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Environment Asia-Pacific countries agree on inclusive technology and innovation policies to achieve SDGs
Asia-Pacific countries agree on inclusive technology and innovation policies to achieve SDGs
Senior government officials from Asia and the Pacific, along with civil society representatives and the private sector have committed to promote more inclusive technology and innovation policies to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), at a high-level meeting in Bangkok this week. The Committee on Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) held by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) from 29 to 31 August, concluded that major transformations are needed in the way we use technology to advance the SDGs in the region.
In his opening remarks, acting Executive Secretary of ESCAP, Hongjoo Hahm highlighted that technology can fuel equality and narrow the growing digital divide, but only if it is inclusive and addresses the need to leave no one behind. “The question we must ask is how can STI and ICT be used to better promote the economic pillars of the SDGs? How can we make this agenda more inclusive, more socially responsible and more in tune to the environment?”
H.E. Dr. Pichet Durongkaveroj, Minister of Digital Economy and Society, Thailand said, “We need to introduce e-commerce to people in rural areas that have good products to sell not just to their community, but to the world.”
The Committee also highlighted that cross-government cooperation, intergovernmental knowledge-sharing and consensus-building, and honest, open and regular discussion with civil society and the private sector will be critical to ensure that frontier technologies have a positive impact on sustainable development. To facilitate this, the Committee agreed to host the inaugural Asia-Pacific Innovation Forum as a platform to spur open and collaborative innovation.
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