In conjunction with 70th Anniversary of the establishment of Indonesia-Thailand Diplomatic Relations in 2020, the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Bangkok will organize a webinar on “Indonesia Investment Promotion on Digital Economy” on November 3rd 2020. This event aims to introduce the development of Indonesian digital economy which offers plenty of opportunities to strengthen investment cooperation between Indonesia and Thailand during the Covid-19 recovery process, which also covers the enhancement of business relations between Indonesia and Thailand’s startup companies.

ESCAP Secretariat is organizing this virtual Experts Group Meeting (EGM) in preparation for the SPECA Economic Forum and SPECA Governing Council, scheduled on 19-20 November 2020.

The world in 2020 is in a state of flux. While much progress has been made globally over the past ten years in expanding access to, and adoption of, broadband infrastructure and services, significant challenges remain in tackling digital inequalities, addressing the current widespread impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in accelerating efforts towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

Digital technologies including information and communication technologies (ICT) for development are cutting across many sectors. Progress on certain SDGs can be traced and correlated with ICT progress, especially in monitoring SDG 9: Infrastructure, Industrialization and Innovation, SDG 4: Quality Education and SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being, which suggests that these may be the areas with the greatest potential for leveraging ICT for sustainable development.

Asia and the Pacific has been going through a fundamental transformation induced by digital technology and connectivity. The region has been a driving force of such digital transformation - be it artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, cloud computing or blockchain.