The WSIS welcome Part II: and now for the Shakers!

Global leaders convene at WSIS Plus 20 Forum to chart the future of digital cooperation and inclusion

At the WSIS Plus 20 Forum High-Level Event, global leaders and digital pioneers convened to reflect on the past achievements and chart the course for the future of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and its synergies with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The event was marked by the presence of distinguished figures who have been instrumental in shaping the digital agenda on a global scale.

The session commenced with Gitanjali Sah expressing gratitude to the United Arab Emirates for their unwavering support as a platinum partner of the WSIS Forum. She introduced Sulyna Abdullah, Chief Strategy Planning and Management, as the emcee for the session and the plenary that followed.

Sulyna Abdullah, taking the stage as emcee, highlighted the importance of the session by referring to the attendees as the “shakers of the digital world.” She underscored the contributions of the co-hosts, including His Excellency the Federal Counsellor of the University of the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications of the Confederation, and Ms. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Doreen Bogdan-Martin delivered her opening remarks, acknowledging the pressure to “shake things up” and expressing her delight at witnessing the progress made since the WSIS began 21 years ago. She paid homage to Switzerland and Minister Albert Rösti for their strong support of the WSIS since its first phase in 2003. Bogdan-Martin highlighted the concerning reversal of the trend in reducing global inequalities, calling for urgent action to address this issue.

A key announcement was the establishment of the Open Wallet Forum, a partnership between the Open Wallet Foundation, the Swiss government, and the ITU, aimed at fostering digital financial inclusion. Bogdan-Martin stressed the importance of multi-stakeholder cooperation, which has been instrumental in achieving milestones in digital inclusion and capacity building initiatives. She emphasised the need to protect this approach, especially in the face of the growing digital divide.

Bogdan-Martin also pointed out the alignment of the WSIS process with the SDGs and the role of digital technologies in accelerating progress towards these goals. She noted the flexibility and adaptive governance demonstrated by the WSIS Action Lines, which have allowed the WSIS process to keep pace with emerging technologies. The complementarity of the WSIS Forum and the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was highlighted as a strength in addressing global digital governance issues.

Albert Rösti, the Federal Counsellor for Switzerland, reflected on the achievements since the first WSIS and acknowledged the challenges that remain, such as the need to connect the 2.6 billion people who have never been online. He emphasised the importance of continued global cooperation to ensure that digital transformation benefits everyone and fosters peaceful coexistence. Rösti also addressed the need for inclusive, transparent, and accountable digital governance processes that reflect the diverse voices from around the world.

The event underscored the critical role of upcoming milestones, including the UN Summit of the Future and the WSIS Plus 20 Review, in shaping the future of global digital cooperation. The speakers collectively called for a reinvigoration of global solidarity and trust-building in the digital world.

In conclusion, the WSIS Plus 20 Forum High-Level Event served as a platform for leaders to reaffirm their commitment to a fair, just, and inclusive digital society. The discussions highlighted the need for urgent action to bridge the digital divide, the importance of multi-stakeholder cooperation, and the alignment of digital initiatives with broader development goals. The event set the tone for future discussions and actions that will shape the digital landscape for years to come, with a strong emphasis on inclusivity, development, and the harmonisation of various digital governance processes.

Gitanjali Sah:
Thank you, Excellency El-Khameis, and to our long-standing partners, UAE, for being a platinum partner of the WSIS Forum, and this year the WSIS Plus 20 Forum High-Level Event. I’d now like to invite Ms. Sulina Abdullah, Chief Strategy Planning and Management, to be your emcee for this session and the plenary session that is about to proceed.

Sulyna Abdullah:
Thank you, Gitanjali. Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, now it’s time to meet the shakers. You’ve met the movers this morning. These are the shakers of the digital world, the co-hosts of this event, His Excellency the Federal Counsellor of the University of the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications of the Confederation, and Ms. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, to join us for this significant moment. May I invite you both on stage, please? Thank you. Secretary-General, I’m afraid I’m not going to allow you to sit for very long. I’m going to invite you to deliver your opening remarks with a warm, warm welcome again. Thank you.

