On Monday, 21 September 2026 at 09:00–16:30 EDT (13:00–20:30 UTC), the United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET) hosted ‘UN Digital Cooperation Day 2026‘ at Ease, 605 3rd Avenue, New York City, during the High-Level Week of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.
Under the theme ‘Shaping A Global AI Future Through Science, Policy, and Capacity‘, the day brought together government representatives, the private sector, civil society, academia, and industry leaders to showcase country-led deliverables and how digital cooperation is being translated into action on the ground. Centered on AI from the ground up, it explored the building blocks of national digital transformation, with discussion focused on practical country experiences, lessons learned, and opportunities to accelerate impact through collaboration and partnership.
The programme launched ODET’s Blueprint for National AI Strategies, with its first country application in Lesotho; a strategic partnership between ODET and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) on AI across the disaster risk reduction cycle; and ‘The Global Digital Compact in Practice‘, a magazine of stories from the UN Digital Cooperation Portal marking two years since the adoption of the Global Digital Compact.
It also marked the launch of the first thematic brief by the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI. Session partners included the Slovak Republic, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations, the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), UNDRR, the EkStep Foundation, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), UN-Habitat, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
See also the concept note, the full speaker list and event photos.
OASIS
09:00 EDT (13:00 UTC) — DIGITAL COOPERATION DAY OPENING REMARKS
Remarks and Networking Activity: Joseph Gordon-Levitt – UN Global Advocate for Human-centric Digital Governance
Introduction of Pillars: Amandeep Singh Gill – Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, United Nations
Remarks: H.E. Alar Karis – President of the Republic of Estonia
Science Pillar: Sonia Livingstone – Member, Independent International Scientific Panel on AI
Policy Pillar: H.E. Egriselda López – Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of the Republic of El Salvador to the United Nations; Co-Chair of the Global Dialogue on AI Governance
Capacity Pillar: Vilas Dhar – President and Trustee, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
Fireside Chat: Megan Garcia – Artificial Intelligence Litigation Attorney and National Child Safety Advocate, Normand Judkins & Couch Law Firm
09:45 EDT (13:45 UTC) — INTRODUCING THE AI STRATEGY BLUEPRINT: TURNING NATIONAL AMBITION INTO ACTION
Opening Remarks: The Right Hon. Samuel Ntsokoane Matekane – Prime Minister, Kingdom of Lesotho
Framing Remarks: Vilas Dhar – President and Trustee, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
Hon. Nthati Moorosi – Minister of Information, Communications, Science, Technology and Innovation, Kingdom of Lesotho
Faheem Ahamed – Group Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, G42
H.E. Samba Diouf – Minister of Telecommunications and Digital Affairs, Republic of Senegal
Anna Sophie Herken – Managing Director, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
H.E. Djami Diallo – Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Republic of Guinea
Moderator: Magali Koyo – Director, Data Center Site Reliability, Microsoft
Video Presentation: UN Resident Coordinator, Lesotho
Blueprint Demo: Mehdi Snene – Senior Advisor, United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET)
Closing Remarks: Amandeep Singh Gill – Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, United Nations
11:30 EDT (15:30 UTC) — AI AND THE FUTURE OF WORK: SKILLS, EDUCATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING FOR AN INCLUSIVE AI ECONOMY
Opening Remarks:
H.E. Tomáš Drucker – Minister of Education, Research, Development and Youth, Slovak Republic
Roxana Mînzatu – Executive Vice-President, European Commission
Framing Remarks: H.E. Guy Ryder – Under-Secretary-General for Policy, Executive Office of the Secretary-General (EOSG)
Wilfrido Solano – Global Technology Leader, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Dr. Seydina Moussa Ndiaye – Head of the Artificial Intelligence Living Lab for Innovation and Viable Ethical Policies and Systems Research Group, Cheikh Hamidou Kane Digital University
Andreas Schleicher – Director for Education and Skills, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Neha Shukla – Founder and Executive Director, Innovation For Everyone
Moderator: Wendy Kopp – Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Teach For All
Closing Remarks: František Ružička – Deputy Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
13:30 EDT (17:30 UTC) — BLOCKCHAIN AND THE TOKENIZED FUTURE: SOVEREIGN CHOICES AND SAFEGUARDS FOR NEXT-GEN DPI
Opening Keynotes:
H.E. Muhammad Aurangzeb – Minister of Finance and Revenue, Islamic Republic of Pakistan
H.E. Angellah Jasmine Mbelwa Kairuki – Minister of Communication and Information Technology, United Republic of Tanzania
H.E. Burhan Gafoor – Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative, Republic of Singapore
H.E. Bilal Bin Saqib – Minister of State and Chairman, Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Jeremy Allaire – Co-Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Circle
Jeremy Almond – Chief Executive Officer, Paystand
Ella Zhang – Managing Partner and Head of YZi Labs
Moderator: Tricia Gallagher – Founder and Principal, Treasury Solutions Info Tech LLC (TSIT)
Closing Remarks: Amandeep Singh Gill – Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, United Nations
14:30 EDT (18:30 UTC) — MEDIA MOMENT / Q&A TO MARK THE LAUNCH OF THE FIRST THEMATIC BRIEF BY THE INDEPENDENT INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC PANEL ON AI
