The 13th meeting of Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development was held on 14 March 2016 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
- The meeting was held to promote the power of broadband networks and services for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- It brought the leaders from the public, private and social sectors together to seek the solutions to achieving education, equity and employment for all.
- The full meeting of the Commission revisited the issue of new broadband targets to help achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- The meeting set the ground for new concrete, measurable broadband targets to be agreed for the next full meeting of the Commission in September 2016 at the New York meeting.
- The Dubai meeting of the Commission was held at the invitation of Broadband Commissioner Sunny Varkey, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, in the context of the Global Education and Skills Forum, and right after the joint ITU/UNESCO Policy Forum during UNESCO Mobile Learning Week.
The Broadband Commission works to ensure that no one is left behind by leaving no one off-line. In 2015, 44 percent world population remains offline, including 36 percent of LDC population while there are 200 million fewer girls and women online than boys and men.
About Broadband Commission for Digital Development
- The Broadband Commission for Digital Development was established in May 2010 as a joint initiative by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
- Its stated purpose is to promote the deployment of high-speed, high-capacity broadband connections to the Internet as an essential part of modern infrastructure, with considerable economic and social benefits in countries at every stage of development.
- The Broadband Commission believes that progress towards the MDGs can be significantly accelerated by using broadband networks to improve the delivery of services across a huge range of social and business sectors.
