Agenda

Mr. Torbjörn Fredriksson is the Head of the E-commerce and Digital Economy Branch at the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The branch’s work covers the Digital Economy Report, the eTrade for all initiative, eTrade for Women, the E-commerce Week various capacity-building activities, and the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on E-commerce and the Digital Economy. He joined the UN in 2000. Before joining UNCTAD, he held positions at the Invest in Sweden Agency and the Swedish Ministry of Industry and Commerce. He has an MSc in International Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Since May 2022, Mr Kamalidini SOUEF has been appointed Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Digital Economy, of his country the Union of the Comoros 🇰🇲, a sector in which profound reforms are being implemented under his leadership.
Prior to his current position, Mr. SOUEF was from August 2021 to May 2022 Minister of Finance, Budget and the banking sector and in a short time he brought real positive changes in the field of Comorian finances.
As a Customs and indirect tax professional, from June 2016 to August 2021, as Director General of Customs, he transformed Comorian customs and put that important Administration back on track for the development of his country, the Union of the Comoros.
As Director General of Customs, he chaired the African Union (AU) Customs DG Committee from 2018-2019.
Similarly, coming from an entrepreneurial background, he was Director General of the Consulting and Management Studies Office (BCG) from 2013 to June 2016 after 23 years of professional career in the United Nations System, from 1991 to 2013. He worked with UNICEF as Administrator in Operations sector mainly in Supply Chain and Logistics programme area as well as Program Monitoring and Evaluation Manager.
Internationally,
Mr Kamalidini SOUEF has acquired a strong experience in several countries in emergency situation such as Pakistan, DRC, South Sudan, Burundi, Kenya etc….

Minister of Innovation and Technology since October 2021, appointed by the House of the Ethiopian People Representatives. He has been actively leading the Ministry mainly on policy and strategic issues regarding Science, Technology and Innovation.

 The Ministry of Technology and Science is mandated to collaborate with industry and the wider private sector towards accelerating digital transformation.
“We are delighted to participate in this year’s World Summit on the Information Society Forum 2023. It is a privilege to be invited as one of the high-level guest speakers and to deliver a policy statement on the Digital Economy and Trade. Zambia has embarked on an ambitious journey to transform its economy by leveraging on the benefits of technology, and, innovation among others. We are creating an enabling policy and legal environment for private sector participation in the process. This is buoyed by government’s commitment to:
        i.         The implementation of the digital economic transformation agenda which aims to position the republic of Zambia as key for partnerships and investments; 
       ii.         Enhancing the role of science, technology and innovation by, among other things, strengthening partnerships in research, innovation and technology development; and
     iii.         Enhancing the development of skills for the actualisation of the above. 
You will be amazed at the vast potential that this country possesses. From the energy and enthusiasm to Zambia’s significant efforts in fostering the development of information and knowledge societies. 

Since April, 2022 - Minister of High-Tech Industry of Armenia
October 2021 - April, 2022 - Deputy Minister of High-Tech Industry of Armenia
2014 – 2021− Director at "Simartek Integration Solutions" CJSC (production of electric switchboard
panels),
2011 – 2013 − Commercial Director at "Astra Crystals" CJSC (synthetic sapphire growing)
2008 - 2013 − Junior researcher at Institute for Informatics and Automation Problems of NAS RA
2007 - 2016 − Assistant to the Director, Deputy Director, Director at "Simartek" CJSC (official partner of Siemens AG and Schneider-Electric companies in Armenia, supplier of power distribution solutions, renewable energy and industrial process automation)
2001 – 2004 − MTD Group CJSC (official partner of Fujitsu Siemens, Siemens AG and Apple IMC in Armenia), participation in a number of IT projects.

 HE Mohamed bin Thamer Al Kaabi was appointed as Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications in June 2022. He is responsible for regulating, developing and promoting the Transportation and Telecommunications sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain, as well as the postal services. 
 
Prior to his appointment as Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, Mohamed served as the Undersecretary of Civil Aviation Affairs from 2016 until 2022 and held several senior executive positions at Bahrain Airport Company.
 
Mohamed has over 40 years experience in the aviation industry and holds a Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Glamorgan, UK. 
 
He is currently a board member of the following organisations: 
•      Chairman of National Space Science Agency (NSSA) 
•      Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (Mumtalakat) 

Paul Scully was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 27 October 2022.

