The GDC and the WSIS+20 Processes: What’s in it for Africa

Session 333 at GDC underscores the importance of African involvement in global digital governance

During the GDC’s Session 333, “Investigative Processes, What’s in it for Africa,” the dialogue centred on how Africa can benefit from and contribute to the GDC and OASIS processes to bridge the digital divide and foster digital governance. The session was initiated with apologies from an absent ambassador, followed by an introduction that highlighted the significance of the session in discussing transformative change for Africa through these global platforms.

The session moderator emphasised the importance of Africa shaping the global digital governance landscape to ensure the continent’s interests and perspectives are adequately represented. The platforms were seen as opportunities to address Africa’s digital challenges and to harness technology for sustainable development.

Ambassador Eunice Luambia from Zambia provided a comprehensive overview of the GDC process, detailing the progress made and its relevance to Africa. She outlined Africa’s digital priorities within the GDC discussions, which included connectivity, equitable access to technology, economic growth, digital literacy, and the need to focus on specific areas unique to Africa. Ambassador Luambia stressed the urgency of African involvement, especially as the Summit of the Future approaches, and suggested that Geneva, with its expertise and infrastructure, should play a pivotal role in the GDC process.

Ms. Sulyna Abdullah from the ITU spoke about the synergy between the WSIS process and the GDC, noting that the goals of both initiatives coincide, offering a streamlined approach for member states. She mentioned the African digital compact and its alignment with WSIS and GDC objectives, reinforcing the need for a multi-stakeholder approach in digital governance discussions.

Dr. Renata Duan from the UN highlighted the GDC’s role in articulating the centrality of digital transformation for human well-being, development, and sustainable governance. She discussed the GDC’s focus on inclusive participation in the governance of emerging technologies and the importance of setting targets for digital cooperation and development.

Audience contributions included points on the importance of regional collaboration and the inclusion of diverse stakeholder voices in the processes. The need for meaningful engagement of stakeholders beyond governments in digital processes was emphasised, with a call for feedback mechanisms to ensure their contributions are considered.

The session concluded with a discussion on the expectations from the WSIS and GDC processes, the unique contributions Africa can bring, and the importance of focusing on implementation and outcomes. There was a consensus on the need for African engagement, strategic action, and addressing both foundational needs and high-level digital governance issues.

Noteworthy observations included the recognition of Africa’s creative digital solutions and the suggestion that the African Union Data Policy Framework could serve as a valuable contribution to the processes. Additionally, there was a call for a focus on digital equality, with the international community urged to invest in foundational digital infrastructure before advanced technologies like AI.

In summary, Session 333 at the GDC highlighted the critical role of African involvement in shaping the digital future through the GDC and OASIS processes. The discussions centred on setting African digital priorities, the necessity of multi-stakeholder involvement, and the importance of Geneva’s role in driving the GDC. The session underscored the urgency of action and the need for a unified approach to ensure Africa’s digital transformation aligns with global digital governance efforts.

Moderator:
Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, welcome to this session, Session 333, dubbed the GDC Investigative Processes, What’s in it for Africa. Allow me to begin by conveying the apologies of my ambassador, who had every intention to being here today. However, he is not able to join us this afternoon, and so it is my great honor to welcome you to this session this afternoon and explore how these two global processes, the GDC and the OASIS, and what they provide for Africa in terms of global platform to call for transformative change and action required to bridge the digital divide. We are waiting for one more panelist, but we will begin. And so allow me to provide these short welcoming remarks. As we know, the GDC and the OASIS processes present significant opportunities for Africa to shape the global digital governance landscape and ensure that the continent’s interests and perspectives are adequately represented. These platforms indeed offer a unique platform to address the continent’s digital challenges and harness technology for sustainable development. Welcome Dr. Renata, you can join us here on the panel. So by actively engaging in these processes, African stakeholders indeed can contribute to shaping the principles, frameworks, and governance mechanisms that will guide the digital future, ensuring that they are inclusive, equitable, and aligned with the continent’s development goals and aspirations, and as espoused through the Agenda 2063. Today’s session, ladies and gentlemen, Excellencies, is an opportunity to reflect on these two processes and ask ourselves, to what extent are these processes actually addressing Africa’s priorities, our interests and our challenges? How are they truly reflecting in a manner that will bring transformative action and transformative change that is required? But also, fundamental to this discussion, and also building from a session that we co-hosted together with the Diplo Foundation yesterday, is exploring how Africa’s unique contributions, what Africa’s unique contributions to these processes, and these include our cultural and technological advancements. How do we contribute to these discussions in a manner that ensures that the outcomes are truly, um, address our unique realities? How do we ensure that these, um, processes are also an outcome of our own, uh, internal, um, uh, discussions and internal, uh, priorities? So today we have, um, with us Ambassador Eunice Luambia, who is a permanent representative of Zambia to the UN here in Geneva, uh, and she will provide for us perhaps a state of play, uh, on the GDC process, uh, in Zambia’s capacity as the, uh, co-facilitator of, uh, the GDC process. We will also hear from Dr. Renata Duan, who is, uh, the special advisor to the tech envoy, uh, straight from the kitchen, uh, in New York and perhaps, uh, paint us a picture and expand on what leveraging on these two processes actually looks like. Um, we also have Ms. Abdullah, who is the chief, uh, strategic planning and membership, uh, who is the chief of the strategic planning and membership department and the special advisor to the secretary general ITU. Uh, we have, um, Ms. Sorina, who will be our moderator today and who will also provide to us perhaps an elaboration on what the Africa’s efforts towards flagging out priorities and enable us to interrogate whether the ongoing discussions and processes are actually reflecting on these priorities and where the gaps are and where our collective efforts should focus. Without much ado, I invite you, Your Excellency, Ambassador Luambia. Thank you.

