Minister of International Development Nikolai Astrup appointed to High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation

‘Digital technology has an enormous potential to advance sustainable development. New technologies can increase the welfare of people throughout the world – but they also give rise to new challenges. I am looking forward to participating in the high-level panel appointed by the Secretary-General to look into how the potential of digital technology can be realised, while effectively dealing with the related challenges,’ said Mr Astrup.

The panel has been established to examine the role digital technology can play in sustainable development and efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. However, this new technology creates a whole new set of challenges. Today’s mechanisms for international cooperation have not been set up in a way that allows us to adequately deal with these developments.

The high-level panel will map trends in the development and use of digital technology, identify knowledge gaps, promote interdisciplinary collaboration, and make specific proposals for how international cooperation in this area can be strengthened. After undertaking a wide range of public consultations, the panel will present its recommendations to Secretary-General Guterres in nine months.

The panel was launched by UN Secretary-General Guterres in New York on 12 July. It is to be co-chaired by Melinda Gates of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group. The 20 members of the panel bring together expertise from the public and private sectors, civil society, academia and the technical community and represent different parts of the world.

Read the Secretary-General’s press release here