He was also appointed Minister for London on 13 February 2020.

He was previously Minister of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities between 7 July 2022 and 27 October 2022.

He was previously Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from 13 February 2020 to July 2022.

He was elected the Conservative MP for Sutton and Cheam on 7 May 2015.

Dr. P.D. Vaghela joined as Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 1st October, 2020. Prior to joining TRAI, Dr.Vaghela was Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers.   Dr.Vaghela had graduated in Commerce in the year 1982.  He did his M.B.A (Master of Business Administration) with specialization in Financial Management in 1984 and also obtained M.A in Development Studies (Public Policy & Management) from the Institute of Social Studies, the Hague in the Netherlands in the year 2005.  He was decorated with a Doctorate in the year 2013 in Public Management and Policy by Sardar Patel University, Anand, Gujarat.

He joined Indian Administrative Service [IAS] in 1986.  He has held various assignments starting from District level to State level, during which he had won a number of awards for excellence as best Collector & District Magistrate 86 District Development Officer. In his assignment as Chairman, Kandla Port (2008-2013), the port was  awarded  as the  best  port for  five  years of his  tenure.  He worked as  Chief Commissioner of Sales Tax, in Gujarat, during which period he has played a major role in drafting GST law, its rules and fixing GST rates of goods and services as Convener of national level GST Law and GST Fitment Committees.  He was closely involved in the GST  implementation  at national  level  as a  key  member of GST  Implementation Committee.

As Secretary Pharmaceuticals, he has launched  four  ambitious schemes  to transform the sector. He also worked as Convenor of Empowered Group 3 (now EG2) which handled availability of critical medical supplies like PPE, N-95, Ventilators and testing kits. Today India is  exporting these  items  for which India was otherwise dependent on imports during pre-covid time. In May, 2018 Dr. Vaghela was honoured by Hon'ble Prime Minister of India for excellence   in  Public   Administration   while  appreciating   his   contribution   in implementation of GST in India.

Jūratė Šovienė is the Chair of the Council of the Communications Regulatory Authority of Lithuania. 
 
She has 20-year experience in competition policy, regulation and strategy including leading positions at the Lithuanian Competition Council.  She also served as Chief Legal Adviser to the President of Lithuania holding position of the Head of Legal Affairs Group at the Office of the President of the Republic of Lithuania. Ms J. Šovienė has more than 10-year experience as the Senior Expert/Project Manager in a number of EU projects in the field of competition law. 
Ms. J. J. Šovienė has experience in Academia too as the former Member of Economics Study Program Committee at Kaunas University of Technology, research fellow and the lecturer of administrative law. In 2016, Ms J. Šovienė was awarded a prize by Lithuanian Academy of Sciences for a co-authored monography “The Impact of Cartels on National Economy and Competitiveness”. She was also recognized as one of the 40 Notable Women Competition Professionals in Enforcement in Europe, the Americas, Africa (by W@Competition, 2019) and was awarded the State Award the Medal of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas for the significant contribution to the protection of fair competition by the President of Lithuania (2018).
Ms. J. Šovienė has Master’s degrees in Business Management and Law.

Chair of the People Centered Internet, co-founded with Vint Cerf, one of the fathers of the Internet.  She chairs the Sustainability Technical Committee for IEEE’s Society for the Social Implications of Technology (SSIT) and leads the Assessment Committee for IEEE’s Humanitarian Activities Committee (HAC), and is on the executive committee for SSIT and HAC. She co-founded the Industry Connections Social Impact Measurement working group of the IEEE Standards Association. One of the early pioneers of CRM at Oracle, she built on earlier work at Intel, and her studies at MIT under future Nobel Economics winners, Modigliani, and Merton. Socio-Technical lead (2011-13) for the US Government Future of Health initiative she began as subject matter expert for Networked Improvement Communities (2009-10). She is the convener of the Digital Cooperation and Diplomacy network working closely with the UN agencies, ITU and UNDP, and serves as an advisor to GovStack Global, supported by Germany and Estonia. She is a Fellow of the Hasso Plattner Institute in Germany in 2022, and serves as co-chair for the UN Commission on the Status of Women 2023 report on the theme of Digital Innovation.