Ambassador Eunice Luambia:
Excellencies, distinguished guests, I must begin by thanking you, Kenya, for organizing this very important conversation. I know that the GDC process is an ongoing topic and becoming a very interesting one here in Geneva. Most of us haven’t really been following in the beginning, but now we do realize that we need to be on board because it’s important for us as Africa, if we have to develop, we also have to go digital. So I am very pleased and honored to be asked to speak. My colleague in New York is one of the co-facilitators. As you recall, in 2022, following the Secretary General’s report on the Common Agenda, it was decided that we would have this GDC as a conversation and two facilitators were appointed, Rwanda and Sweden. And then in 2023, Zambia took over from Rwanda. I thought I should maybe start by talking about their roadmap to the GDC to date. As you all know, as most of you may recall, our two co-facilitators have been going around the globe. trying to consult to ensure that everyone is on board and ensure that this comes together before the Summit of the Future, which comes in September 2024. The Global Compact, Digital Compact, is obviously set to be concluded at the Summit in September, and it aims to establish shared principles for an open, free, and secure digital future for all of us, especially for Africa. It also presents a very unique opportunity, as already stated here, to influence global digital policies in ways that address the continent’s specific needs and challenges, ensuring that the digital technologies contribute to inclusive growth and also sustainable development in Africa. So I will just go through the roadmap that the GDC has had since they started, the two co-facilitators. As I’ve already mentioned, in October 2022, following the Secretary General’s report, the two facilitators were appointed by the President of the General Assembly. Zambia joined in 2023 in October, replacing Rwanda. Since then, the two co-facilitators have come up with a roadmap and decided that they would have a lot of consultations with all the stakeholders, internal consultations, thematic deep dives, and subsequent intergovernmental consultations and negotiations. Then on the 1st of April, the Zero Draft, which was based on the informal consultations they had held, was released and circulated. Then on the 2nd and 3rd of May, the Zero Draft went through the first reading and the second reading, and resulting from that, obviously, all the member states did participate. participate and made some amendments which brought about the Revision 1. And now we have the Revision 1 coming up. It was circulated on the 15th of May to all member states and will be coming up for reading on the 5th and 7th of June this year. And hopefully more revs are going to come, of course. As you all know, there are a lot of divergent views in this whole process. So we don’t expect that Revision 1 will be the last and final one. I’m sure there will be more revs before that happens. Time is running, yes. We have the summit of the future in September, and this is already June. And the two facilitators so far have already released the other stages which they are going to do before September 2024. Now the question that I’ve been asked to answer here is, to what extent have the GDC discussions so far reflected the interests and priorities of African countries and the stakeholders? As the negotiations advance, what are the priorities that African countries should focus on? So far, when you look at how the consultations have been going and what is contained in the Zero Draft and now the Rev 1, you do see that there are a lot of issues which are of interest to us as Africans. I’ll just mention some of them, which include the digital inclusion and equity, capacity building and education, economic development and innovation, sustainable development, shaping global digital policies, fostering regional cooperation, attracting international investment, and so forth. But as you know, I think it’s important. that Africa, yes, most of these things are there, but I think that it is important for Africa to begin to zero in on those priorities which are unique to them. And in my opinion, I have singled out a few of them that I think, as Africans, we ought to begin to focus on, because we don’t want to have a whole shopping list of what is important to us. So we need to ensure that we can focus on the few that can be understood and maybe taken on board so that it can represent what Africa needs. So some of the ones that I think that we should be looking at are, to start with, connectivity. Connectivity and infrastructure development in our countries. As most of you will know, most of our countries are still behind in as far as connectivity is concerned. Infrastructure for digital operations is not really there. So we need to ensure that that is our first point, to ensure that we also can be a part of the digital policies which are coming up, and as we prepare for the summit. There’s need to have universal, affordable, accessible connectivity. This is urgent as it will help us to close the digital divide. The second one which I think we ought to concentrate on is, which comes in the same way, again, equitable access to technology. We need to share the technology. Without it, we cannot move. We cannot be a part of the global digital divide. Then we also have to talk about economic growth and stability. We need to focus on the economic factors that impact digital technology. For example, we should be focusing on mobile. broadband, which has a 2.4 growth in GDP for every 10% growth in mobile broadband. So I think that is something that we need to concentrate on as Africans. Then, of course, we have digital literacy. Our schools need to begin to bring this into their curriculum. Most of our children do not have the necessary equipment to even use in their schools. So as long as we don’t have that, we cannot advance, and we cannot be part of this program. So we need to begin to participate, and also to ensure that we have the right equipment in our schools. This is critical, as most of our people, as I’ve said, have been left behind. So by doing so, Africa will ensure that not only is its voice heard, but also influence the global digital governance agenda in a way that will benefit the continent’s development agenda. And the second question, which I was asked to look at, so maybe at this point, I’ll stop there, until maybe the moderator would like to ask some questions.

