Agenda

Ms. Janina serves as the Co-Facilitator of the WSIS+20 Review and Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations. She brings extensive experience in multilateral diplomacy to this role, having served as Ambassador to the European Union (2014–2024) and General Director for Multilateral Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2012–2014). She holds a doctorate in international law from the University of Tirana.

Cynthia is a seasoned Policy and Regulatory Development Manager with over 15 years of experience in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector. In her current role in the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) she is responsible for key areas such as developing and implementing ICTs communications strategies and policies and stakeholder relations engagements. She is the current ITU Minister Council and African Coordinator for ITU Activities in Geneva. 

Sulyna Abdullah is the Chief of Strategic Planning and Membership,
and Special Advisor to the Secretary-General. Her portfolio includes strategic planning,
UN affairs, membership relations, gender and emerging technologies
including AI, space, cybersecurity, internet governance, connectivity
and digital transformation.

Yu Ping Chan heads Digital Partnerships and Engagement at UNDP, the United Nations’ development agency. As part of the leadership of UNDP’s Digital, AI and Innovation Hub, Yu Ping helps drive global thought leadership and builds partnerships to support the agency’s digital development work.

Yu Ping previously headed the Rising Nations Initiative Secretariat at the Global Center for Climate Mobility. She has extensive experience with multilateral diplomacy and the United Nations system, having also previously led the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology, as well as the Policy and Regional Support teams in the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism. Prior to this, she worked in the UN’s Department of Political Affairs, and in the New York Office of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Before joining the UN Secretariat, Yu Ping was a diplomat in the Singaporean Foreign Service. She served at the Singapore Mission to the United Nations in New York as well as at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, overseeing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Yu Ping has a Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) from Harvard University, and a Masters of Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Ms. Dobrina Poirier is an Economic Affairs Officer at the UNCTAD New York Office. Previously, she served as an Economic Affairs Officer at the UN Economic Commission for Africa’s Technology and Climate Change Division and the Office of the Executive Secretary. Ms. Poirier has also held positions at the World Bank’s Chief Economist Office and Governance Global Practice, the Investment Board of Bulgaria, and the private sector.

Papa Seck is the Chief of UN Women's Research and Data section, where he has been leading statistics since 2009. He spearheaded the development of Women Count, UN Women's global gender data programme in 2016, to improve the production and use of gender data and to help countries monitor the Sustainable Development Goals from a gender perspective. 

María Begoña Lasagabaster was appointed Director of the Gender Equality Division in the Office of the Director-General of UNESCO since 21 November 2022.  She has extensive international experience in gender equality.  In 2008, she joined the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) at its Headquarters in New York. In 2010, Mrs. Lasagabaster was appointed as a specialist and advisor for women’s political participation. In 2012, she was appointed Chief of the Leadership and Governance Section. 

In 2017, she was seconded to Lebanon as the UN-Women Representative and in December 2018 was appointed Representative for UN-Women in Tunisia and Libya. 

Before her functions in the United Nations, she was elected Member of Parliament in Spain (1996-2008). She has worked also as a lawyer and started her professional career in the European Parliament.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in law, which she obtained in 1985 at the University of Salamanca in Spain and a master’s degree in European law, which she obtained in 1986 at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium.

Ms Angélica Jácome holds a Master of Arts in Law from the
University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, as well as a
Master of Science in International Development and a Bachelor
of Arts in International Relations from Tulane University in the
United States of America.
She is the Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO) Liaison Office to the United Nations in
New York.
Prior to assuming her current role, she held the position of FAO
Director of the Office of Small Island Developing States (SIDS),
Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Landlocked Developing
Countries (LLDCs) from 2020-2025, during which time she was
the Executive Chief for both the FAO Women’s and Youth
Committees.
Before joining FAO, she held the position of Permanent
Representative of Panama to the United Nations Rome-based
Agencies (RBAs) from 2015 to 2019. She also served in other
foreign missions of Panama and worked for various
international organizations, including the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme
(WFP).
Ms Angélica Jácome started her career in 1999 at the
Permanent Mission of Panama to the United Nations in New
York, where she returned in 2007 as part of the team
representing Panama to the United Nations Security Council on
issues such as Sudan; Children and Armed Conflict; Women,
Peace and Security; and Counterterrorism.

Michelle McIsaac is an Economist and health workforce specialist at the World Health Organization (WHO). She has advised ministries and governmental agencies across the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia and the Pacific on health, labour and development issues.  

At the WHO she leads the program of work on gender and equity in the global health workforce. Her program of work covers the rural and remote health workforce, women in the health and care labour market, and the care economy. She co-chairs the Global Health Workforce Gender Equity Hub.  

Michelle has a PhD in Economics from the University of Melbourne and has held academic positions in Canada, Australia, Germany and the Netherlands. 

Gitanjali Sah is Strategy and Policy Coordinator at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and is responsible for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process. She has more than 15 years of work experience in ICT policy issues at the national, regional and international level. She is an experienced International Civil Servant having worked at several UN Agencies. She holds M.Phil. Development Studies, University of Cambridge, UK and a Masters in Political Science, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India.