Doreen Bogdan-Martin:
Thank you. Thank you, Sulina. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. I’m feeling a little bit of pressure to be in the shaker part as I actually just got off an airplane, so I will try to shake things up. I’m really delighted to see you all here today. This is where it all started 21 years ago, and it’s fitting that we have with us today Minister Albert Rosti. Mr. Minister, it’s really an honor to have you here today. Your country has been a strong supporter of the World Summit on the Information Society since day one. As the host of this first phase of the WSIS back in 2003, Switzerland has played a leading role in advancing our common vision of building a fair, just, and inclusive digital society. And we’ve reached another turning point, both the WSIS process and the unfolding story of digital transformation. We may be stepping into the unknown, but I do believe that we’re doing it from a position of strength, and let me explain why. First, we have a strong foundation built on two decades of collaboration and innovation that makes WSIS unique because it’s filled with diversity of its community. Let’s remember that the WSIS Declaration of Principles begins with we, the representatives of the peoples of the world. We, the representatives of the peoples of the world, that’s who we are and what we stand for. Bringing the private sector and civil society to the table and making their voices heard in this process was truly forward-thinking back in the early 2000s. It has allowed us to accomplish a great deal from promoting digital inclusion to supporting capacity building initiatives. This multi-stakeholder approach to digital cooperation works, and we need to protect it because it’s more fundamental now than ever before. Second, we are laser focused on what matters most, and that is development. WSIS was born out of the imperative to reduce the digital divide between the richer and the poorer countries and to use digital as a catalyst for development. The recent human development index report of UNDP shows that the two-decade trend of steadily reducing inequalities between wealthy and poor nations is now in reverse. This calls for urgent action, and this is why we have just entered into a partnership with the Open Wallet Foundation and the Swiss government to establish the Open Wallet Forum to close the gap between haves and have-nots by developing and deploying globally interoperable digital wallets to help bridge digital divides and to advance digital financial inclusion. Digital technologies can turn things around. They can accelerate progress to achieving the sustainable development goals, and that’s why it’s so important to continue to align the WSIS process and the SDGs. And that brings me to my third point. We can rely on and we can draw from existing well-functioning and multi-stakeholder UN-mandated processes for digital governance. The WSIS Action Lines have withstood the test of time by providing the WSIS process with the flexibility needed to keep pace with the rapid evolution of new and emerging technologies. The entire WSIS process has demonstrated flexibility and adaptive governance. With the Internet Governance Forum solidifying its role as the forum for global digital governance issues and the WSIS Forum complementing this process by focusing on grassroots digital development through the Geneva Plan of Action and its Action Lines. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, this high-level event comes at a time of high expectations for digital. The outcomes of this event will be critical in the upcoming UN Summit of the Futures in September and the WSIS Plus 20 Review next year. Both milestone occasions where leaders are being called upon to rebuild trust and reinvigorate a sense of global solidarity, including in the digital world. As we look to the role of WSIS beyond 2025, ITU is more committed than ever to working closely with UNESCO, UNDP, UNCTAD, and some 50 UN partners engaged in the WSIS process to implement the WSIS outcomes and the SDGs. Now is the time to take stock of how far we’ve come, what’s left to do, and the challenge before us. Now is the time to understand how WSIS and other UN processes like the Global Digital Compact and the Summit of the Future can complement each other. Now is the time to finish the job and bring online the 2.6 billion people that have never, ever connected. With that, ladies and gentlemen, it’s my honor and my pleasure to invite His Excellency, Mr. Albert Krasti, the Federal Counsellor for Switzerland, to deliver his remarks. Excellency, over to you.