15:00 EDT (19:00 UTC) — PANEL OF PANELS: BUILDING A GLOBAL AI EVIDENCE BASE
Opening Remarks: Gary Marcus – Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neural Science, New York University (NYU)
Yoshua Bengio – Co-Chair of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and Chair of the International Scientific Report on the Safety of Advanced AI
Maria Ressa – Co-Chair, Independent International Scientific Panel on AI
Kwan Yee Ng – Writer, International Scientific Report on the Safety of Advanced AI
Kalika Bali – Co-Chair, Global South AI Safety Report
Adam Gleave – FAR.AI, EU AI Act Scientific Panel
Moderator: Renata Dwan – Senior Fellow, United Nations Foundation
Closing Remarks: Urvashi Aneja – Co-Convenor, Global South Network for Trustworthy AI
Special Announcement: H.E. Mr. Jonathan Reid – Minister of Innovation, Industry, Science, and Technology, Barbados
16:00 EDT (20:00 UTC) — DIGITAL COOPERATION DAY CLOSING
BAMBOO NORTH
11:00 EDT (15:00 UTC) — WHAT IS OPEN SOURCE AI? APPLICATIONS, STRATEGIES AND GLOBAL COOPERATION
Opening Remarks: Amandeep Singh Gill – Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, United Nations
Kari Briski – Vice President of Generative Artificial Intelligence Software for Enterprise, NVIDIA
Marzieh Fadaee – Head of Cohere Labs, Cohere
Duane O’Brien – Executive Director, Open Source Initiative (OSI)
Jim Zemlin – Chief Executive Officer, The Linux Foundation
Dr. Rumman Chowdhury – Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Humane Intelligence Public Benefit Corporation (PBC)
Moderator: Dr. Sarah Myers West – Co-Executive Director, AI Now Institute
13:00 EDT (17:00 UTC) — TECHNOLOGY AT THE FRONTLINES OF DISASTER RESILIENCE
Opening Remarks: H.E. Esther Dweck – Minister of Management and Innovation in Public Services, Federative Republic of Brazil
Joëlle Barral – Research & Engineering Senior Director, Google DeepMind
Dr. Sujit Kumar Mohanty – Chief of Branch, Intergovernmental Processes, Interagency Cooperation and Partnerships, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
Vivek Badrinath – Director General, GSMA
Dr. Soumya Swaminathan – Chairperson, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF)
H.E. Sebastian Bastian – Minister of Innovation and National Development, Commonwealth of The Bahamas
Moderator: Prof. Monica Sanders – Founder and Advocate in Chief, Bonne Terre Labs
Joint Initiative Presentation: Nicholas Joseph Ramos – Program Management Officer, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
Closing Remarks: Amandeep Singh Gill – Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, United Nations
14:15 EDT (18:15 UTC) — AI EVERYWHERE: SCALING IMPACT THROUGH AI DIFFUSION
Sanjay Jain – Director, Digital Public Infrastructure, Gates Foundation
Nick Tzitzon – Vice Chairman, ServiceNow
Kate Kallot – Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Amini
Elizabeth Kelly – Head of Beneficial Deployments, Anthropic
Moderator: Deepika Mogilishetty – Chief of Policy and Partnerships, EkStep Foundation
Closing Remarks: Amandeep Singh Gill – Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, United Nations
15:15 EDT (19:15 UTC) — THE GLOBAL DIGITAL COMPACT IN PRACTICE – OPEN MIC: STORYTELLING AND MAGAZINE LAUNCH
Dirk Messner – President, German Environment Agency
Luísa Franco Machado – Founder and Executive Director, EquiLabs
Layma Murtaza – Co-Founder, Chief Partnerships Officer and Board Member, Aseel
Churchill Otieno – President, The African Editors’ Forum (TAEF)
BAMBOO SOUTH
10:30 EDT (14:30 UTC) — INTEROPERABILITY BY DESIGN: TECHNICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR VERIFIABLE AI GOVERNANCE
Opening Remarks:
Pedro Manuel Moreno – Acting Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Alpesh Shah – Managing Director, IEEE Standards Association
Catherine Mulligan – Founder and Principal Investigator, Digital Crossroads
Urvashi Aneja – Founder and Director, Digital Futures Lab
Moderator: Stefaan Verhulst – Co-Founder of The Governance Laboratory and Research Professor, New York University (NYU)
Closing Remarks: Bernardo Mariano Junior – Assistant Secretary-General and Chief Information Technology Officer, United Nations Office of Information and Communications Technology
13:45 EDT (17:45 UTC) — LOCAL ACTION FOR DIGITAL INCLUSION
15:00 EDT (19:00 UTC) — CO-DESIGNING A NETWORK OF INTEROPERABLE CROSS-BORDER AI GOVERNANCE SANDBOXES
Opening Remarks:
Amandeep Singh Gill – Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET)
Jim Matthews – President, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)
High-level Statements:
H.E. Eng. Sami Smeirat – Minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Rebecca Finlay – Chief Executive Officer, Partnership on AI
Brian Tse – Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Concordia AI
Natasha Crampton – Vice President and Chief Responsible Artificial Intelligence Officer, Microsoft
H.E. Sudhakar Dalela – Secretary (Economic Relations), Ministry of External Affairs, Republic of India
Panel: From AI Regulatory Sandboxes to a Network of Cross-Border AI Governance Sandboxes
Leonardo Cervera Navas – Secretary-General, European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS)
Alberto Gago – Director General, Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence (AESIA)
Boris Inderbitzin – External Relations Officer, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)
Moderator: Linda Bonyo – Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Lawyers Hub Africa
Panel: From Standards to Sandboxes: Building Blocks for Interoperable AI Governance
Mehdi Snene – Senior Advisor, United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET)
Tate Ryan-Mosley – Associate Director of Technology and Geopolitics, Ernst & Young (EY)
Cindy Parokkil – AI Policy Lead, International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
Moderator: Jeremy Ng – Counsel for Artificial Intelligence and the Digital Economy, Legal Vice Presidency, World Bank Group
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