Second G20 DEWG focuses on digital connectivity for recovery
2022年5月19日 - 3:00AM
JCN Newswire
The Indonesian government has urged the G20 Digital Economy
Working Group (DEWG) to continue the discussion on digital
connectivity.
"I believe we have all witnessed the importance of information and
communication technology in helping people cope with the impact of
the COVID-19 pandemic," Minister of Communication and Informatics,
Johnny G. Plate, stated.
The DEWG is part of the Indonesian G20 Sherpa Track. The working
group originated with the formation of the G20 Digital Economy Task
Force (DETF) in 2017 during the German G20 presidency.
The working group was mandated to discuss the implementation of an
interconnected, protected, and safe digital technology to develop
an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable digital economy.
The second DEWG meeting, under Indonesia's G20 presidency, which is
being held in Yogyakarta on May 17-19, 2022, discusses the issue of
digital connectivity.
As the chair of the 2022 G20 Presidency, Indonesia has encouraged
the 2022 G20 DEWG participants to discuss three priority issues:
digital connectivity and post-COVID-19 recovery; digital skills and
digital literacy; as well as cross-border data flow and trusted
free data flow.
At the meeting, Minister Plate emphasized the importance of
overcoming the digital divide by building digital connectivity or
telecommunications infrastructure.
During the second DEWG meeting, he urged that the discussion focus
on inclusiveness, empowerment, and sustainability for strengthening
the global position and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The digital divide has remained an issue until now. According to
data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in 2021,
a total of 2.9 billion people across the world had never used the
Internet.
Meanwhile, according to the World Bank data for Indonesia, 94
million adults could not access the Internet via mobile devices in
2019.
"The digital divide remains a challenge. Those who have access to
fixed broadband Internet are even fewer," Plate pointed out.
The digital divide has become one of the reasons for the G20 DEWG
forum to discuss the issue of digital connectivity.
The Ministry of Communication and Informatics, which is in charge
of the DEWG, is seeking to address the digital divide by
strengthening collaboration to drive massive construction of
digital infrastructure between G20 member countries and the rest of
the world.
Digital Connectivity
The discussion on connectivity has become more relevant in the wake
of a global economic turmoil that has affected food, commodities,
and energy availability as well as caused the inflation rate to
soar.
"The discussion on digital connectivity becomes important at the
second DEWG meeting because after the COVID-19 pandemic, the
economy is greatly supported through the use of digital connections
in solving various community problems as well as empowering the
community itself," Minister Plate emphasized.
Plate further accentuated that the pandemic had shown the extent to
which people are dependent on digital ecosystems in various public
sectors, such as education, health and, of course, economic
development.
Taking into account the importance of the digital connectivity
issue, the priority issue of DEWG is discussed in five
subtopics.
First, Plate said, DEWG discusses a common understanding of digital
connectivity by placing the community as the main focus of the
digital connectivity development efforts.
"This is what we mean by people-centric digital connectivity," he
remarked.
The second subtopic of the digital connectivity discussion at the
second DEWG meeting is digital security as a key enabler to support
the business community.
The intensification of digital communications indirectly also
raises new challenges in the form of various digital security risks
that threaten the online safety of internet users, especially the
increasingly digital economic actors.
Recognizing the importance of digital security in supporting the
sustainability of digital businesses in the future, the DEWG
decided to facilitate the collection of existing digital security
and safety practices.
On the third subtopic, the Working Group agreed to establish a G20
Digital Innovation Network as a continuation of the G20 Innovation
League hosted by the G20 Italian presidency last year.
Such a network aims to accommodate and support the collaboration of
digital innovation actors around the world, such as start-ups,
venture capitalists, corporations, and governments.
On the fourth subtopic, the G20 DEWG welcomes the implementation of
the digital transformation expo that will showcase the achievements
of G20 members regarding strategic policies and information on
digital transformation.
"The Indonesian G20 presidency hopes that the concept of the event
would be welcomed positively and enthusiastically by the holders of
the next G20 presidency," Minister Plate stated.
On the fifth subtopic, the G20 DEWG supports the notion from the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on the smart village
and smart island initiative.
"Support for this idea shows Indonesia's commitment to taking
advantage of the role of the G20 to solve various issues in the
global community. DEWG encourages solidarity in the use of digital
transformation, not only from G20 member countries but also
non-member countries, especially small island developing states,"
he stated.
Minister Plate expressed gratitude for the smooth, proper, and
focused implementation of the second DEWG meeting.
Plate also reminded all delegates and knowledge partners to join
the third DEWG meeting that will be held in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa
Tenggara, on July 20-21, 2022.
Written by: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga, Editor: Rahmad Nasution (c)
ANTARA 2022
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