国际英语资讯:UN-appointed panel calls for cooperation to harness benefits, avoid harms of digital technol_时事

国际英语资讯:UN-appointed panel calls for cooperation to harness benefits, avoid harms of digital technol

In July 2018, the High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation was established by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Its co-chairs and members, with digital-related background, come from the government, private sector, civil society and academia.

Over a period of nine months, panel members and the panel Secretariat engaged with more than 4,000 individuals representing 104 states, 80 international organizations, 203 private sector companies, 125 civil society organizations, 33 technical organizations, and 188 think tanks and academic institutions.

Meanwhile, Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Jack Ma, executive chairman of the Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group, on Monday morning had an online conversation with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whom they handed the report to, on digital cooperation.

Guterres recalled that the growth of the internet began with a "naive optimism," but inequalities have actually grown. He called for digital technology to be used for a "quantum leap" in global development, and for everyone to have access to the internet.

Without a huge commitment and investment in digital inclusion, he said, conflicts and mistrusts will grow.

Jack Ma, for his part, encouraged governments to attach greater importance to investment in digital infrastructure, saying: "If you don't let your people connect to the internet is worse than last century. We should not leave our people in the last century."