Diplomacy, migration and trust: Digital transformation for a more sustainable future

Days after the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Global Digital Compact, an ambitious plan to ensure an open, inclusive and safe digital future for everyone, dozens of politicians, activists, finance and tech executives met at Mastercard’s Tech Hub in Manhattan to discuss ways to put that into practice at the Digital Transformation Together summit.

They shared insights on how technology can help solve some of the world’s biggest challenges, from climate change to cybersecurity concerns. Thanks to digital and technological advances, said Jon Huntsman, Mastercard’s president for Strategic Growth, “we have never lived at a more hopeful moment.”  

Here are four takeaways: 

01
We need more tech diplomacy

The Global Digital Compact calls for universal connectivity, safeguarding human rights online, digital inclusion and equity, and improving trust in technology. Connectivity in particular is essential for Africa, where it could help harness the continent’s workforce, the world’s youngest, said Bosun Tijani, Nigerian minister of Communications, Innovation and the Digital Economy: “We need to invest in the data backbone of Africa.”

But this tall order can only be accomplished if the private and public sectors work together, said Julie Monaco, chair of the Business Council for International Understanding. And while there is an “enormous amount of positivity and energy about the innovations the private sector can bring to advance more inclusive digital economies,” according to Tim Murphy, Mastercard’s chief administrative officer, he also voiced concerns about the fragmentation of digital standards and increasing protectionism.

That last concern was shared by former Colombian President Iván Duque Márquez. He urged Latin American leaders to negotiate regulations that encourage global trade, make Latin America a hub for sustainable data centers and invest more in cybersecurity and blockchain technology.

02
Migrants can help blunt economic challenges

We’re at an inflection point, said Amy Pope, director general of the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration, where more people are now displaced because of climate change rather than conflict. “We need a mind shift when it comes to humanitarian systems,” she said. Pope suggested migrants might reenergize economies with aging workforces such as Italy or Portugal, for example. And as migrants often continue to support economies back home — remitting $800 billion-plus annually to their countries of origin — they should be served better with easier ways to move their money.

Asked what was working well today, Pope praised India for negotiating more than a dozen employment mobility agreements with other countries to allow Indian workers to work in skilled industries worldwide. She also lauded a German deal allowing migration from Kenya.   

03
Regulators must listen to vulnerable consumers

Digital scams and fraud have targeted about seven in 10 vulnerable people globally, and a third of them have suffered a loss with little hope for redress, according to Helena Leurent, the director general of Consumers International, the umbrella group for consumer protection organizations. The bottom line: Consumers must be able to trust how their data is used, be protected from hidden fees, be offered tools to manage economic shocks, and be a part of the process when designing new policies and regulations. “The risk is that inequalities are getting greater, and trust is being undermined,” she said.

04
Securing trust is essential for the global digital ecosystem

International Chamber of Commerce Chairman Philippe Varin came prepared with a list of policy and regulatory recommendations that could help instill more trust in the digital economy. It included significant World Bank equity investments in sustainability, softening regulations to facilitate big bank investments in clean energy projects, a treaty on recycling plastics, and more digital security. “There is always a tension,” he acknowledged, “between innovation and regulation.”

Banner photo, Mastercard Community Pass founder Tara Nathan, left, speaks with Abdulmajid Nsekela, the group CEO and managing director for Tanzania's CRDB Bank, and Aniket Doegar, co-founder and CEO of India's Empowerment Solutions, about building up agricultural ecosystems to transform marginalized countries. (Photo credit: Awa Dia)