UNIS/SGSM/1402
16 May 2024
On World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, we celebrate the power of communication tools to change lives for the better.
This year's theme highlights the key role of digital innovation in promoting sustainable development and achieving the SDGs.
Digital technology can help educators reach their students and doctors communicate with their patients. It is fundamental to designing smart transport systems and sustainable cities.
These innovations cannot be confined to rich countries. Developing economies bear the brunt of growing inequalities, climate change and environmental depletion – but they often face obstacles in accessing the digital technologies that could help to mitigate these challenges.
Innovative technologies and policies, from broadband infrastructure to digital literacy training, can help bridge the digital divide and secure connectivity for all by 2030 – a key goal of the International Telecommunication Union. Global support and coordination also have an important role.
This is also the spirit of ITU’s AI for Good initiative, in line with the interim recommendations of my High-Level Advisory Body on AI, which calls for investments in enablers and responsible governance frameworks to ensure that AI benefits all.
At the Summit of the Future in September, countries will agree on a Global Digital Compact aimed at safeguarding technology as a force for human wellbeing. This will be a unique opportunity to harness digital innovation and technology to turbocharge the SDGs and advance effective and inclusive digital governance.
On this World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, let us reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that everyone, in all countries, can benefit from the digital age.
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We must transform how we produce and consume, and how we value nature, says the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, "Biodiversity is the bedrock of life and a cornerstone of sustainable development.... Biodiversity loss is a global challenge. No one country, however rich or powerful, can address it alone. Nor can they live without the rich biodiversity that defines our planet."
LGBTIQ+ people around the world face an onslaught of hate speech, attacks, and restrictions on their rights. The power of communities is the theme this year which reminds us that we are strongest together. "LGBTIQ+ people, and those working with them to secure their rights, have proved time and again the value of communities in providing support and driving change," says UN Secretary-General António Guterres
"From the telegraph to radio, from the Internet to Artificial Intelligence, technology has transformed how we live, work, and connect." — António Guterres
Barbados signed and deposited its instrument of ratification for the United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships (the “Beijing Convention on the Judicial Sale of Ships”) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 8 May 2025.
