Mr Trairat Viriyasirikul, Acting Secretary General of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission of Thailand, Mr Saneh Saiwong, Principal Engineering Expert with Office of the NBTC, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure and honor to welcome you to the Regional Preparatory Meeting for Asia and the Pacific, in anticipation of the World Telecommunication Development Conference 2025.
I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the Government of Thailand and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission of Thailand for generously hosting this meeting. This is the third Regional Preparatory Meeting of the series, following meetings in the Arab States Region and Europe. I am grateful to have had the opportunity before this meeting to engage with Digital Transformation initiatives in this region, including International Girls in ICT Day, the Smart Village Smart Island programme and a Regional Cyber drill, and I can confidently say that the Asia and the Pacific region is achieving great things!
As you know, WTDC-25 itself will be held this November in Baku. There, we will hear from some countries where the ICT sector is contributing just 0.01% of GDP and others where it is 70%, but we all share the same goals. This region is diverse and provides an opportunity for South-South Cooperation to cater for the unique needs of LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS. I thank donor countries and other partner organizations in this region that continue to make generous contributions to ICT development efforts in the region – Japan, Australia, Korea, Thailand, Joint SDGs Fund, ADB and Huawei, to name but a few.
Our task now is to identify the new Regional Initiatives to be adopted at WTDC-25 for implementation in the next cycle. This is an opportunity for the Membership in the Asia and the Pacific region to agree and consolidate your position on all the outcomes of WTDC-25.
The year 2024 was a remarkable year for the BDT across the globe under the BDT4Impact vision. Our Regional Initiatives have impacted huge numbers of people and made a difference in real human lives. Our work is not just impacting people, but also the planet. We are already implementing the outcomes of the COP 29 to help countries mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Indeed, last year also saw the Pact for the Future, the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration on Future Generations, affirming that our common future is digital, so even as we look back on 160 years of the ITU, we know we will have an even more important role to play in the future.
It is up to us to bridge the digital divides that still leave too many people behind, and to do that we must also address the skills divide. And together we have programmes that are focusing in these areas, so we can reach everyone, irrespective of their station in life, young, elderly, abled, disabled, women or men. We have to bridge those digital divides.
That’s why I am delighted with our great progress towards the implementation of the Kigali Action Plan, and this has been made possible by the broad range of stakeholders partnering with us across the world, as documented in the State of Digital Development and Trends report launched at yesterday's Regional Development Forum. The Asia and the Pacific has made a remarkable progress in digital transformation, and ITU has been a key partner in driving this forward.
In Thailand, we are proud to collaborate on initiatives promoting digital inclusion, ensuring that meaningful and safe connectivity reaches even the most remote communities. Through projects such as Smart Village and Smart Island in Pakistan and the Pacific Islands such as Samoa, we are demonstrating how technology can transform lives, improving education, healthcare, and economic opportunities. The digital hubs in Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Tonga, and the Marshall Islands now provide easier access to computers, the Internet, online resources and digital services.
Capacity-building remains a top priority. Through initiatives such as Regional CyberDrill in Brunei, Digital Transformation Centres in Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, Girls in ICT Day and the Global DTC Workshop, we are equipping communities with the skills needed to thrive in the digital economy. Building capacity in interoperable digital government infrastructure with whole-of-government and building block approach is gaining significant traction in response to ongoing engagements and needs expressed in the region.
Under the UN global Early Warning for All initiative, ITU is leading the pillar 3 on “Warning dissemination and communication”, and one third of the initial focus countries are in the Asia Pacific region, and half of these are Pacific SIDS. We have engaged with Fiji, Lao PDR, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Cambodia, developing national roadmaps for pillar 3, while we are working on detailed assessments for Samoa and Kiribati. These interventions strive to ensure that nations in the region have the robust and resilient digital infrastructure they need to warn of and respond to amongst others, climate-related hazards.
Through the ITU Innovation Centre in New Delhi, we are promoting innovation in the region and beyond, with new tools such as Regional Innovation Cafes to make innovation available and accessible to all. The launch took place in Fiji during the recent Digital Transformation Workshop, where the Pacific member states deliberated on emerging technologies such as AI & IoT and Digital ID, along with the possibility of leveraging innovation to make ITU initiatives such as Smart Islands scalable and sustainable. The ideas from Innovation Cafes will be used to accelerate objectives under the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development and to build collaboration and innovation networks in the region.
These examples are just a snapshot of how we are advancing digital development together. You may recall that, in January 2023, soon after taking office, I launched the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance Initiative which has since established 17 Acceleration Centres of which four are in this region.
I call upon all our member states and sector members to continue to participate actively in our virtual Working Groups of TDAG so we may advance in our WTDC-25 preparations. I thank the Chairs of these groups.
Finally, I want to assure you of my commitment to remain accountable and transparent in the work of the BDT. I have put in place governance structures in each of our projects and at the level of the entire projects portfolio. I have improved on reporting by issuing donor reports to our partners without waiting to be requested to do so. We have adopted a Results Based Management approach with KPIs at both Output and Outcome levels to report on real impact.
I am pleased that BDT has recorded the highest ever extra-budgetary resources through resource mobilization to the tune of CHF 60 million. Our field offices work as one with the small team in headquarters to ensure coherence – we plan together, implement together, and report together! Thank you!
