WeGO Advances Global Collaboration with the United Nations on AI and Smart Cities
USA, February 25, 2025 — The World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO) has laid critical stepping stones to its strategic partnership with the United Nations Secretariat. The WeGO Secretariat, led by the WeGO Secretary General, held a series of high-level meetings with the key United Nations officials during its recent visits to the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The meetings were focused on forming new strategic partnerships with the United Nations around the topics of sustainable development, digital technology, and artificial intelligence (AI) as they pertain to WeGO’s main areas of focus.
During the first day in New York, WeGO representatives visited the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations and met with Deputy Permanent Representative Ambassador Hyun-woo Cho to discuss WeGO’s plans for engagement with the United Nations and to explore the overall strategic opportunities for collaboration with the relevant departments at the United Nations in the fields of AI, smart cities, and innovation.
In a significant step towards expanding WeGO’s global engagement and partnership with international organizations such as the United Nations, the delegation met with Mr. Navid Hanif, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, to express interest in obtaining the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Consultative Status. The Chief of the NGO Branch, responsible for guiding non-governmental organizations through the ECOSOC accreditation process, was also present to guide through the process. WeGO Secretariat will commence the formal application process this year.
Additionally, WeGO engaged with the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, Mr. Amandeep Singh Gill, to explore potential collaborations with the Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET). ODET, which supports the UN to be more relevant in the field of digital and emerging technologies and coordinates with other UN agencies in this area, and WeGO identified opportunities for collaboration around co-organizing capacity-building workshops and efforts in localizing the Global Digital Compact (GDC) through WeGO’s potential involvement in the Global Alliance of Mayors for Digital Cooperation (GAM-4-DC). The Global Alliance of Mayors was launched in 2023 by the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology and UN-Habitat. Given WeGO’s strong presence in the Asia-Pacific region, ODET and WeGO also explored the possibility of taking advantage of WeGO’s strategic location and network to have WeGO Secretariat serve as a regional partner of ODET.
WeGO representatives met with Mr. Guy Ryder, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Policy in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General (EOSG), as well as the Senior Environment Program Management Officer in the Sustainable Development Unit of EOSG. The discussions highlighted the timely nature of WeGO’s engagement with the UN, aligning with UN’s current efforts to draft a global strategy report and recommendations for engaging local and regional governments to strengthen their contributions to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda. As part of this process, WeGO will take part in the virtual consultations to contribute to the development of the roadmap.
These meetings reaffirm WeGO’s commitment to promoting the local implementation of inclusive digitalization, to introducing and securing global interest in WeGO’s initiatives such as the Seoul Smart City Prize, and strengthening international stakeholders to actively contribute to the advancement of smart, sustainable urban development through strategic partnerships with the United Nations.
The visit to the UN Secretariat and meetings were intended to build upon WeGO’s increased engagement with partner UN agencies such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), UN-Habitat, and ODET. WeGO has been annually participating in the ITU-led World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum with WeGO members and is currently acting as the Sector Member of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T). WeGO’s Secretary-General Mr. Jeong Kee Kim is also one of the Executive Committee members of the Global Initiative on Virtual Worlds and AI – Discovering the CitiVerse.
In May 2024, WeGO and UN-Habitat co-organized a Mayors’ Roundtable with UN-Habitat at the Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) in Abu Dhabi. The Roundtable, which invited cities to exchange inclusive smart and digital solutions put in place in their cities and the main lessons learned in implementing these solutions, also introduced initiatives such as the Seoul Smart City Prize and the Global Alliance of Mayors for Digital Cooperation to the participating mayors and local government representatives.
In September 2024, WeGO, under the initiative of the UN-Habitat and ODET, partnered with UCLG, EuroCities, and Smart City Expo World Congress, organizing and hosting the virtual ‘Consultation of Local and Regional Governments towards the Global Digital Compact.’ The event convened representatives from Local and Regional Governments (LRGs), international organizations, and digital transformation experts to underline the critical role of cities and local governments in digital governance, aiming to prioritize people at the center of technology development in urban areas. WeGO members, including Kampala, Rabat, Penang Island, Baguio, and Seoul, participated in the virtual consultation.
The consultation culminated in a Joint Global Communiqué on ‘The Role of Local and Regional Governments in the Global Digital Compact’. This communiqué reinforces the critical role of LRGs in bridging the digital divide and localizing the GDC’s principles to create an open, safe, sustainable, and inclusive digital future. It urges Member States to explicitly recognize LRGs in the GDC’s implementation strategies while calling for greater involvement of LRGs in global digital policymaking.
The Global Digital Compact, as an annex to the Pact of the Future, was adopted in September of the same year at the Summit of the Future while the Joint Global Communiqué was shared with as many stakeholders and Member States through collective efforts with UN-Habitat and ODET, aligning with the timeframe of the Summit of the Future. The GDC serves as a comprehensive framework for enhanced cooperation in the global governance of digital technology and artificial intelligence, outlining a roadmap for international cooperation to harness the potential of digital technologies while addressing digital divides.
About WeGO
The World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization (WeGO), is a membership-based international association of local governments, smart tech solution providers, and institutions committed to the transformation of cities into smart sustainable cities through facilitating public-private partnerships (PPP). WeGO was founded by 50 member cities in 2010 as the World e-Governments Organization, hence our acronym. In response to the evolving concept of smart cities, WeGO expanded its vision and mandate at the 7th General Assembly (2017) and its name to the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization. WeGO’s Secretariat is based in Seoul, Korea, and has regional offices in East Asia (Chengdu, China), the Mediterranean (Beyoglu, Turkey), Africa (Abuja, Nigeria), Middle East & North Africa (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates), Latin America (Cuenca, Ecuador), and Central Asia (Almaty, Kazakhstan). As the leading platform on smart city development, WeGO’s mission is to share knowledge and good practices in e-Governance; strengthen administrative efficiency and transparency; advance digital capacity; facilitate civic involvement; bridge the digital divide and inequality; and promote cooperation solidarity among cities and local governments around the world.
WeGO serves for its members as their international platform to improve the quality of life, innovate in the delivery of public services, and strengthen regional competitiveness.
Press Contact:
Name: Kakim Danabayev
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