This Working Group (WG) on Innovation and Technology for Sustainable Development (WG on ITSD) is developing its narratives to follow up decisions of the previous WGs 2020-2021 and the recent SPECA Economic Forum 2021. The Tashkent Statement 2021 recommended to continue building on the support of UNECE and ESCAP to strengthen the institutional foundations of digital connectivity and transformation in the SPECA countries, work on the implementation of UNECE and ESCAP legal norms, standards, best practice recommendations, and other tools, for the digitalization of information exchange in international supply chains and multimodal transport chains.
The objectives of the third session of the WG on ITSD, hosted by MDDIAI of Kazakhstan in Almaty at ESCAP’ SONCA premises and organized by ESCAP IDD, IDS in cooperation with the UNECE, is to advance on the arrangements for the implementation of the SPECA Innovation Strategy for Sustainable Development (incl. launching pilot initiative and appointing a SPECA focal point for the Strategy implementation) and to take stock of the progress of development of the institutional foundations for implementation of the ESCAP’s Asia and the Pacific Information Superhighway (AP-IS) Action Plan 2022-2026.
The meeting will review the work plan of WG on ITSD for 2021-2022, schedule the new workplan for 2022-2023, and complete the common documentation, prepared for the SPECA Governing Council and the SPECA Economic Forum 2022 (November, Kazakhstan), ESCAP Committee on ICT and Science Technology and Innovation (August, Bangkok, Thailand), and the Ministerial Conference on Digital Technologies (9-10 November Seoul, RoK).
Please register through Zoom link to the SPECA WG on ITSD here and/or at the link above this page.
Contact persons:
Ms. Aida Karazhanova, Economic Affairs Officer, ICT and Development Section, IDD ESCAP at [email protected], with a copy to [email protected].
Ms. Lyudmyla Tautiyeva, Consultant, Innovative Policies Development Section, Economic Cooperation and Trade Division, ECE at [email protected].
See documents of the First Session of SPECA WG on ITSD here, Second Session of SPECA WG on ITSD here.
The secretariat has the honour to further inform the States members of SPECA that the Working Group will be held back-to-back with:
- an Expert Group Meeting on Innovation and Technology on 19 and 20 July 2022, from 09:30 to 13:00 hours (UTC +6) https://www.unescap.org/events/2022/expert-group-meeting-innovation-and-technology-sustainable-development (Please register through Zoom link to the EGM on 19-20 July here) and
- a Training on the Deployment and Management of the Pilot Drought Information System on 20 and 21 July 2022, from 09:30 to 17:00 hours (UTC+6). https://www.unescap.org/events/2022/capacity-building-training-deployment-and-management-pilot-drought-information-system .
These three events will be held at the Subregional Office for North and Central Asia in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and online through the Zoom videoconferencing application.