Moderator:
Thank you, Excellency. Allow me to hand over to Ms. Serena, who will take us through the panel sessions.

Sorina Teleanu:
Thank you, Yvonne. Hello, everyone. Not extremely comfortable, but I hate being out there. And we don’t have a rolling mic. I’ll use that one. Ambassador, thank you so much for these introductory remarks, I would say. Now, the plan for today is to talk a bit about both the GDC, but also taking some 20 years back about WSIS, and then looking forward to next year, WSIS plus 20, and how the WSIS process. the GDC process overall, why are they relevant for Africa, and a step forward from that, how to ensure that this relevance is actually reflected in what’s going to happen next. And we do have a bunch of guiding questions that are also in the session description, and I would like us to just have a dialogue around those questions, not only with my esteemed panel here, but also with everyone in the room. So we have a bit more of a dialogue, and at the end we do have that toolkit that we described in the session description of things that we in Geneva, as most of you are from here from Geneva, can do to ensure a more meaningful African representation in these processes. So let me start, I wanted to also show on the screen, but unfortunately my connection is not strong enough in this room, so I cannot, but I’ll start with the questions. And then as we go through the question, there’s also something that is happening within Africa that I think some of you are aware of. There is a draft African digital compact that is being discussed and is supposed to be adopted next week, if I’m not wrong, at the ministerial meeting in the African Union, and also a draft African contribution to GDC debates. And yeah, unfortunately I cannot show that, but I tried to compare a bit the priority areas from those two documents with Swiss section lines and also with GDC commitments. So maybe we have a bit of a discussion on that as well, but I can read a bit through those documents if I cannot share it. Back to the questions. We’re talking about WSIS, WSIS plus 20 happening next year, GDC coming up in September. There’s a lot going on in the digital governance spaces, there are only two of them. We have a lot of discussions at the ITU and many other organizations in Geneva, beyond Geneva as well. So why are these two particular processes relevant for African countries? And looking at both ITU and OSIT, what would be your one suggestion for African countries and one recommendation as to why you should prioritize these two processes? when you have so much to try to keep an eye on. Why are those maybe more important than others and why you should be there? Maybe starting with the ITU.

Sulyna Abdullah :
Thank you very much, Moderator, and thank you for inviting the ITU to this session. Why WSIS and GDC and why it should be prioritized? First of all, the ITU and the ITU as a whole, including our Member States, we strongly believe that there’s a lot of synergy between WSIS and the GDC, and we see that the goals do coincide. The WSIS process, as you know, is a 20-year process. We are celebrating 20 years next year, and it remains currently the only intergovernmental agreement that has been agreed to at the UN, at the heads of state level. And so the action lines, the Geneva Plan of Action, the Tunis Principles, etc., they’re still very, very relevant. The action lines, all 11, have evolved over time. If you recall when they started out in 2003 and 2005, they were revolutionary, and they laid the groundwork for the development. And in those days, we were talking about the Internet. And then we took stock 10 years later, and the Internet was added into that one. Now, with us on the cusp of 20 years, it is going to talk a lot about the emerging technologies which we see these days. And a lot of these conversations in the past three days have been about emerging technologies and how we are going to approach the WSIS Plus 20 process next year, whether or not we should be looking at the action lines. And many, many member states have said in the run-up to this that the action lines should remain. We just have to update them. They are robust, and they work, and they coincide with the GDC and the objectives and the targets which are being planned in the GDC. And with these two frameworks being so closely linked together, member states would find a lot of synergies, because it’s difficult to invest in two processes. It will take a lot of effort, especially when we’re talking about similar things, like connectivity and everything that Her Excellency from Zambia was mentioning just now. And if I could just put you to this, Africa has contributed a lot, and we are aware about the African digital compact that you are looking at. In fact, you are looking also at harnessing the transformative potential of digital technologies for sustainable socio-economic development, and this is exactly what the WSIS is about, unifying Africa’s digital transformation efforts in alignment with the GDC. And so, WSIS, this week, as you know, a lot of conversations have been going on about how these two processes can complement and align with each other, and then empowering cooperation and partnerships among key stakeholders within Africa and globally. Now, key commitments from these processes can include objectives from the WSIS process. For instance, bridging the digital divide by making digital technologies accessible and affordable. Her Excellency mentioned that in her first two objectives. Enhancing digital literacy and skills to prepare Africans for the digital economy. Developing robust cybersecurity and data protection measures. Supporting digital innovation and entrepreneurship. Harmonizing digital policies for cross-border collaboration. And advancing data governance and emerging technologies, including AI, for humanity’s benefit. And the most important thing we have to realize about the WSIS process is that it has cemented the multi-stakeholder model. When we started off, it was a new thing. 20 years on, we’re used to seeing everybody at the table, doing things together, discussing things together. The AI governance day yesterday was a testament to that. In the morning, at the invitational session, at each table, we saw all the different stakeholders represented. And they had a great conversation. Moving forward, this is how the digital compact also, if I’m not mistaken, it also promotes multi-stakeholderism. So with so many synergies, it is logical that member states, not only just Africa, but perhaps all regions are considering and have voiced support for these synergies to really come together. And so they dovetail into one. And that’s probably why you should be focusing on both. Thank you.

