Working Group 1 on Connectivity for All aims to facilitate the implementation of the APIS action plan 2022-2026 by connecting people, organizations, and things anywhere and all the time.  

About AP-IS

Since 2016, the ESCAP secretariat has been promoting the Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway initiative (AP-IS). As a region-wide intergovernmental platform, AP-IS aims to bridge the digital divide and accelerate digital transformation by promoting digital connectivity, digital technology and data use in the Asia Pacific region.

In particular, this AP-IS platform:

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for digital connectivity and transformation to mitigate the impact of economic slowdown, sustain well-being, and speed up e-resilience readiness, and build back better. Social distancing has generated higher demand for fast and reliable broadband connectivity to support the growing information flows.

Rural areas across much of Asia are undergoing profound economic, social and demographic changes. Not only goods and people, but ideas, values, and cultural practices, are moving, both physically and virtually, across multi-layered transport networks.

ESCAP Secretariat is organizing this virtual Experts Group Meeting (EGM) in preparation for the SPECA Economic Forum and SPECA Governing Council, scheduled on 19-20 November 2020.