Ambassador Alexandru Cujba, BAI’s President, gave a speech at Web3 Festival, held on April 12-15th, 2023 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), on the topic “Web3 data cloud – potential to disrupt or advance the implementation of the UN SDGs”.
At the outset, Mr. Cujba made an introduction of the UN Sustainable Development Agenda, the Sustainable Developing Goals, and shared his views on the role of technology in implementing the SDGs. He highlighted the objectives of Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, “Strategy on New Technologies”, and mentioned the Global Digital Compact to be agreed at the UN Summit of the Future in September 2024. In particular, it was emphasized that the Compact is to be based on the active contribution of, and through, a technology track involving governments, the UN system, the private sector, including tech companies, civil society organizations, and academia.
BAI’s President spoke about the implementation of the SDGs and the numerous challenges of economic, political, and technological nature faced in the process. He stated that new and high technologies, such as blockchain, IoT, big data analytics, Web3, AI, and social media, have the potential to address some of these challenges and accelerate progress towards achieving the SDGs. The BAI leader stressed the importance to ensure that the use of these technologies aligns with the principles of sustainability and inclusivity and that it does not reinforce existing inequalities or exacerbate social and environmental challenges.
Ambassador Cujba noticed the potential of the blockchain technology to address the majority of the 17 SDGs by providing transparency, traceability, and accountability in various sectors and in various ways, and exemplified the use of blockchain in diverse projects by the World Food Programme (WFP), UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
Mr. Cujba also spoke about the Web3 data cloud potential to disrupt and provide opportunities for the UN SDGs, and extended an invitation to partners in the relevant field to collaborate and strategize for mutual growth by advancing Web3 and Blockchain technology to create more social impact and to help realize UN SDGs.
