PR96062

JAKARTA, Indonesia, May 18, 2022, Antara News Agency=KYODO JBN

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.

Image Attachments Links:

   Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=421514

   Caption: Minister of Communication and Informatics Johnny G Plate (centre), the 2022 G20

Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG) Chairperson, Mira Tayyiba (left), and the

2022 G20 DEWG Alternate Chair, Dedy Permadi, during a press conference of the

second DEWG meeting in Yogyakarta on Wednesday (18 May 2022). The second DEWG

meeting held on May 17-19, 2022 discusses three priority issues including

digital connectivity and post-COVID-19 recovery, digital skills and digital

literacy, as well as cross-border data flow and trusted free data flow.