Dr. Renata Duan:
Good afternoon, everybody. And as the outsider, perhaps, here coming from New York, it’s a great pleasure to be here. And I’ve had a really interesting few days talking with many of you and learning a lot about this work. Maybe I’ll just take a step back first to ask us, why are we talking about a global digital compact? As I think both you’ve heard from both speakers before me, we have in place priorities and frameworks for the last 20 years about how to think about connecting the entire world’s population to the internet and harnessing the benefits of digital technologies for the future. What I think the global digital compact does is offer a way, at a time when the heads of state, when all of your heads of government come together in the UN in September, to say, what is the future for multilateralism? It’s really an opportunity to put digital at the heart of that initiative. It’s heart of the renewal of multilateralism. And it’s really about saying digital is no longer just about connecting us or physical infrastructure. It’s about every aspect of our government. Digital transformation has become a whole of government, a whole of society activity. And how do we reflect that in the UN? So I think the idea of a global digital compact is really to articulate that centrality of digital transformation for human well-being, for development, and for our future sustainable planet and governance. So I think it’s about really giving a visibility and giving a profile to processes that you’ve been hard at work with for many years. It’s also saying we need that agenda to become integral and central to the SDG agenda and to Agenda 2030. Agenda 2030 has 17 ambitious goals. Digital doesn’t feature in as a goal alone. But digital developments and technologies are critical for advancing every single one of those goals. how can we bring those agendas together? And that’s one thing that I think the co-facilitators have really tried with this global digital compact to articulate how every action proposed is linked to an SDG action and how advancing that agenda is a way to look not just at Agenda 2030, but beyond Agenda 2030. How will that digital agenda and this development agenda become integral and woven together? And that’s, I think, the critical interest for Africa and the area where Africa can really shape that discourse and that agenda. The third aspect of, I think, the global digital compact is a reflection that in the 20 years of WSIS and for all the successes that Celina has noted, we face many challenges. We face challenges in completing the commitments we made in 2003 and 2005. We made a commitment to universal and meaningful connectivity. That’s still beyond our grasp right now. So it’s an attempt to mobilize new energy and momentum around longstanding challenges, particularly connectivity, digital literacy and capacity building. But it’s also highlighting a reflection of what has changed in the last two decades. And what has changed in the last two decades is a concentration of power and economic structures in our society that makes it harder today, not easier for small and medium enterprises to be full participants in the digital economy. It makes it harder, not easier for countries to become not just consumers of digital technologies, but producing value and producing value for their citizens and enabling their citizens to generate value. That leads us to thinking about something that was flagged in WSIS, but has become so much larger in all our society. which is the provision of digital public services and digital public infrastructure for our societies. And that features heavily and significantly in the global digital compact, in perhaps a way that reflects the increasing attention many societies are now putting on. How do we think about the delivery of digital public services? How do we think about harnessing these capacities? But also, how do we think about doing that in ways that are interoperable? Africa has been grappling with the challenge of regional integration for many years. And your potential to harness the opening that digital technologies offer you to accelerate that regional integration, trade, economic interaction, cultural and social interaction, is a critical aspect of the interoperability of the services that you’re developing now, whether that’s digital payment services, digital ID services, data services. Then I think, in addition to helping us think and putting new profile and perhaps more high-level visibility of our heads of state on that digital agenda to solve some of the long-standing problems and advance sustainable development, it’s also helping us to look to the future, to what are some of the emerging challenges and the emerging technologies that we need to think about governing, given the pace that they’re taking place in. And what the Global Digital Compact is saying, all voices must be part of that discussion from the beginning. It’s not some badge you enter when you pass a certain level of digitalization. The consideration of digital cooperation and governance of technologies, including technologies like artificial intelligence, must be inclusive and participatory from the outset, not as an add-on later. And I think Selena underscores that’s not just about the participation of all countries, but the participation of all stakeholders in that process. So what the GDC is offering is a roadmap and a pathway to that emerging technologies governance and how to harness them in the public interest for development. And if you see right now, where we are in our global economy, it was easier to bring a chat GPT to the market than it was to bring a soft toy to market. You have more regulations at this current moment for a soft toy than you do for a generative tool with that centrality and power. So how do we think about the role and the voice of many, many different perspectives to ensure that your needs, your priorities and your agendas are central to the design, development, deployment and use of these emerging technologies? So I think that’s the real potential. Finally, I will say that I think the GDC tries to perhaps amplify, and this was as a consequence of the participation of African voices in the discussions, the challenges to inclusion in the digital economy. It seeks to widen the opportunities for inclusion. The ambassador mentioned how that plays such a central role for your economies, not just access to technologies, but access to knowledge, access to capacity and access to data. And I do want to underscore the centrality of access to data for that inclusion in the digital economy, for solving the problems you encounter, whether it’s climate, whether it’s disaster resilience, whether it’s agricultural enhancement. So I think that is a critical issue. Obviously, as a heads of state, as a high level document, it’s going to be light on details. So what it is really doing is setting a roadmap and agreeing ambitious goals, but ambitious targets too. And those targets draw from ITU’s universal meaningful connectivity targets. It’s setting those targets that we can say, we know we have set ourselves the direction. The implementation will need to be driven by all of you and by key agencies, funds, programs, by the multi-stakeholder frameworks and process we’ve had in place. the WSIS action lines, and the Internet Governance Forum, all those bodies that have driven implementation. But I think what we have been perhaps lacking in our very networked and decentralized world is that sense of the shared roadmap and the goals that we’re seeking to achieve by 2030 and beyond. So, thank you very much.

