ITU’s commitments on Connectivity and Digital Transformation.

 

ITU’s vision is an information and digital society, empowered by the interconnected world, where telecommunication/ICTs enable and accelerate social, economic and environmentally sustainable growth and development for everyone. As the specialized UN agency for ICTs, ITU’s mission is to Promote, facilitate and foster affordable and universal access to telecommunication/ICT networks, services and applications and their use for social, economic and environmentally sustainable growth and development. To work towards this vision and mission, ITU has a common strategy and accountability framework, called ‘Connect 2030’. The Connect 2030 Agenda for Global Telecommunication/ICT Development focuses on how technological advances can contribute to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. With the five goals: 

i) Growth, 

ii) Inclusiveness, 

iii) Sustainability, 

iv) Innovation and 

v) Partnership.

The Connect 2030 Agenda is linked to ITU’s overall Strategic Plan, ensuring that technology serves humanity and the planet. The Kigali Action Plan adopted at the WTDC-22 constitutes one of the main engines of a forward-looking agenda to address the global connectivity gap along with a set of key WTDC resolutions , including the five priorities for ITU Development Sector (ITU-D): 

i) Affordable connectivity, 

ii) Digital transformation, 

iii) Enabling policy and regulatory environment,

iv) Resource mobilization and international cooperation, and

v) Enabling environment. 

A set of initiatives, including the Ones for 6 regions of ITU, adopted by the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), guide ITU implementation efforts and countries themselves in developing and implementing specific projects to address priority needs in the area of ICTs and digitaldevelopment.