Philippine Ambassador Alan L. Deniega participated in the inaugural activity of the Ministerial Conference of the 25th World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT 2021) on 11 November 2021 held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center in Dhaka.

WCIT is a prestigious ICT annual event organized by the World Information Technology and Services Alliances (WITSA), a consortium of information and technology associations around the world. Hosted by Bangladesh with the theme “Ensuring an Inclusive, Trusted and Sustainable Digital Society,” the event was also attended by several tech giants and personalities, including one of the founders of the internet and the world wide web, Sir Timothy Berners-Lee.

One of the invited discussants in the inaugural panel was the Honorable Naguib Sinarimbo, Minister of Interior and Local Government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), in Southern Philippines. Participating virtually from Mindanao, Minister Sinarimbo shared with the online audiences that Bangladesh’s Access to Information (A2i) program inspired BARMM to pursue its goal of having its own Digital Bangsamoro, the leveraging of technology towards the efficient provision of public services in the autonomous region. 

The other participants in the panel discussion were Somalia’s Minister of Communications and Technology, Mr. Abdi Sheikh Ahmed; Guyana’s Minister of Health Cooperation, Dr. Frank C.S. Anthony; Maldives’ Minister of State for Environment, Climate Change and Technology, Mr. Mohamed Shareef; and, Dr. James H. Poisant, Secretary-General of WITSA.

More information about the event can be found here: www.wcit2021.org.bd