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– As delivered –<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n 28 April 2021<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Excellencies,<\/p>\n Ladies and Gentlemen,<\/p>\n Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this important discussion.<\/p>\n As I emphasized yesterday at the High-Level Thematic Debate on Digital Cooperation and Connectivity, the digital divide was real long before the global pandemic. I am thus encouraged by the support from Member States to tackle this issue and welcome the discussion from ITU, which will help to carry this conversation forward.<\/p>\n Dear colleagues,<\/p>\n We have watched, year in and year out, as the benefits of innovation and ingenuity have been accessible to some but not others, fueling a new form of inequality that has undermined progress against the Sustainable Development Goals.<\/p>\n COVID-19 and the emergency measures put in place have only exacerbated these inequalities. For too many, the absence of digital access has intensified the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic, sequestering them from the ability to work or study, and limiting their access to digital financial services.<\/p>\n While we cannot go back and change this, we must see this as a wake-up call and make every effort to close the gap now.<\/p>\n With literally trillions of dollars pouring into global recovery efforts, we have the resources to expand digital access worldwide, quickly and dramatically.<\/p>\n In doing so, we must:<\/p>\n In your discussions today, I encourage you to explore and put forward creative proposals to incentivize investment and to strengthen or expand funding mechanisms. This includes supporting and proposing initiatives with transformative potential, such as \u2018Giga Bonds\u2019, an innovative funding instrument that aims to leverage donor commitments to facilitate further investments, and has the potential to connect schools across the planet.<\/p>\n Likewise, I ask that you consider the impact of digital technologies as an SDG accelerator. Investment in this area has profound implications across the entirety of the 2030 Agenda, empowering women and girls, creating jobs and livelihoods, and building sustainable infrastructure, to name but a few.<\/p>\n Finally, I encourage all partners to work with ITU to fulfill its mandate in this area, including through the upcoming Partner 2 Connect segment of the World Telecommunication Development Conference.<\/p>\n Colleagues, I thank you again for continuing the momentum from yesterday\u2019s High-Level Thematic Debate. By putting in place the financial resources needed to expand digital access, we can empower billions of people across the globe. Truly, an opportunity we cannot miss.<\/p>\n Thank you.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Remarks by H.E. Mr. Volkan Bozkir \u2013 PRESIDENT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":342,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[111],"tags":[],"committee-meeting":[],"class_list":["post-242292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-speeches","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nRemarks by H.E. Mr. Volkan Bozkir, President of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly<\/h3>\n
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