DUBAI, 9 January 2022 – Consultation with key stakeholders across society, including the general public, is crucial to a successful digital connectivity strategy, experts noted at the opening session of Expo 2020 Dubai’s latest Theme Week, which focuses on travel and connectivity.
“In order to ensure our global community leaves no-one behind, policymakers need to find practical strategies to create equal opportunities, which includes bridging this digital divide,” said Joanna Abeyie MBE, Founder of consultancy firm Blue Moon, speaking as Master of Ceremonies for ‘Closing the Digital Divide’ – a string of sessions that marked the start of Travel and Connectivity Week.
Abeyie added: “National and local governments need to work with international organisations and civil society to take a bold step forward towards a greener, safer and more digitally-connected future.”
Her comments preceded ‘Committed to Connecting; Government Strategies to Increase Access’, the first of five sessions at the Nexus for People and Planet on Sunday. Moderated by Maha Muraish, Senior Vice President of Digital Transformation at Etisalat, the session focused on governments’ strategies to increase access, their key role in closing the digital divide, and scalable innovations to widen connectivity.
His Excellency Marc Hansen, Minister Delegate of Digitalisation, Luxembourg, said: “It’s really important to hear what the real problems are, from people who may be isolated from this digital world,” noting that Luxembourg’s strategy and national action plan for digital inclusion had been prepared following close consultations between ministers and discussions with associations and national non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
HE Hansen and Muraish were joined by Marushka Chocobar Reyes, Secretary of Government and Digital Transformation of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Peru, who spoke about ongoing digital connectivity efforts across the South American nation.
Travel and Connectivity Week, the sixth Theme Week in Expo’s Programme for People and Planet, will run until 15 January and feature a range of events, including a three-hour tech innovation session titled ‘Age of Disruption’ (Wednesday 12 January) to ‘Cultures in Conversation: A Cloud is Nobody’s’ (Saturday 15 January).