Sulyna Abdullah :
Thank you, Renata. Yes. In fact, if I didn’t make that clear, it wasn’t a WSIS or GDC. I think I did say that these two processes are extremely important moving forward. And we recognize and we commend the co-facilitators for having come up with that draft of the GDC. And for all the reasons that Renata was explaining, technology is something that regulators and policymakers will never be able to catch up with. For years now, ever since the dawn of convergence, it has been difficult for policymakers and regulators to go one step ahead of the technology. We saw that when the world saw convergence with the reform of the telecommunications sector in the late 90s and the early 2000s. And then we saw that with the proliferation of broadband and the internet in the late 2000s, early 2010s perhaps. And now we’re seeing, as Renata has described, emerging technologies. ChatGPT is much easier to go to market with something like that than it is with a soft toy, because this technology is difficult to keep up with. And not only that, there is the extraterritoriality that we need to deal with. And I always trip over that word. But having said that, both these processes are based and mired in the SDGs. Just to remind ourselves that the WSIS action lines were mapped against the SDGs several years ago, and you can see where they all stand. And the WSIS agenda and the WSIS frameworks do embrace the 2030 agenda as well. So both processes. And the question was, why should Africa invest in both these processes? And these are the reasons we see why Africa should do so. The compatibility and the opportunity to take advantage of what the GDC offers, on top of what WSIS already has, and to build upon what the world has built upon for the past 20 years, and to take the GDC forward. We certainly see that in that vein. Thank you.

Ambassador Eunice Luambia:
I want to agree with the last two speakers, because that is the reason why it’s important for us as Africans to get really involved and engaged in this whole process, so that we are not left behind. And that is why we also need to ensure that all the time we’re sitting at the table, as you’re discussing, as we go to the summit of the future, we should have our agenda on the table, to the summit of the future. We should have our agenda on the table, so that we’re also ahead. I think the other issues I wanted to talk about was, of course, Africa needs to collaborate and have strategic action in this regard. The AU and our RECs could serve as platforms for member states to align the priorities and negotiate collectively during this whole process. Then maybe we also need to establish a unified African digital coalition, like having maybe a meeting for ICT ministers of Africa at this point. And I just think that at this point, it’s really important that we are really involved, because there isn’t much time before the summit. summit of the future. So I thought I could just add to that discussion. Thank you.

Sorina Teleanu:
Many thanks. I think now we all have more or less the same clear picture of what we’re expecting from WSIS at a general level, what’s going to happen with the GDC and what are some of the priorities for Africa. I would like to turn to everyone in the room right now, so you three, but also everyone here, and try to focus on the last four questions on the screen. What are your expectations as African stakeholders from these two processes and also from their connection with the agenda 2030, which was very well mentioned now, how to get towards those expectations, how to ensure that African voices are not only raised but also heard, who can do what, and more specifically, again, what can be the role of the Geneva community, Geneva missions into making sure that these voices are not only raised but also heard. So I’m looking for volunteers. Otherwise, I’m going to volunteer people to contribute. So what are your expectations from these two processes? And also, please introduce yourself briefly.

Audience:
Thank you, Serena. This is Ayman El Sherbini from the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. I’m lucky to have a fresh memory because we have just done this exercise last week, and we are happy to be part of this session. The exercise was for a different region, was for the Esquire region, which is 22 Arab countries. And I volunteered to start in order to steer the discussions as you asked for. So the main idea that we expect, and what I say we, is the stakeholders in our region, mainly member states, because it was mainly a multi-stakeholder, yes, engaged, but was under the auspices of an intergovernmental body, the consultations we did last week. So the message is exactly the spirit of the discussion, that there is a process which is well-established and beneficial, and there is a process which is well-established and beneficial, and there is a process which is a new need for renewed energy and commitment and visibility. So these two processes need to be complementary. This is the main message. And actually our session at that time was GDC and complementarity with WSIS. And the idea is that everyone is interested to see this kind of puzzle, like a piece of puzzle, two pieces connecting together and creating not only complementarity, but 1 plus 1 equals 10 synergy. And this is what has been said also. So everyone is knowledgeable about that. And the idea is, I see the idea that we have a process that will produce an offspring after four months. And another process will produce another outcome 12 months later. So I see them as one couplet. Together, they are moving together. And I don’t see an end of something and start of another. I see that for the next 15 or 16 months, these two processes are in evolution, in the process of being shaped. And we are all interested to contribute to this shaping that does not end in September, but we consider it together, they will mature in the year after. So we see it as like two friends moving together and finding a definition for the future together. Last but not least, I would like to emphasize the importance of the session being regional. And I talked to Dr. Renata a few days ago, and we have a meeting on that, on the regional dimension, the importance of the regional dimension of the WSIS, it is already spelled out and the regional commissions are all part of the UNGASS and part of the action line facilitation. But for the GDC, especially that the secretariat and regional commissions are one body. So the regional, the global headquarters have the regional commissions, so they can play a role on helping integrating the world through the regions, rather than each country alone. Hope this is important ideas, and if not, I’m really happy to listen to other ideas and learn as we go. Thank you.

