|
Dear Ms. Amali DE SILVA-MITCHELL,
Here are the highlights from Day 4 of the WSIS Forum 2026, which put the high-level machinery into full gear at Palexpo, featuring the WSIS Prizes 2026 Winners Ceremony, the Ministerial and Regulators Roundtables,
the UN Leaders Dialogue, and continuing Leaders TalkX sessions, all capped off by the official reception by Switzerland. Stay up to date with the latest developments in digital cooperation, AI policy, and global connectivity.
|
|
Key Takeaways
Day 4 at Palexpo put the high-level machinery of the Forum into full gear, with the WSIS Prizes ceremony, ministerial and regulators roundtables, a UN Leaders Dialogue, and the continuing Leaders
TalkX series.
The morning opened with a flagship moment: the WSIS Prizes 2026 Winners Ceremony on the Main Stage, where the ITU Secretary-General presented awards to the 18 winning projects, drawn from a
record 1,595 submissions across 122 countries and more than 2.2 million public votes.
The Ministerial Roundtable brought ministers together around AI strategy and policy, digital transformation, and infrastructure and inclusion. A common thread ran through the room: readiness,
trust, and cooperation. Ministers called not for identical systems but interoperable ones that respect national circumstances, with ITU as a trusted platform translating shared principles into practical cooperation. AI must remain human-centered, ethical,
and accountable, with growing momentum behind sovereign AI models and local-language datasets. Ministers warned of a structural divide as AI infrastructure funding concentrates in a few large private firms, and stressed that success should be measured not
by technology deployed but by lives improved, calling for blended finance, compute sharing, and investment that reaches underserved communities.
The UN Leaders Dialogue gathered senior leaders from across the UN system to align priorities for WSIS+20 implementation, reaffirming the commitment to work as one system for an inclusive,
people-centered digital future.
The Regulators Roundtable focused on putting governance essentials into practice, introducing the Actionable Core Toolkit to help regulators move from assessment to action across the seven
governance essentials of the GSR-26 best practice guidelines, with concrete approaches shared from Nigeria's network intelligence ecosystems to Singapore's regulatory sandboxes and Ukraine's adaptive regulation sustaining resilience.
The Leaders TalkX series continued with sessions on skills for the future, enabling policy frameworks, and strengthening international cooperation.
Today was truly a day about collaboration and partnership with co-Chairs joining both Ministerial and Regulators discussions, workshops, and the official reception by Switzerland to cap off an eventful day.
|
|
What’s on for Day 5?
The Forum wraps up its week on Friday with a final Leaders TalkX on co-creating tomorrow through digital and AI partnerships, followed by the WSIS Prizes Champions' Ceremony celebrating the 72 Champion projects.
The WSIS Action Lines Facilitators will hold their closing meeting, and the High-Level Track Facilitators will present their summary of the week's discussions before the Closing Ceremony, where the Chair will deliver the official WSIS Forum 2026 summary, bringing
the first post-WSIS+20 Forum to a close.
|
