The Road to Addis: shaping the 2021 digital development agenda
Monday, 9 November 2020, 13:30-14:45 CET
Opening remarks
Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director, ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau
Secretary General Zhao,
Excellency, State Minister Ahmedin Mohammed
Distinguished speakers and young leaders,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening.
It is a great pleasure to welcome you to this event to mark the one-year countdown to the 2021 World Telecommunication Development Conference, known as WTDC-21.
WTDC-21 will be a landmark digital development conference. A unique opportunity for the global community to develop innovative approaches and new models of collaboration to overcome digital development challenges. To accelerate digital transformation. To advance connectivity and digital solutions in this final Decade of Action to achieve the SDGs.
Today we also mark the beginning of a new journey towards WTDC: the Road to Addis series, a series of events that will take place in 2021 to build momentum towards WTDC.
This a journey we must take together. The Road to Addis series will build momentum and awareness towards WTDC. It will engage all stakeholders. It will provide a platform to discuss key issues to be addressed at WTDC-21.
The Sustainable Development Goals sit at the heart of the international development agenda and are an urgent call for action by all countries and by all stakeholders.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical importance of connectivity, and what it means to not be connected. We know that technologies are catalytic drivers to enable the achievement of all the SDGs. And that sustainable development itself, and the successful implementation of the sustainable development agenda, cannot, and will not, happen without the smart use of ICTs.
We have laid our “6 enablers", that will help us accelerate connectivity, and as a consequence, progress towards the achievement of the SDGs. What are those enablers?
First, Partnerships.
We know that achieving the SDGs cannot be done in isolation. It requires a global partnership of multiple stakeholders (many of which are with us today). How can we make partnerships more effective for advancing connectivity and achieving these goals?
The Second, is Inclusion.
Inclusion is in itself a goal but it is also a powerful enabler.
We need to walk the talk and actually make sure that EVERYONE plays an active part in the design and use of digital solutions that will ultimately impact and improve everyone's lives.
The Third, is Financing.
Addressing the SDGs requires significant investment and financing. The recent ITU study on Connecting Humanity estimates that US$ 428 billion are needed to connect the remaining more than 3 billion people to the Internet by 2030. We want to explore new effective, innovative and impactful ways to mobilize these needed funds.
Fourth, Leadership.
What is the kind of leadership we need to get it done?
In the Road to Addis series we want to dissect what leadership for development really means and learn from global examples where effective leaders and role models are making progress and having impact.
The Fifth, is Innovation.
We require new approaches, we need to be creative, bold, and to think outside the box. We want to engage with innovators and entrepreneurs. Learn from them. Get inspired.
And last but definitively not least: youth.
We cannot solve these problems alone without the engagement, energy, passion and the leadership of our youth.
This is why WTDC will be preceded by a youth summit and also why today we are launching Generation Connect, a generation of young people with a future, one click away.
This, this is our Road to Addis. And this is our programme of events for 2021. We will be hosting these events next year. Our final event will be held in September 2021 during the UN General Assembly so we can also present our conclusions and the key messages to take to WTDC-21.
I invite all of you joining us today to be part of this journey and to take the Road to Addis with us.
Detailed information will be available on the WTDC-21 website and our social channels. (www.itu.int/wtdc21)
And now it is my pleasure to give the floor to the ITU Secretary General, Mr. Houlin Zhao for his remarks.
Mr. Secretary General, the floor is yours.