Sorina Teleanu:
Thank you also. I think we already have a reference to the regional commissions in the new draft, right? So it’s already built.

Dr. Renata Duan:
And if I may just add on that, just to Ayman’s point, I think the regional implementation dimension is critical, not just to share and exchange and harness, but because you will never get the interoperability of these technologies, you can’t fully harness them if you can’t exchange beyond borders, if you can’t have access to the data, and you can’t navigate climate or environmental data or challenges without that bigger picture. So I think there’s a complementarity with regions, but there’s also a real economic value in interoperability at the regional level. And I think that’s something that is really critical for us to think about. And then finally, I would just note with AI, regional approach is going to be critical because the costs involved of developing AI capabilities, both investing in them, getting the data and getting the compute will go beyond many countries, my own included, to ever have that capacity at a unilateral level.

Sorina Teleanu:
Thank you. So we’ve heard a bit about expectations from the process. I’m hoping we can talk a bit about content as well, and I see a hand there.

Audience:
Hi there. My name is Carolina Cairo. I’m with the DNS Research Federation. I’m actually Latin American, but I just wanted to sort of pitch in. OK. So the colleague from ITU mentioned that the WSIS process cemented the multi-stakeholder model, and I think the one big lesson from the multi-stakeholder model… stakeholder model has been that no actor can do digital alone. And I guess my question is a bit of an expectation and also a question about how we ensure that stakeholders beyond governments have a voice in these processes. I understand from Clara’s points that the vision for the GDC is one that through sort of multilateral means charters sort of a way forward. So finding sort of meaningful ways beyond sort of consultation processes where the multistakeholder community that’s worked on these issues so hard for so many years can have a voice, can have a say, can have feedback about how the sort of points that we’re contributing are being taken on, I think is quite valuable and important. So how do we achieve that, I guess, is the question as well. Thank you.

Sorina Teleanu:
Good question. If I may add to that, and then I’m looking at my panel again, how do we also make sure there is involvement of all stakeholders, not only in the development, but also in the implementation? So back to you.

Ambassador Eunice Luambia:
Thank you for that question. I think that what should happen, what I expect to happen now is that as we are having these drafts prepared, even in our own capitals, we’re going to have to go to the civil society because those are the stakeholders I assume you’re referring to who are non-governmental. So it will not just be government stakeholders. We’ll also involve the civil society to be a part of this. So whatever will come out of the drafts, it is expected that this will go out into our countries and will involve the civil society. Thank you.

Audience:
Sorry, just to add, yeah, civil society, I imagine technical community, academia, multiple stakeholders. on just civil society. Thank you.

Dr. Renata Duan:
Yeah, I would just add two reflections to what’s been said already. The first is that the process has been relatively inclusive, and perhaps not as inclusive as people might wish. Up until the moment of the negotiation of the draft, stakeholders were in the room for all the consultations, both on subject matter deep dives, as well as on the contribution of written inputs, publicly posted comments on the structure on the output. At a certain moment, which is essentially since the 1st of April, when the draft is there, that has narrowed to an intergovernmental negotiation at the decision of member states. Already, I think last year when they, or 2022, when they agreed to a GDC. But I think the co-facilitators trying as much as they can to continue that consultation outside. There’s been two multi-stakeholder consultations as each reiteration of a draft comes. And I think there is a recognition, not just of the desirability, but the necessity of having the multi-stakeholder participation. And that includes the private sector, which is developing much of these technologies, as well as the technical community, civil society research, academia, regional and sub-regional bodies. And in particular, if you look at, for example, the digital public goods and digital public infrastructure section, a lot of that was informed by multi-stakeholder alliances like the digital public goods alliance, for example. So I think multi-stakeholders have contributed a lot to fleshing out. A lot of the inputs on around child safety have come from 45 or 42 civil society groups working together around child safety issues. Where I would probably would see the challenges in the implementation, because implementation necessarily needs to be decentralized. People need to be able to implement according to their own society needs. Certain priorities are are features for certain countries, certain groups will have particular areas where they wish to contribute. There are many multiple fora, as we’ve already heard. And that networked and decentralized approach to digital cooperation is its beauty, but also its challenge, because it can facilitate or make more complicated. How do we work together in certain key areas? How do we synergize our activities? How do we make sure that we make best use of what are challenging resource times in terms of looking for money? And how do we ensure ensuring that we’re accountable? If you say it’s totally decentralized for social media companies to develop their own guidelines, how do we make sure that those guidelines are developed in consultation with civil society or that governments are developing the regulations required to ensure safe access and online for minors, for example? So I think that the decentralized network implementation is critical. But so too are two things. One is having targets. So we’re all clear about what is it that we’ve committed to agree to. And two is some regular form of coming together and having the opportunity to say, well, how is this looking like? And where are we going? And I think the GDC is trying to reflect that by setting targets. And again, thankfully, based on some of ITUs like targets for resilience of connectivity or affordability or targets for literacy programs. But we do need to come back periodically and say, how are we doing on that record? And that requires everyone to report or everyone to share what they are doing and how that progress is going. And some of the challenges they see in that private sector, the civil society. And indeed, for me, what I’m really struck by is how do we ensure that the multi-stakeholder model includes local community voices, where some of the key issues around data and data gathering and data use will be so critical? Thank you.

