Session 555— Side Event: UN in Action for Digital Cooperation | WSIS+20 High-Level Event 2025
UNGIS SIDE EVENT | on the sidelines of the WSIS+20 UNGA High-Level Meeting | Venue: Doha Conference Room, 11th floor, UNDP HQ - FF Building, 304 East 45th Street, New York
Background
Two decades after the launch of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process—held in two phases in Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005) – the global digital landscape continues to evolve at unprecedented speed. In 2025, after the adoption of the Global Digital Compact and as WSIS reaches its 20-year milestone, which articulated a shared global vision for people-centred, inclusive, and development-oriented information and knowledge societies, the imperative for coordinated, inclusive, and forward-looking digital cooperation across the United Nations system has never been stronger.
Established in 2006, the United Nations Group on the Information Society (UNGIS) serves as the UN’s system principal inter-agency mechanism for advancing policy coherence and system-wide cooperation on ICTs and digital transformation. With nearly 50 participating UN entities, UNGIS helps ensures that UN system-wide digital efforts are aligned, mutually reinforcing, and fully supportive of global development priorities.
Objectives
This UNGIS side event, taking place ahead of the WSIS+20 High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on 16–17 December, will highlight how UNGIS is strengthening digital cooperation across the UN system and supporting Member States in harnessing digital technologies for inclusive and sustainable development. It will:
- Showcase UNGIS’s role in catalyzing and strengthening inter-agency coordination and collaboration on digital transformation;
- Demonstrate how WSIS Action Lines connect with and reinforce broader UN frameworks, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the High-level Political Forum (HLPF), the ECOSOC Partnership Forum, and Beijing+30;
- Share perspectives for the coming decade supporting inclusive and sustainable digital development in view of the WSIS+20 Review.
Agenda
10:15-10:18 Welcome and Opening
10:18-10:21 Introductory Remarks by Chair of UNGIS
· Torbjörn Fredriksson, Acting Director of Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD (Chair of UNGIS)
10:21-10:30 Why UNGIS Matters: Achievements and Forward Vision
Vice-Chairs of UNGIS:
· Yu Ping Chan, Head, Partnerships and Engagement, Digital AI and Innovation Hub, UNDP (Vice-Chair)
· UNESCO (Vice-Chair)
· Ayman ElSherbiny, Chief of ICT Policies and Digital Development, UN ESCWA (Vice-Chair) *remote
10:30-10:39 Member States: Expectations from UN Digital Cooperation Mechanisms and What More UNGIS Can Do to Implement WSIS Beyond 2025:
· H.E. Ms. Beth Delaney, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations, Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations | New York
· Mr. Alexandre Reis Siqueira Freire, Commissioner, Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (ANATEL), Brazil
· Ms. Cynthia Lesufi, Minister Counsellor, South Africa
10:39-11:10 Tour de Table – UNGIS Members & Observers | Discussion
11:10-11:15 Closing Reflections & Group Photo
Mr. Torbjörn FredrikssonActing Director, Division on Technology and LogisticsUnited Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Ms. Gitanjali SahStrategy and Policy CoordinatorInternational Telecommunication Union (ITU)Moderator
Ms. Yu Ping ChanHead, Partnerships and Engagement, Digital AI and Innovation Hub, UNDPUnited Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
UNESCO representativeUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Mr. Ayman ElSherbinyChief of ICT Policies and Digital DevelopmentUnited Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia ( UN ESCWA)
H.E. Ms. Beth DelaneyAmbassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Australia to the United NationsAustralia
Ms Beth Delaney is Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, New York.
Beth is a senior public sector leader with extensive multilateral, humanitarian and development policy experience. Prior to her current role Beth was Australia’s Humanitarian Coordinator where she led Australia’s policy, action and partnerships to address global humanitarian needs and to support disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the Indo-Pacific region. Beth has held several senior management roles in the Australian Government, was DFAT’s Preventing Sexual Exploitation Abuse and Harassment Champion (2019-2025), and is a member of the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) Advisory Group. She has undertaken overseas assignments in Washington DC, Beijing and Bougainville.
She holds an Executive Master of Public Administration from ANZSOG (2018), Bachelor of Economics (Hons.) from ANU (1998), and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (2020).
Mr. Alexandre Reis Siqueira FreireCommissionerAgência Nacional de Telecomunicações (ANATEL), Brazil
Alexandre Freire is a Visiting Scholar at the Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main’s Faculty of Law, PhD in Law from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP), master’s degree in Law from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) and a degree in Law from the Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA). President of the Superior Council of the Center for Advanced Studies in Digital Communication and Technological Innovation – CEADI/ANATEL, President of the ANATEL Telecommunications Infrastructure Committee (C-INT). Appointed by the Presidency of the Republic as a member of the National Commission for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN 2030 Agenda.
He was legal advisor to the minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), special advisor to the presidency of the STF, Secretary of Higher Studies, Research and Information Management of the STF, parliamentary advisor to the presidency of the Mixed Committee on Plans, Public Budgets and Inspection of the National Congress , coordinator of Social Policies of the sub-chief for legal affairs of the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic, assistant deputy head of the sub-chief for legal affairs of the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic (in replacement) and advisor to the sub-chief for legal matters of the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic . At the National Council of Justice ( CNJ) he is a member of the Executive Committee of the Conciliation Commission and the National Judicial Cooperation Network. He is a professor at IDP (Brasília). He has been a lecturer at the universities of Rome “La Sapienza” and Rome “Tor Vergata” (Italy), Lisbon (Portugal), Münster and Frankfurt (Germany). He has been invited to participate as an expert in committees and public hearings in the Federal Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.
Ms. Cynthia LesufiMinister CounsellorSouth Africa