Albert Rösti:
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a great pleasure for me as a representative of our government of Switzerland, having you all here, coming to Switzerland, and I hope at the edge of important discussion, you will have time to enjoy also a little bit Switzerland with some sunny days. At least, I hope you will have time to enjoy a little bit of Switzerland with some sunny days. Switzerland with some sunny days. At least, I hope so. I think the next days, there is a little bit rainy, but we will also have sunny days to enjoy our lake. Dear Mrs. Secretary General, dear ministers, excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, just a little over 20 years ago, at the first World Summit of the Information System held in Geneva in December 2003, the representatives of all nations in the world agreed on a shared vision for an inclusive, people-centered, and development-oriented information and digital society. And we formulated a plan of action to work towards this vision. Since then, many of us have worked together to implement this plan of action. We have achieved many of the goals, but not all. Still, not everyone is connected to the internet and has meaningful access to digital tools. Still, too many people do not have electricity, which is a prerequisite for participating in the digital economy and society. In the meantime, new tools like digital platform and social media and new technology, including AI, have emerged and are offering new promises, but also new pitfalls. So today, we are not at the end of our work in cooperation, but still at the beginning. As a global community, we have to continue to work together, though that all people anywhere in the world can use digital technologies to improve their quality of life, as well as to foster a peaceful coexistence of different people with different cultures living together on our planet. The WESI summits of 20 years ago were not only milestones in setting substantive goals for the development of our digital society and economies. They were also milestones with regards to fostering new forms of dialogue and cooperation across all stakeholder groups. In the Geneva Declaration of Principles, all governments, and I quote, recognized that building an inclusive information society requires new forms of solidarity, partnerships and cooperation among governments and all other stakeholders. In this regard, platforms for open and inclusive dialogue have proven to be valuable. For example, the WESI Forum, which is held annually here in Geneva and facilitates the implementation of the WESI results, but although the UN Internet Government Forum IGF, whose secretary is also based here in Geneva, have had and are still having a pivotal role in bringing together stakeholders from all over the world and in fostering mutual understanding and solutions oriented pragmatic cooperation in this field. In the past 20 years, we have also learned that multi-stakeholder processes must not be played off against the multilateral systems. It’s not either or, but the two types of processes are complementary and should mutually reinforce each other. It is the right mix and combination that makes the difference. If we look forward, one of our main tasks will be to continue to develop a framework that allows all people in the world, regardless of origin, age, gender or religion, to decide themselves, but with respect of others about how to take advantage of the new opportunities that the digital transformation offers. This year and the next year will be important in setting the course of the near future. Just one month before this WESI Plus20 Forum high-level event here in Geneva, over 700 representatives from all stakeholders from over 60 countries participated in the NetMundial Plus10 meeting and adopted the São Paulo guidelines. These guidelines aim at making international processes, be they multilateral or multi-stakeholder, more inclusive, transparent and accountable to all people in the world. We hope that these guidelines be operationalized so that not only all voices from all over the world are heard, but also that these diverse voices are better reflected in the outcome of all digital governance processes, irrespective of whether they are so-called multilateral or multi-stakeholder. Another big milestone later this year will of course be the summit of the future with the agreement on a global digital compact, which should outline shared principles for an open, free and secure digital future for all. During 2025 there will be more important events organized by the ITU, UNESCO and others, which will all contribute to the WESI Plus20 overall review by the UN General Assembly in autumn next year, when UN Member States will decide upon the global digital cooperation architecture for the future. We are convinced that there is room for many different processes. Given the limited resources of smaller countries and less powerful stakeholders, we should however try to avoid duplication and should concentrate our efforts wherever possible on improving and strengthening existing processes and organizations that have already proven that they deliver in their functions. Switzerland will continue to support all actors and processes that cooperate constructively to develop and implement our shared goals. We will do this not only through strengthening inclusive dialogue platforms, but also through supporting concrete multi-stakeholder partnerships such as GIGA or the Open Valid Forum, two initiatives co-lead by ITU and its partners. We are fully committed to continue to work with all of you. We are looking forward to this year’s WESI Plus20 Forum as well as the AI for Good Summit, which will take place in this building later this week. Of course, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the organizations of this week’s events like ITU, UNESCO, UNDP, UNCTAD and all others without whose support this event would not be such a success. Thank you for your attention and your participation. I wish you all good luck.

Doreen Bogdan-Martin:
Thank you so much, Excellency, for those inspiring words. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to invite to the stage the chair of the WESI Plus20 Forum. That is Her Excellency Dr. Emilia Stojman-Ovadu. She is the Minister of Digital Transformation from the Republic of Slovenia. Excellency, welcome. Please join me at the lectern.