Director’s Message
Dear colleagues, partners, and friends,
Another year draws to a close, and with it, my term as the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau.
It has been an enormous privilege to lead the Bureau at a time of tremendous disruption, and even greater opportunities. In the space of four short years, we have notched up many significant and impressive achievements, both in terms of re-shaping our Bureau into the agile, fit-for-purpose entity I promised when I took office in January 2019, and, more importantly, in helping bridge the various digital divides that are still keeping too many of us apart.
The biggest event of this BDT year was, of course, our flagship World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), hosted in Kigali at the generous invitation of the Rwandan government.
With affordable access to digital technologies increasingly imperative for all people to enjoy full social and economic participation, we set our sights on creating a truly landmark conference that would break new ground, forge new partnership models, and overcome the obstacles still keeping us from attaining our goal of universal connectivity.
We were not disappointed. Despite the ongoing challenges posed by the pandemic, we welcomed over 2 100 participants from 150 Member States, along with 340 Sector members and partners.
The Kigali Action Plan agreed at WTDC charts a bold, ambitious course for accelerating digital development, in close alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The conference also defined BDT’s workplan until the next WTDC and agreed a new set of Regional Initiatives to more effectively direct targeted resources to areas of pressing need around the world.
Our determination to shake things up and break-the-mould at this conference also saw us usher in some pioneering events designed to mobilize new voices and new ways of enhancing collaboration. One of the most exciting was the Generation Connect Global Youth Summit, which brought hundreds of young people to Kigali’s Intare Arena, along with more than 5 000 virtual participants connecting via 70 Generation Connect Hubs around the world.
Our new Network of Women for ITU-D also proved very popular with Member States and Sector members alike, and continues to go from strength to strength. Strengthening the role of women in our conferences and meetings is an important step towards greater diversity and inclusivity, and the results were already visible at our Plenipotentiary Conference in Bucharest, Romania, where two of our three substantive committees were led by women.
But at the end of the day, of all the innovations at this year’s WTDC, our Partner2Connect Digital Coalition and the P2C Digital Development Roundtable held in Kigali must take centre stage. Exceeding even our most optimistic forecasts, P2C has mobilized more than USD 29 billion dollars in connectivity investment pledges from governments, the private sector and civil society. That represents a truly huge leap forward in our efforts to connect the world.
There is no doubt that we still have far to go. Following on the launch of ITU’s new Global Connectivity Report 2022 at WTDC, which offered a unique snapshot of the development of global connectivity, we recently released our very latest connectivity figures in the 2022 edition of our annual Facts and Figures report.
This year we also enhanced our Regional Presence with the announcement of a new Area Office soon to open in New Delhi, India – an important milestone that recognizes both the subcontinent’s growing position as global leader in software and hardware development, and at the same time the need to address the digital chasms that are still keeping marginalized groups in the region from harnessing the transformational power of ICTs.
As I look back, not just at what we’ve achieved in 2022, but at the enormous progress we’ve made together in my four years leading ITU’s development work, I’d like to thank all our members and partners very warmly for their trust, their commitment, and their support. We’ve come a long way, and through continued collaboration I’m confident we’ll make great strides together towards our goal of universal meaningful connectivity by 2030.
Last but not least, I want to thank the extraordinary men and women of the BDT for their tireless efforts to deliver on our connectivity pledges, and to ensure that our new, fit-for-purpose BDT always delivers maximum impact, and maximum value for its members.
Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau and Secretary-General elect
@ITUBDTDirector