ITU Event Focuses on the Role of Technology in the Covid-19 Era

At ITU Digital World 2020 (October 20-22) virtual conference, discussions focus on the critical role of digital technologies and public-private sector collaboration in the Covid-19 era.

The three-day programme began with the opening ceremony, in the presence of H.E. Vu Duc Dam, Deputy Prime Minister, Viet Nam; Nguyen Manh Hung, Minister of Information and Communications, Viet Nam; and invited guests. It included a special video message from Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

“Covid-19 has generated a huge demand for more ICT services and more advanced technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing – but it has also revealed deep digital inequalities between those who are connected and those who are not,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao during his opening video message. “We need a new strategy based on smart and innovative policies that can attract more investments in ICT infrastructure, and we need a new way of working together.”

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam then welcomed ministers, regulators and C-level executives from across the world and all sectors of the digital ecosystem to the opening of the Ministerial Roundtables, the first such high-level ministerial meetings to be held on this topic since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In addition to ministerial roundtables, forum webinars delved into policies, technologies, and trends driving the digital economy. They include Bridging the broadband gap: stimulating public and private sectors to connect the unconnected; Entering the 5G era: demand, deployment, and disquiet; and Cybersecurity and privacy solutions: safeguarding our digital world.

A global virtual exhibition, organized by Viet Nam and supported by ITU, showcased the tech innovations of more than 100 virtual exhibitors from Viet Nam and around the globe.

The event – co-organized by ITU and the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) of Viet Nam – is part of an online programme ahead of the physical ITU Digital World 2021, taking place in Ha Noi, Viet Nam in Q4 2021.