UNECE – Seventieth Session of the Commission, "Digital and Green Transformations for Sustainable Development in the Region of the Economic Commission for Europe"
Opening Statement
Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin
April 18, 2023
Madam Chair,
Madame Director-General,
Madame Executive Secretary,
Excellencies and dear friends,
Good morning.
It's a pleasure and an honour to join you for this 70th session of the Commission.
ITU and UNECE have a long and strong partnership– from our work on the United for Smart Sustainable Cities Initiative, to the Future Networked Car Symposium, to the UN Digital Transformation Group for Europe and Central Asia, and more.
All of these initiatives go straight to the subject at hand.
Just last week, the Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund featured topics ranging from AI and digital currency, to young entrepreneurs' role in digital transformation, to digital investment and innovation, to name a few.
These topics were also in focus at other important UN events of recent weeks, like LDC5 and the Commission on the Status of Women.
It all goes to show how digital now tops the national and global agenda.
Digital brings hope to a world still reeling from economic shocks brought by a global pandemic and prolonged high inflation.
And our research shows that boosting mobile broadband penetration by 10% in Europe could result in economic growth of 2.1% of GDP per capita.
Digital technologies also present us with some significant opportunities to make some real progress in climate action – just when last month's report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stressed that we have to act now, if we are to stand a chance to secure a liveable sustainable future for all.
Sustainable digital transformation is one of ITU's top priorities, along with universal connectivity.
Both strategic objectives point to the massive potential of digital to accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals – which, as we know, are in dire need of rescuing.
We must also recognize that while digital technologies will play an increasingly vital role in environmental and economic sustainability, they also come with serious challenges from energy and natural resource consumption to e-waste.
That is why technical standards – such as those developed by UNECE, the IEC, ISO, and ITU – play a critical role in getting everyone on the path to net zero, showing the importance of adopting a multi-stakeholder approach to the circular economy.
Digital cooperation, as the UN Secretary-General has stressed repeatedly, is the way forward.
It will be at the heart of ITU's Global Symposium for Regulators, focused on “Regulation for a Sustainable Digital Future", set to take place in Sharm El-Sheikh in June.
It's also what drives the Partner2Connect Digital Coalition led by ITU – with more than 600 pledges that have mobilized 30 billion US dollars so far, to bring the benefits of digital to some of the hardest-to-connect places in the world.
And it's the motivation behind our SDG Digital Day that we will organize on the margins of the UN General Assembly's High-level Week in September, to contribute to the SDG Summit and put data and digital technologies at the core of 2030 Agenda rescue efforts.
With so many synergies between the work of ITU and UNECE, I look forward to the outcome of this meeting – to strengthen our continued cooperation – to advance digital and green transformation for sustainable development.
Thank you.
