meeting, and wish you a very enjoyable and productive day.

Thank you.