October 22, 2020 Results of ITU Virtual Digital World 2020

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) held the ITU Virtual Digital World 2020 online from October 20 through 22, 2020.
YOSHIDA Mabito, Vice-Minister for Policy Coordination of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), attended a ministerial roundtable held at the event, took the rostrum, and explained the ideal state of national digital strategies with consideration of responses to COVID-19. At the same time, he announced the start of Connect2Recover, a new joint project of the ITU and MIC, to support developing countries.

1. ITU Virtual Digital World 2020

The ITU has held the ITU Telecom World event every year to allow governments and private companies to exchange opinions and share the latest information. It was scheduled to be held in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam this September. However, the event has been postponed to 2021 due to the global spread of novel coronavirus infections.
On the other hand, the ITU and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam held the ITU Virtual Digital World 2020 (themed Building the digital world. Together) online from October 20 through 22, 2020, to promote regional and global digital transformation (https://digitalworld2020.vn/ ).
The event included the ministerial roundtable attended by ministerial-level officials of each government, as well as a virtual exhibition to promote information sharing between governments and private companies.

2. Outline of Ministerial Roundtable

Ministerial-level officials of governments and high-level officers of private companies took the rostrum*. YOSHIDA Mabito, Vice-Minister for Policy Coordination of MIC, also took the rostrum and explained the ideal state of national digital strategies by considering responses to COVID-19. At the same time, he announced the start of Connect2Recover, which serves as a new joint project of the ITU and MIC to support developing countries.

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  Speakers: Approximately 50 speakers took the rostrum during the three days from October 20 through 22.

3. Overview of virtual exhibition

In the exhibition, governments of each country and private companies*, including small and medium-sized enterprises, introduced their efforts and services online to share the promotion of the digital economy and to enable related personnel of governments and private companies to develop new partnerships investment opportunities.
MIC organized Japan Pavilion (https://digitalworld2020.vn/japan/Nation/detail.html ). In addition to introducing the implementation of Connect2Recover, MIC introduced the efforts of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology and Japanese companies that contribute to the promotion of the digital economy.

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  Exhibitors: Governments from about 10 countries and about 70 private companies exhibited.