ITU: Her CyberTracks Europe Forum

Dear colleagues, partners and friends,

I am truly honored to be here today at the launch of the HerCyberTracks Forum at the Western Balkans Cyber Capacity Centre (WB3C).

Let me start by sincerely thanking to ITU and GIZ for organizing such an event as well as extending congratulations to the Western Balkans Cyber Capacity Centre and to Slovenia, France, and Montenegro for their initiative.

Fostering the leadership women in male-dominated industry such as cybersecurity and other tech sector is crucial to bridge the broader gender divide. The gender equality is high up on the Sustainable Development Agenda, guided by the SDG 5 on ‘Gender Equality’ and digital plays a crucial role in attaining its target.

Significant steps have been taken to deliver on the UN Secretary General ‘Our Common Agenda’ and its ‘Roadmap for digital cooperation’ that makes digital inclusion one of its key priority.

The SDG Summit which is happening at this very moment, has clearly recognized inclusive and responsible digital public infrastructure as one of the high impact initiatives that holds transformative power and can accelerate the implementation of all 17 SDGs. As such, the SDG Digital Day held yesterday showcased concrete examples of scalable tech and digital solutions to ensure an inclusive and gender-equal digital world.

These efforts are expected to culminate at the Summit of the Future next year.

This commitment is translated into the national SDG priority through the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework as a key reference for the UN in-country engagement in collaboration with the Government. ITU engagement in the UN Country Team is surely an added value to advance this agenda.

This includes efforts to narrow the digital gender gap and create a more conducive environment for the ICT sector. Specifically, the launch of her Cybertrack initiative directly contributes to the Cooperation Framework’s strategic priority #3 on social cohesion, people centered governance, rule of law and human rights. Collaboration in this important result area seeks to help achieve key objectives of the national Public Administration Reform Strategy and Digital Transformation Strategy 2022 – 2026 in regard to bridging the digital divide, including addressing the gender digital gap.

Crucial for ensuring effective delivery is of course inter-agency cooperation and coordination among stakeholders. ITU and UN Women cooperation under EQUALS partnership is a great example of inter-agency effort to create opportunities and environments for women to advance professionally through equal representation and leadership positions in the technology sector.

In that sense, I am very pleased to see so many women leaders across the Western Balkans, Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine brought together today.

Dear friends,

UN family in Montenegro is a reliable partner in acting and standing for women’s full and equal representation and participation in all economies, including cyber related fields.

Thank you and I wish you a very productive, empowering and insightful forum.