Sulyna Abdullah :
Quickly, yes, just picking up on the point about ensuring that moving forward, we still take a multi-stakeholder approach. I think it’s it’s difficult to go back to a time where we will not do something in a multi-stakeholder approach, especially in the digital space. The GDC is, you’ve made it clear and it’s clear in the GDC that they do want, we all do want to take a multi-stakeholder approach to this. The question is how to feed this into into the process. And there are various ways, even with the WSIS process. When it started, I think up to now, certain member states and countries actually have a WSIS. the national WSIS team, where they gather inputs from all stakeholders, and then they build from the bottom up. And it really depends on the political will, I think, of each country, and it will work. Digital is one space, as someone said just now, it’s difficult to do digital on your own. You can’t do it. No man is an island, no woman is an island, no community is an island. You have to collaborate together. Digital affects everyone. Look at the Internet. It respects no borders. Look at the AI. It’s going in different directions beyond even, if you want to talk about borders, these are the drones that are hovering above these borders. And so the only way forward, really, is to take it inclusively. And luckily, we have a model for this, and we can really build and try to achieve the objectives and the targets of the GDC, perhaps building on this model, as we have said, because we’ve learned from this, and we can take these lessons forward and to make it even better in the next phase of the WSIS also. Thank you.

Sorina Teleanu:
Thank you. We’re absolutely running out of time, but I’m going to ask for your permission to ask one more question, and I’m hoping both the panelists and a few more people here in the room will try to respond. So taking a few more steps back and focusing less on the process but more on the content, what you see on the screen are the focus areas in the WSIS Action Lines, the Global Digital Compact, the Digital Transformation Strategy of the African Union, and then these draft documents about the African contribution to the Global Digital Compact. Many of them I think you are familiar with. My final two questions are like this, and I’m looking in the room for some hands. First of all, as WSIS Plus 20 and GDC processes advance, if there is one thing that you hope these processes will come out with that will benefit Africa, so one thing that will surely benefit Africa, what would that one thing be? And the second question, what unique African contributions can we bring to these processes? Something that Africa has been… very good at, and I think we all are aware of some examples. So one thing from these processes that would benefit Africa and one unique African contribution into these processes. Any volunteers? Anrietta, thank you.

Panelist 1:
Thanks, Sorina. It’s Anrietta. I would say, firstly, contribution. I think the African Union Data Policy Framework is an extremely helpful data policy framework that is both privacy, human rights respecting, as well as recognizing that completely open data flows might have certain barriers for national economic imperatives, but closing data flows would just increase other barriers. So I think it’s a very balanced and sound data policy framework, which I hope other regions can look at. I think the priority is digital equality. I think that the international community tends to always put access or meaningful connectivity at the top of the list, but then they put the money into AI. So I’d actually rather see that reversed, because I think that ultimately the benefits of an AI fund or investing in AI, I’m sure there will be benefits for Africa, but I think until Africa has more of a base of digital equality at an institutional and individual level, any investment in digital will not reap the potential benefits.

Sorina Teleanu:
Thank you so much, Anrietta.

Panelist 2:
But I know this is my time, and I have a lot of respect for the work being done by WSIS, having been a coordinator myself. But the one thing that could help Africa is electricity, basic as that. And I think sometimes we lose a sense of this, and the institutions are not coming again together sufficiently enough to discuss what is the priority for Africa. Right now, at WTO, something is underway, something is underway at UNCTAD, something is underway here. ITU is an institution. We should be able to bring a lot of things here for them to say, okay, some kind of oversight that would allow us to see what are the different initiatives in different institutions, which is what we’re hoping the summit of the future will do for us, but might not get there. But one thing that Africa could do, and I come back to what you were saying, was precisely the framework that exists under AU that was created theoretically, because some countries are far ahead of others. Theoretically, why? Because if you don’t have electricity, it doesn’t even apply. So how do you make that a practice that can be used? You can already defeat the problem that arises when countries move at different levels by saying this is the regulatory framework you want to go towards, and trying to make sure that somebody somewhere there is more or less controlling what is happening around Africa as they start moving. Otherwise, you’ll end up with even more divide as you go along on that. Sorry, not the answer. I know what I wanted to say. Thank you.

