Remarks by H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly
14 December 2021
Ms. Rebecca Greenspan, Secretary General of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵCTAD,
Excellencies, Colleagues,
It is my honor to speak at and support this High-Level Dialogue on the 2021 Digital Economy Report.
The growing digitalization of our world is one of the key trends of the 21st century, and it is fundamentally changing the way we live and work.
Neither the pace nor scale of this change can be overstated. The global pandemic, rather than slow down progress, has only seen it surge as more and more have turned to digital communications for ¡®work from home¡¯ contexts.
We increasingly need the virtual world to communicate with one another, inform ourselves, access goods and services, work, and conduct business.
The internet is now an indispensable global public good. Yet, there are stark disparities in who can make full use of its benefits.
Urban communities, especially the affluent countries, can easily avail itself of its advantages. Meanwhile, LDCs and rural communities are disadvantaged, with limited to no broadband access or skills in the digital sphere.
This global discrepancy in internet accessibility is not only an indicator of socio-economic disparities between countries ¨C it is a contributing factor to those disparities.
As has been stated, the digital divide is quickly becoming the new face of inequality. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development¡¯s pledge to leave no one behind is becoming synonymous with leaving no one offline.
We see similar trends when it comes to data. Cross-border data flows that comprise the digital economy are now geographically concentrated within a few regions. The same regions that house major companies specializing in data and digital technology.?
Consequently, not every country has equal access to the data value chain. Often, LDCs are less able to access, collect and make use of raw data, let alone create data products or use them in a commercially viable manner.
Meanwhile the profits of select companies working in the digital sector have skyrocketed during the pandemic, further compounding existing wealth inequalities.
We must do better than this. We must address those disparities if we are to truly recover better from the pandemic.
Excellencies,
The second challenge relevant to data flows is its governance and regulation.
The flow of digital traffic – whether through online forums, social media, or commercial transactions ¨C affects every aspect of our lives: from politics, to the economy, to our personal privacy and security.
Yet current approaches to data governance are inadequate in scale and are fragmented across regions. There is no universal set of standards on how we should govern the digital space.
To address these challenges, we must draw attention to them, and hold discussions on overcoming them. Indeed, such dialogues are critical, given that data flows matter for the achievement of nearly all of the Sustainable Development Goals.
As the most universal platform for the Member States, the United Nations is the most appropriate forum to do this. All countries, and all stakeholders must contribute to a global dialogue that covers all aspects of data and data flows. I thank Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵCTAD for putting this topic high on the agenda.
As we can see from the composition of today¡¯s panel there is already a considerable wealth of expertise and important ongoing work within the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ system relating to data governance. This is good news.?
By gathering that expertise and by synergizing ongoing efforts, we, at the United Nations, can make a positive lasting difference
We can ensure that everyone can benefit from data and the digital space.
And we can ensure that the digital economy is regulated in a manner which makes all communities safer and more prosperous.
I look forward to a comprehensive discussion on the report, as well as on recommendations for the way forward.
Thank you.