77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly

UNGA77
THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL COOPERATION
Building resilience through safe, trusted, and inclusive digital public infrastructure
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
1:30pm EST
Hosted By
About The Event
Building on the 77th UNGA theme of “A watershed moment: transformative solutions to interlocking challenges,” this digital moment will highlight pioneering initiatives and leaders that are ushering in a new era of country-led digital cooperation to build safe, trusted, and inclusive Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).
Click here to watch the live telecast
Why Now?
As the world enters the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, inclusive digital public infrastructure (DPI) has emerged as a key mechanism to transform service delivery and increase resilience for future crises. Digital public goods (DPGs) are rapidly becoming indispensable digital cooperation tools, helping countries shorten their learning and adoption curve as they build DPI. From cash transfers and food distribution to tech-led models of education and vaccine delivery, the last decade has seen a surge in the digitalization of public and private sector services. DPI systems have become critical to enabling meaningful delivery of public and private services and underpinning the achievement of a range of SDGs, including poverty reduction, financial inclusion, and climate resilience.
As global digital cooperation accelerates and more countries build inclusive DPI, there is a significant opportunity to align investments, share technology and implementation insights, and learn from the pioneering countries championing the use of DPGs for DPI. Contributions from countries will be important inputs to the Global Digital Compact and be complemented in DPG Charter efforts.
While DPI and other digital systems can unlock immense value, they can also expose people to risks such as privacy violations, data-driven behavioural manipulation, identity theft and fraud, and exclusion from essential public services. This event will garner commitments to put rights and inclusion at the centre of digital transformation and digital cooperation.
Speakers
Achim Steiner (Chair)
UNDP Administrator
His Excellency Alar Karis
President, Republic of Estonia
His Excellency José Ramos-Horta
President, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
His Excellency Jonas Gahr Støre
Prime Minister, Norway
His Excellency Macky Sall
President, Republic of Senegal, and Chairperson, African Union
Margrethe Vestager
Executive Vice-President, European Commission
Amandeep Singh Gill
UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology
David Malpass
President, World Bank
Her Excellency Amani Abou-Zeid
Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, African Union Commission
Her Excellency Cina Lawson
Minister of Digital Economy and Transformation, Republic of Togo
Her Excellency Josephine Teo
Minister for Communications and Information, Republic of Singapore
His Excellency Ahmed Hanandeh
Minister of Digital Economy,
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Catherine Russell
Executive Director, UNICEF
Martha Delgado
Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mexico
Bill Gates
Co-Chair, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
More speakers to be announced soon
Additional speakers will shortly be listed on this webpage.
Agenda
1:00 PM Guests Arrival
1:30 PM Formal Start/Live Telecast: Welcome & Opening Remarks
1:40 PM Keynotes: Open Digital Public Infrastructure for the Global Good
2:00 PM Keynote: Digital Public Infrastructure for Resilience and Economic Transformation
2:05 PM Panel: Mobilizing Financing for Inclusive Digital Public Infrastructure for All
2:20 PM Keynotes: The Need to Act Now – Digital Public Infrastructure for Inclusion and Resilience
2:35 PM Crisis of Today: Digital Public Infrastructure Lessons
2:40 PM High-Level Remarks: Perspectives from Digital Transformation Champions
2:55 PM Closing Keynote & Call to Action