Interactive Dialogue 3: Towards a Common Digital Future: strengthening inclusive innovation and cooperation to bridge the digital divides.
Strengthening digital cooperation is crucial to fully harness the potential of science, technology, and innovation for the benefit of humanity. Digital technologies and innovation can help accelerate progress towards the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. However, the widening global digital gap remains a significant challenge for over a third of the global population who remain unconnected to the Internet and are at risk of being left outside the benefits and opportunities of digitalization, especially in developing countries, thus reinforcing inequalities and exclusion. Closing this gap is vital for attaining sustainable development. It requires concerted efforts, coherent policies, and partnerships to keep pace with a fast-changing and ever evolving digital landscape. Multistakeholder engagement will be crucial to mobilize support and resources to bridge the digital divide along with capacity-building initiatives, research and innovation to unlock the potential of universal and meaningful connectivity. By promoting collaboration and prioritizing inclusivity, we can ensure that people everywhere have equal access to the benefits of scientific and technological progress, leading towards a more prosperous, equitable, and sustainable future for all.
While recognizing the immense benefits that digital technologies present, we must equally recognize the need to identify and mitigate risks associated with them, and to ensure human oversight of technology in ways that advance sustainable development and the full enjoyment of human rights. This can be achieved through the formulation, maintenance and enactment of appropriate legislation that protects individuals, including women and children, against violations and abuses of their human rights in the digital context.
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The Summit of the Future (22-23 September 2024) is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to enhance cooperation on critical challenges and address gaps in global governance, reaffirm existing commitments including to the Sustainable Development Goals and the United Nations Charter, and move towards a reinvigorated multilateral system that is better positioned to positively impact people’s lives.
The Summit of the Future is a high-level event, bringing world leaders together to forge a new international consensus on how we deliver a better present and safeguard the future.
Effective global cooperation is increasingly critical to our survival but difficult to achieve in an atmosphere of mistrust, using outdated structures that no longer reflect today’s political and economic realities.
World leaders will convene at the United Nations to adopt the Pact for the Future, which will include a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations as annexes.