Kiri

MINISTERIAL ROUNDTABLE - CONCEPT NOTE - Time /Date: 25 September 2022 , 10:00-13:00 (09:00-12:00 CEST) Venue : The Palace of Parliament , Bucharest, Romania Organizers : T h e Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization (MCID) and the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) of Romania Participants : Top -level government officials ( M inisters a nd D eputy -M inisters ) Outcome: Bucharest Declaration on ‘ Building a better digital future for all ’ Building a better digital future for all With technologies permeating all aspects of our lives, digital connectivity is becoming almost a prerequisite to exercising fundamental human activities. According to the latest ITU data , however, an estimated 37 per cent of the world’s population – or 2.9 billion people – have still never, ever used the Internet, which has danger to much worsen and widen the inequality gap in our society. I n many cases, therefore, ‘building back better’ after the COVID 19 is understood as ‘building back digitally’ by ensuring that digital adoption become s widespread throughout the globe , so that all citizens can benefit from accelerating technological progress . Th is Ministerial Roundtable aims to discuss shared principles , visions and values to safeguard the technological era for current and future generations, as it is our global responsibility to find a path forward and to build back better digitally. It will focus on promoting concrete actions that will cope with further challenges with the accelerating digitalization, to create a platform for cooperation between states in the context of the complexity of the rapid technological shifts that impacts almost every area of the economy, society and culture. It will represent a good opportunity to explore government’s perspectives about how to shape a human-centric digital society , especially by mirroring the digital agenda, announced in the D eclaration on the Commemoration of the Seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations (A/RES/75/1) . Reinforced through the UN Secretary-General’s Report on Our Common Agenda , t here is a global pressure stemming from an urgent need to build common agenda for a better digital future for all. In this context, this Ministerial Roundtable will focus on global efforts towards building an inclusive digital society , bridging the digital divide by partnering with the private sector and civil society , and exchange national practices on specific aspects of the policies and actions among M ember S tates. It is time to collect all our efforts to protect the online space and strengthen its governance, for instance, by reaffirming the fundamental commitment to connecting the unconnected and avoiding fragmentation across a network. [Detailed program will be provided in due course]