August 25, 2018 Result of G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting

Manabu Sakai, State Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, attended the G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting in Salta, Argentina, on August 23 and 24. At the meeting, discussions on a digital agenda for economic development made progress and a ministerial declaration was adopted. Furthermore, State Minister Sakai held bilateral meetings with the representatives of Member countries (including the EU), namely of the host country Argentina, the EU, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and France.

1. G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting

Digitalization has been bringing a wide and great impact on societies and economies and the world has been recognizing a wide variety of new policy issues. The G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting was organized to develop policy discussions on the digital economic field among the G20 countries, and its first meeting was held in Germany in 2017. Japan is scheduled to host the G20 Ministerial Meeting on Trade and Digital Economy in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, in 2019.
At this year’s meeting held in Argentina, State Minister Sakai represented Japan as the next presidency, and discussed a number of topics, including digital government, emerging technologies, and technological infrastructure development.

1. Outline of Ministerial Meeting

At the ministerial meeting, State Minister Sakai stated that Japan has started using ICT to solve social challenges, such as aging society and population decline, and working towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the development of the digital economy and that promoting the free flow of information is essential for such development of the digital economy at global level.
He also stated that it is important to discuss AI internationally because AI creates a great impact by globally interacting across borders over the networks and that Japan is promoting the deployment of quality digital infrastructure for development of digital economy from a long-term perspective. In addition, State Minister Sakai expressed that he would take over this year’s discussion in the 2019 G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting and further discuss the promotion of sustainable and inclusive development through implementation of SDGs.
As a result of the meeting, the Ministerial Declaration with attached annexes was adopted on the issues that the G20 countries should tackle issues collaboratively for the further development of the world society and economy.

2. Outline of Ministerial Declaration

In the Ministerial Declaration, the importance of the following points has been confirmed.

1. Digital Government

The G20 countries emphasize that ICT plays an important role in modernizing administrative agencies and increasing their efficiency and that it is important to improve the modernization and efficiency of governments through digitization and contribute to the development of the world’s digital economy.

2. Bridging the Digital Gender Divide

The G20 countries promote bridging the gender divide by digitization and make improvements in female participation in the world’s digital economy, thus enabling sustainable and inclusive development.

3. Measurement of the Digital Economy

The G20 countries promote measurement of the world’s digital economy objectively, thus making it possible to develop evidence-based policy makings, while evaluating the impact of emerging technologies and innovations on employment and industries, and contributing to the reduction of risks, including income inequality, in particular, associated with the industrial and consumer adoption of technologies.

4. Accelerating Digital Infrastructure for Development

The G20 countries agree on the acceleration of investment promotion policies and other policies, including the securement of a transparent and stable investment environment in order to achieve the goal of eliminating all digital divides, including access to infrastructure, and connect all people to the Internet by 2025 so that all people can enjoy the benefits of digitalization.

5. Emerging Digital Technologies

The G20 countries recognize that the diffusion of emerging digital technologies extends beyond the manufacturing industry to a wide range of industries and great benefits are expected, while there are spreading concerns that developing countries or small and medium enterprises may be left behind the socioeconomic development by not being able to make use of technological changes. The G20 countries share their best practices in each country, thus promoting digitalization at all levels of the countries, enterprises, and individuals.

2. Bilateral meetings with Representatives of Other countries

1. Saudi Arabia

He held talks with H.E. Mr. Abdullah bin Amer Al-Swaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, and exchanged views on the digital field and Japan’s future collaboration with the country in the field of ICT in the framework of the G20.

2. European Commission

He held talks with Ms. Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, and exchanged views on strengthening the cooperation between Japan and the EU in the ICT field.

3. Argentina

He held talks with H.E. Mr. Andrés Horacio Ibarra, Minister of Modernization, and Dr. Lino Barañao, Minister of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation, and exchanged views, including those on the continuous cooperation between the two countries in G20 and their bilateral cooperation in the ICT field.

4. United States

He held talks with Mr. Michael John Kotsakas Kratsios, Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Deputy Assistant to the President at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and they exchanged views on future cooperation in the Japan-US Policy Cooperation Dialogue on Internet Economy.

5. France

He held talks with Mr. Mounir Mahjoubi, Secretary of State for Digital Affairs, and exchanged views on the cooperation of the two countries for the development of AI and for synergies in the discussions in the G7/G20 meetings in 2019 as the presidencies.