Venezuela reaffirms commitment to development of digital tools to facilitate implementation of SDGs - MPPRE

Venezuela reaffirms commitment to development of digital tools to facilitate implementation of SDGs

Venezuela’s Minister for Science and Technology Gabriela Jiménez Rodríguez reaffirmed on Thursday the Bolivarian Government’s will to strengthen digital tools and the equitable access to the country’s digital infrastructure to facilitate the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In her statement at the 59th Session of the Commission for Social Development themed “Socially just transition towards sustainable development: the role of digital technologies on social development and well-being of all,” Jiménez highlighted the importance of digital tools “to reach the state’s goals, safeguard the health of citizens, promote social cohesion, protect human rights, access to information, free software platforms and discuss free software platforms to enable the inclusion of everybody.”

In this regard, the Venezuelan minister stressed the progress made by Venezuela despite the unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States and its allied countries, and highlighted the creation of the Commission for Science and Technology and the Pandemic “to guide the government’s policy to protect all Venezuelan citizens under condition of risk, vulnerability and in the case of infections,” developing more than seven laboratories nationwide.

“We have expanded the country’s Internet platform by 72% for a greater inclusion of the Venezuelan people. However, it has been insufficient since the pandemic has increased the demand for a greater access to information and communications technologies, broader Internet, distance education and telemedicine,” said Jiménez.

Likewise, she said Venezuela is working with the Bolivarian Agency of Space Activities and conducting studies on agricultural production by using the tools of the Miranda and Sucre satellites, which he offered to “all the staff and countries that require them (…) to improve food production.”

Minister Jiménez called for a greater unity, “coherence and transparency in the context of social participation and cooperation among countries according to the ethical parameters of the Sustainable Development Goals.”

“Venezuela expresses its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals in the cooperative, solidarity-based, multilateral spirit of the United Nations in order to bridge the digital gap, promote solutions for global equality, favor inclusion and education of the most vulnerable sectors in this field by providing spaces for innovation, inclusion and opening to all the peoples without discrimination,” stressed the Venezuelan science and technology minister.