Event description
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in collaboration with eTrade for all, will host its annual eCommerce Week. This event will take place in Geneva and online from 4 to 8 December 2023.
The theme for the 2023 edition is ‘Shaping the future of the digital economy’. The conference will focus on widening the digital gap and the danger that data-driven digitalization could exacerbate inequalities.
During the UNCTAD eWeek, ministers, senior government officials, CEOs and other business leaders, international organizations, development banks, academia and civil society will come together to address three key questions:
- What does the future we want for the digital economy look like?
- What is required to make that future come true?
- How can digital partnerships and enhanced cooperation contribute to more inclusive and sustainable outcomes?
DiploFoundation will participate in the three following sessions:
Diplo-UNCTAD-FES session
On the opening day, DiploFoundation will co-host with UNCTAD and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) a session on Scenario of the Future with the Youth. A select group of youth representatives will participate in a discussion while interacting with Diplo’s AI advisor. The discussion will be based on the inputs gathered during rounds of consultations, including one online process taking place in November via UNCTAD’s digital platform (@ECDEatUNCTAD on X). Youth representatives will develop deeper insights from such inputs and present the outcome on the closing day.
Facilitators:
Sorina Teleanu, Director of Knowledge, DiploFoundation
Yung-Hsuan Wu, Researcher, DiploFoundation
This session will take place on 4 December, 14:00 – 15:00 CET.
Diplo-CUTS session
DiploFoundation and CUTS International will host a session titled Digital Economy Agreements and the Future of Digital Trade Rulemaking, exploring the critical topics of digital trade and trade facilitation, as well as legal and regulatory frameworks at the national, regional, and global levels. The session will feature experts from government, academia, and non-governmental organizations, discussing the unique characteristics and objectives of Digital Economy Agreements (DEAs) and their potential to drive cross-border digital trade, innovation, and economic development. The session will also examine DEAs’ influence on the future of digital trade rulemaking.
Key speakers:
Marilia Maciel, Head Digital Commerce and Internet Policy, DiploFoundation
Wei Guo Tang, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Singapore to the WTO
Yasmin Ismail, Programme Officer, CUTS International
Kholofelo Kugler, PhD Fellow, University of Lucerne
Moderator: Dmitry Grozoubinski, Executive Director, Geneva Trade Platform
The session will take place on 6 December, 11:30 – 13:00 CET.
Diplo session
DiploFoundation will host its own session titled Bottom-up AI and the Right to be Humanly Imperfect, delving deep into the implications of two perils we see in the rising AI economy: One is our loss of ownership over knowledge to tech companies and algorithms as the latter now controls ‘what we know. The other is the new obsession with optimisation for perfection that pits humans against machines. As suggested by the title, the session will take a ground-up discussion where we open the floor for audience inputs on how humans could ‘regain ownership’ of thinking patterns through a bottom-up AI approach and defend our rights to be humanly imperfect.
Key speakers:
Jovan Kurbalija, Executive Director, DiploFoundation
Sorina Teleanu, Director of Knowledge, DiploFoundation
This session will take place on 6 December, 14:00 – 15:00 CET.
Just-in-time reporting
As in previous years, the GIP Digital Watch observatory will provide just-in-time reporting from the UNCTAD eWeek. Stay tuned for more details.
For more information, and to register, please visit the official page.