Session 1: Moderated High-Level Policy Session on Digital Economy and Trade
Panellists:
- High-Level Track Facilitator: Ms. Dominique Lazanski, Public Policy Director, GSM Association
- WSIS Action Line Facilitator - Mr. Torbjörn Fredriksson, UNCTAD
- Portugal – H.E. Mr. Guilherme W. d’Oliveira Martins, Secretary of State of Infrastructure, Ministry of Planning and Infrastructure
- Singapore (Republic of) – Mr. Leong Keng Thai, Deputy Chief Executive, Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA)
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland –
H.E. Mr. Julian Braithwaite, UK Ambassador and Permanent Representative
to the United Nations and Other International Organisations in Geneva
- World Economic Forum – Mr. Fadi Chehadé, Senior Advisor (Switzerland)
- Intervale – Dr. Yury G. Grin, Deputy Director General (Russian Federation)
Key Discussions:
The
session featured the country representatives, describing the respective
state initiatives to provide digital connectivity to its citizens. This
also included a description of the roadmap for the 5G services,
including stakeholder consultations and feedback process and
facilitating fibre to home network. There were deliberations on the need
of re-thinking on the existing regulatory and spectrum policies.
Regulatory Sandbox approach was also suggested to be exercised. The
panellists further suggested the need for providing an predictable
environment for innovations to proliferate.
The panellists suggested that digital economy is not distinct
scenario and what exists across the globe is already a digital economy.
The need is to reach out and provide connectivity to the areas where
there is no commercial viability of expansion for the operators to do
so. There were discussions on the digital and gender divide that needs
to be bridged. There were further discussions on the need for regulatory
environment to facilitate competition and tackle incumbency. The
importance of Geneva, as a city important for bringing the change, was
highlighted as it is the centre of multilateral systems/agencies.
Finally, considering the importance of date, the panellists
suggested that focus in future would need to change from Gross Domestic
Product to Gross Domestic Data, as data is actively becoming the most
important asset. However, it is very difficult to manage the data. The
insurance companies have claimed that it is impossible to ensure the
value of data. There were discussions on data privacy and security,
while it was also stated that data integrity is also hard to maintain.
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Session 2: Moderated High-Level Policy Session on Building Confidence and Security in the Use of ICTs
Panellists:
- High-Level Track Facilitator:
Ms Brenda Aynsley, Chairman IP3 ACS Fellow and Honorary Life Member,
CP, International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP)
- WSIS Action Line Facilitator ITU – Mr. Reinhard Scholl, Deputy Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau
- Ukraine – Mr. Leonid Yevdochenko, Chairman, State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine
- India – Ms. Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology
- Mexico – Mr. Victor Lagunes, Chief Information Officer, Office of the President
- International Federation for Information Processing – Prof. Mike Hinchey, President (Austria)
- Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) – Ms. Areewan Haorangsi, Secretary General (Thailand)
- Association for Proper Internet Governance – Dr. Richard Hill, President (Switzerland)
- Systemics-PAB – Ms. Anna Szóstak, Deputy CEO and Commercial Proxy (Poland)
- Microsoft – Mr. Paul Nicholas, Senior Director Global Security Strategy and Diplomacy (United States)
Key Discussions:
The
chair enlisted a set of questions for all the panellists to respond
too. In their respective responses, the panellists commented that
security is not just a technology issue but also a human issue. The only
way to tackle this issue is by countries sharing the threat
intelligence and work in collaboration. There was also a unanimous
recommendation of the need for building governments/policymakers
capacity in understanding security issues. It was suggested that there
should be one-point connection to all government offices and also to
have open source offices and codes to enable exchange of information
between governments.
In Ukraine, the existing reforms are
targeting restoring of the economy and bringing financial stability by
overcoming corruption. It is also trying to strike an agreement with the
European Union and promoting free trade, while also adopting best cyber
defence practices from EU. The Public Private Partnership was also
deliberated upon. For India, the digital India initiative was discussed
and the measures, the country is taking to build its defence against the
potential threats.
On the aspect of trust among consumers and
digital platform users, it was highlighted that the trust is
interdisciplinary subject. The panel also suggested the need to
strengthen the mechanism of self-certification on security aspects,
where the companies will certify themselves, which would be subject to
audit.
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Session 3: Moderated High-Level Policy Session on Digital Skills for Decent Jobs for Youth
Moderator & Panellists
- Ms.
Susan Schorr, Head, Digital Inclusion Division, International
Telecommunication Union and Susana Puerto Gonzalez, Senior Youth
Employment Specialist, International Labour Organization
- Ms. Azita Berar Awad, Director Employment Policy Department, International Labour Organization
- Mr. Yushi Torigoe, Deuputy Director, ITU Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT)
- H.E. Mr. Henry Mussa, Minister of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development, Malawi
- H.E. Mr. Cirilo Guillermo Sosa Flores, Ministro de Trabajo Empleo y Seguridad Social, República del Paraguay
- Mrs. Vunnaporn Devahastin, Secretary-General, National Digital Economy and Society Commission, Thailand
- Mr. Anir Chowdhury, Policy Advisor and Program Manager, a2i Program, Bangladesh
- Mr. William Hudson, Senior Advisor for International Policy, Google, Inc.
- Mr. João Magalhães, Co-founder and CEO of Code For All, Portugal
Key Discussions:
The
panel presented some statistics and emphasised on the need for more
digital jobs and digitally skilled workforce in the future. During the
discussions it was also highlighted to focus on people with
disabilities. Given that 01 out of 09 people are digitally literate, it
is important to build their capacity using digital tools and
platforms. Other tools such as MOOC, digital literacy for poor and
marginalised, learning new technical skills and digital financial
service, are important aspects of the digital transformations.
It
was also suggested that new jobs may come with new opportunities. Thus,
what is required is an environment, which is enabling to learning and
innovation and also to understand the linkages with the SDGs. The issue
of under-employment was also highlighted and emphasis was given to life
skills. There were examples presented on how Facebook is being used by
companies for consumer grievance redressal. The need for apprenticeship,
across digital areas and non-digital areas was discussed. It was also
claimed that for every digital jobs that may be created, it will lead to
generation of up to 4 non-digital jobs
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Session 4: High-Level Policy Statements: Concluding Session
Panellists:
- Chairman of WSIS Forum: H.E. Mr. Jean Philbert Nsengimana, Minister of Youth & ICT, Rwanda
- ITU – Mr. Houlin Zhao, Secretary General, ITU
- UNESCO – Mr. Frank La Rue, Assistant Director-General Communication and Information, UNESCO
- Switzerland – Mr. Philipp Metzger, Director-General, Office fédéral de la communication (OFCOM)
- High Level Track Facilitators
Key Discussions:
The
session featured each speaker describing their vision of the WSIS Forum
and the need for the platform. This was followed by the High Level
Track Facilitators providing a summary of all sessions held during the
high level track capturing the emerging trends, opportunities and
challenges highlighted during the sessions.
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