Video message: Ms Amina Mohammed

Dear Doreen
Dear ITU Colleagues, Councilors and Friends,

The world is undergoing a fundamental technological shift. The rapid development and deployment of digital, data, and data processing technologies, such as AI, have implications for social vitality, economic productivity, geopolitical balance, and sustainable development.

The United Nations has a crucial role to play in mitigating the associated challenges relating to AI. By facilitating ethical and human-rights-based innovation, we can create a trustworthy and inclusive digital ecosystem and allow for equitable access to its benefits. Addressing the digital divide will require urgent and
swift action as well as increased multi-stakeholder collaboration across the UN system.

As we reach the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda and heed the Secretary-General’s call to rescue the Sustainable Development Goals, I urge all members of the UN Sustainable Development Group, including ITU, to actively engage and lead.

The SDG Digital Day, which will be convened by ITU and partners ahead of the SDG Summit, represents an exciting opportunity to put technology at the service of the SDGs.

The success of the SDG Summit requires enhanced coordination across the entire UN system to carry ambitious, flexible and adaptive responses to evolving global challenges.

And that starts by bridging the digital gap, eliminating inequalities and investing in technology.

This demands integrated policy advice and coordinated planning towards effective implementation.

Quality UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks, driven by data and evidence, are also essential to deliver on our mission.

Increased core funding and pooled financing mechanisms are urgently needed for large-scale support and integrated programming.

Nowhere is this better expressed than in ITU’s strategic goals of universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation.

In this context, the Joint SDG Fund plays a vital role in leveraging our combined technical expertise in service of the 2030 Agenda.

That is why I am so pleased that ITU and UNDP will co-lead the technical secretariat of the new Window on Digital Transformation – under the Joint SDG Fund.

The Digital Window holds great promise to further integrate country-level efforts.

To overcome the challenges we face, we must foster a spirit of collaboration, unity and inclusivity.

I urge you to adopt a gender- and youth-responsive approach to technology – one that will pave the way for a more fair, just and equitable digital future for all.

Through greater digital cooperation, coordination, and leadership, we can better align our collective efforts and effectively deliver on the SDGs for people and the planet.

I wish you a productive Council session.

Thank you.