Boosting SIDS resilience and prosperity through universal connectivity and digital transformation
Despite being exposed to various exogenous shocks, including climate change, Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) confront these challenges with innovation and resilience. Under the overarching theme of “Charting the course toward resilient prosperity”, the upcoming Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) scheduled to take place from May 27 to 30, 2024, in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda, will seek to assess the ability of SIDS to achieve sustainable development progress, including on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For more information about SIDS4 click here.
In preparation for the Conference and on occasion of PrepCom2, Partner2Connect convened for a special event in New York targeting government representatives, P2C pledgers and other high-level stakeholders from the private sector, civil society and the international development community to explore how concrete commitments and meaningful partnerships around digital connectivity can boost SIDS resilience and prosperity.
Download the Concept Note here.
Please visit the SIDS4 Conference site for more information on how to participate in the conference in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda. To see the full program of the Conference go here. The complete list of ITU and P2C sessions and events will be added soon.
Explore the Facts and Figures: Focus on Small Island Developing States 2024.
We encourage the entire P2C community to use this opportunity and submit their pledges for advancing universal and meaningful connectivity and sustainable digital transformation in SIDS. This is an ongoing campaign and we look forward to announcing and promoting commitments at the diverse P2C events and meetings throughout the year.
Panellists (listed in alphabetical order)
H.E. Viliami Va’inga Tone
Ambassador of Tonga to the United States and Permanent Representative to the United Nations
Moderator
Zhiping (Summer) Chen
Vice President and General Manager of Branding & PR Strategies, ZTE
Rabab Fatima
Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, UN-OHRLLS
Antonio Garcia Zaballos
Lead Specialist Telecommunications – Broadband Platform Coordinator, IDB
John Jack
Deputy Chief Information Officer, Government of Vanuatu
Tomas Lamanauskas
Deputy Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union, ITU
H.E. Fatumanava-o-Upolu III Dr Pa’olelei Luteru
Chair of AOSIS and Permanent Representative of Samoa to the United Nations
Christopher Sharrock
Vice President, UN Affairs and International Organisations, Microsoft
H.E. Walton Webson
Permanent Representative of the Mission of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Nations
Cosmas Zavazava
Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau, International Telecommunication Union, ITU
Video address
About P2C
Digital connectivity and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have an enormous potential to accelerate human progress. However, 2.6 billion people remain offline and excluded from the transformative power of the Internet. ITU‘s Partner2Connect Digital Coalition (P2C) seeks to accelerate connectivity through an action-oriented approach that is critical to the development agendas for LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS. To date, almost 900 pledges valued at over USD 46 Billion have been submitted through the P2C platform by over 430 entities. About 30% of those pledges are to be specifically implemented in LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS.
Contact us at: partner2connect@itu.int