LDC5 PrepCom Side Event - Towards Improved Support to Graduating and Graduated Countries

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this important discussion on the road to Doha. 

We meet at a time when information and communication technologies are essential in societies and economies around the world. Nowhere is this more true than in graduating and graduated countries, some of which are at risk of sliding back – either because they are small island developing states exposed to natural hazards or because they have large rural areas. 

As the UN specialized agency for ICTs, ITU actively provides support in the post-graduation period. Let me give you a couple of examples. In Botswana, the first country to gra​duate, ITU is delivering nationally focused assistance in the collection and improvement of e-waste data and statistics. In Vanuatu, the most recent country to graduate, ITU just delivered emergency telecommunication response activities. Both countries continue to receive tailored support from ITU in the areas of cybersecurity preparedness and response.

ITU’s support to graduating and graduated countries spans from policies and regulations in the ICT sector to building and developing physical infrastructure and networks as well as human and institutional capacities. We provide assistance in cyber security and disaster risk reduction and management, and support countries in the areas of electronic waste and climate change. We also develop ICT applications and services for education, agriculture and health. 

As I mentioned, a number of graduated countries – or soon to graduate countries – are small island developing states, which ITU considers as priority countries. SIDS are at the centre of recent ITU initiatives such as Connect2Recover, an effort to help expand access to affordable and reliable connectivity in some of the least well-connected countries in the wake of COVID-19. ITU Member States will take up the connectivity agenda at the upcoming ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference in Addis Ababa, whose theme is “Connecting the unconnected to achieve sustainable development” and whose output will feed into LDC5. 

Success in this Decade of Action will rest on our capacity to work together to harness ICTs for the SDGs and to leave no one behind. ITU is committed to forging collaboration across the public and private sectors and within the UN system. We deliver together with UNICEF to connect every school in the world, with UNFPA to build sustainable digital innovation eco-systems, with ILO on digital accessibility, with WHO to develop mobile health applications, and with UNDP to build digital capacity, to name just a few examples.

With still less than one out of five people using the Internet in the LDCs, much work remains to be done. We at ITU look forward to working with our Member States and partners to continue supporting the LDCs and countries at different stages of the graduation process. 

​Thank you. 

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