Sorina Teleanu:
A very good answer. Thank you. Ambassador, he is taking 10 steps back and seeing exactly what the needs are before us telling the world what those needs are. Anyone else? Mokhtar, I see you.

Panelist 3:
I don’t want to speak. I want to be in a listening mode and learn from this wonderful woman-led session. It’s great. No, it’s great. It’s great to see that sisters and mothers and all are actually coming into the forefront of this matter. As I said, I didn’t want to speak because time is actually not allowing a lot of it. But I just wanted to say that what has been said, I actually, I associate myself to all what I said in a very good manner. And the Ambassador, Her Excellency, mentioned some things. She said that we must be part of the process. As Africans, you said, I quote, it is important to get involved, right? And somebody said that African voice not only has to be raised but also heard, right? This is the biggest problem we’ll be having, based on a lot of facts and specifically the study made by Diplo Foundation, based on fact, our contributions as African actually is actually very minimal in all these processes, be it at the inception phases or at the implementation phases. So it is important for Africans to be part of this. And I wouldn’t be very, how can I say, condescending by saying that if we miss the fourth industrial revolution as an African, we’ll end up dominated forever. That is the conclusion of what to say that we need to reflect on that. As for the processes, my comment is only this one and the other one, previous one, be it MDGs, SDGs, WSIS, IDF, the implementation rate is always low. We keep on not implementing and then go back and review the things and do all the agendas and so on. And we need to think about… implementation, outcome, otherwise we’ll be just going in circles, you know, coming with great ideas and great agendas, but we don’t see anything on the ground. So that is my conclusion. Thank you very much.

Sorina Teleanu:
Thank you. We’re being kicked out of the room. So short final remarks from you, but you know, tweet-like or X-like, whatever is the word now.

Dr. Renata Duan:
Shall I start? Just very slight. The only point I would make about an African contribution is often creativity in digital solutions for problems, precisely because there’s not much money. Solutions are being found often super creatively. Think Ghana, think Kenya, think some of the things that are happening. And then the one ask that I would really encourage African states and communities to really think about is the objective two, which is really new for the UN to have the digital economy focus so front and center in a document of heads of state, to be really looking at enabling environments, access, capacities, entrepreneurship. And I would really encourage you to bring your thoughts and perspectives and demands in that space.

Sulyna Abdullah :
Contrary to what you said, sir, I actually want to congratulate the African countries because I think that there has been so much effort in trying to move this forward. And being from ITU, we are able to see this firsthand. Your ambassadors in Geneva are extremely active and they relish any kind of information that they can get and that they can share back with capital. Ambassador Usha is one such ambassador. And I can see that you’ve really been keeping your finger on the pulse, Ambassador. Which is great. But your ministers are dynamic. You have a different crop of ministers that has been evolving over the years. And I think they see the need for you to really ramp up. Not that they haven’t been seeing that in the past, but the urgency is there because digital is proliferating and whether you like it or not. And as I said earlier, in one of the panel sessions, we have a collective responsibility to really connect everyone. It’s not a nice to have anymore. People need to be connected unless, of course, they don’t want to be connected. And this need has to be fulfilled as quickly as possible. And I see Africa going towards that. Thank you.

Ambassador Eunice Luambia:
Yes, I agree with the last speaker as well, as well as Ambassador Usha. I think that the solution for African involvement is simple indeed. It can be made simple by looking at some of the issues that we need if we need to get very involved. Electricity, yes, is one major problem that we have. And if we talk about connectivity without electricity, it will amount to nothing. But I… I still want to insist that we need to get involved, especially at the initial stage. Now, this is a time for us to get as involved as much as possible at every stage of it. And I think that the two co-facilitators are doing a great job, I must say. I think that they’ve been very consultative. They’re right now, I think they’re somewhere in Singapore or somewhere. Chola, yeah, you know, similar. Yes, they are somewhere there. So I just really want to appeal to us as Africans to get our hands on it, to get involved, to get to know what this global compact is all about, what it entails. Most of the things that we need are inside that compact, but let us try and narrow it down to those things that are urgent, those things that will help us to move and become part of the digital economy. As for us ambassadors here in Geneva, I want to say that Geneva should be playing a very important role in this whole process. The expertise is sitting here in Geneva. The infrastructure, the people that have the technical know-how, they’re all sitting in Geneva. So my last challenge to you as facilitators as well is to say that let’s look at where should this compact be sitting? Because I think that is important, especially that for me, I just think that it should be sitting here in Geneva where we are. But of course, with the help of those that have the technical know-how, most ambassadors will get involved. And one of the problems we have as ambassadors, especially African ambassadors here, obviously we have very small missions and we are very few of us. So you’ll find that most of us haven’t really been involved or haven’t really been attending these platforms where they’re discussing the global compact. So, but I’m hoping that going forward, we’ll take more of an interest because we know we’re coming to the finishing line. And I think this is the most important time to be involved.

Sorina Teleanu:
Thank you, Ambassador. And on that note, I think both Kenya and Diplo at least are offering to create this space for discussions in Geneva about what Geneva can do. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. for staying a bit longer. We’ll try to make a list of concrete suggestions from this panel and turn it around. Many thanks. Thank you very much.