20th Session of the UN High-Level Committee on
South-South Cooperation
1-4 June 2021
Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director
ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau
President of the 20th Session of the High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation,
Secretary General for South-South Cooperation,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to join you for this 20th Session of the High-Level Committee on South-to-South cooperation on behalf of the International Telecommunication Union, the UN specialized agency for digital technologies.
Over the past 15 months, digital platforms and services have been absolutely critical to keeping us connected to work, education and loved ones.
Yet, not everyone has been so lucky. The pandemic has dramatically amplified social, economic and digital inequalities, and forced us to face the harsh reality of what it really means to be unconnected.
So let us never forget that almost half the world's people have still never, ever, been online.
And that hundreds of millions more, mostly living in the global south, struggle with connectivity that is too costly, too slow or simply too hard to access to play any meaningful role in improving their lives.
For me, this is a tragic missed opportunity. Because it is here, in the world's most disadvantaged communities, that digital can have its most powerful transformational effect. Universal digital connectivity is the vital catalyst that can dramatically change the global development picture and propel us forward in our efforts to reach our 17 SDGs.
ITU's 'commitment to connecting the world' spans a great many activities. We work with our private sector membership of over 800 of the world's leading network operators, hardware manufacturers, software developers and digital platforms to extend access to networks and services to rural, remote and marginalized communities.
We work with the global regulatory community, through flagship events like our Global Symposium for Regulators, to help countries put in place the enabling policies and frameworks that stimulate investment and the growth of digital services.
And we collaborate with many of our sister agencies on digital initiatives, from our 'Be Healthy Be Mobile' programme with WHO now operational in 11 countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe; to our ambitious Giga universal school connectivity initiative with UNICEF which has already connected its first 2,8000 schools; to our partnership with the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation on innovative digital solutions to help countries in the Global South deal with the cascading effects of the COVID pandemic; to capacity-building initiatives like our new Joint Facility with UNDP and our youth employment activities with ILO; to work to promote gender-equitable access to technology, like our EQUALS Global Partnership with UN Women, the ITC and others.
The Buenos Aires Plan of Action+40 review in 2019 recognized the enormous development potential of technologies, from mobile phones and the Internet of Things, to AI, big data, and emerging innovations.
And UN Secretary-General Guterres has urged us to use the crisis to 'build back better'.
So let's go one step further, and 'build back better with broadband'.
There can be no doubt that the 'new normal' for our post-COVID world will be digital.
That is why affordable broadband for all must become one of our very top priorities.
In our post-pandemic world, 'leaving no-one behind' must mean leaving no-one offline.
Thank you.
