 Gary Fowley is representing ITU at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where a joint statement was issued by a United Nations group recognizing that science, technology and innovation are essential to achieve the post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda. We asked him, who stands to benefit most from greater digital financial inclusion? Well, I think we all stand to benefit, but I think the developing world generally and the least developed world specifically probably stand to benefit the most because they have had the, you know, the weakest financial systems. Many people have been excluded from the banking system, from the financial system, not necessarily because they had enough needs to be included, but the systems were not secure enough. One of the biggest benefits of ICT for development when you ensure that the least developed countries in the developing world generally have access to ICTs is that you'll see and we've seen a explosion in innovations, really just the tip of the iceberg in terms of innovation. And the best example of that really is things like the M-PASA Mobile Money System that came out of Kenya and the whole M-Banking and M-Commerce that's happening here, especially in Africa, where it's innovative ICT solutions by Africans for Africans. And I think that's, you know, we're just seeing the beginning of that. And what it's done is it's brought people into the system who, you know, before maybe didn't feel confident enough to use the existing financial system or, you know, maybe keeping, get that money out of the box in the bottom of the cupboard or underneath the mattress and put it in a secure digital system that they have access to and with their mobile phones, they have it with them all the time, which gives them an added sense of security that even if the phone is stolen, you know, that money is still secure. So I really think, you know, and as a result, if you bring them into the financial system, you know, and they have that confidence, they're more likely going to be confident in investing. Bankers are going to be more inclined to make loans on people who have track records in the financial system. So, you know, everybody stands to benefit. The Monterey consensus advocates sound economic policies for sustainable development. How will the outcomes of this conference help achieve sustainable development? Well, I think for the first time from Monterey to Doa and now here in Addis, the importance of science technology and innovation generally, ICT specifically is being addressed because what in terms of sound financial policies mean, you know, confidence in creating confidence in the system, having access to the system, making sure that it's well-government, governed. One of the things that ICTs have done beyond creating mobile money systems that, you know, the developing world is creating for itself, one of the things ICTs do is they ensure greater transparency. You know, by ensuring that we have the communication tools, we open up the system to greater oversight and governments, more transparency. It's not as easy to be as corrupt. I mean, it's easy to be corrupt, but it's not as easy to not get caught being corrupt if we have open, transparent systems built on communication technology that, you know, enlightens us and enables us to ensure that there is, you know, proper governance. It's kind of like with, you know, the licensing of our regulators. You know, when you're issuing the license, we've learned at ITU that we need to ensure that we have an open and transparent licensing system where bids are done in an open and transparent way so that the private sector is confident that their investment will be treated respectfully and that it's not going to end up in somebody's back pocket because, you know, why would you want to invest if you're not confident that that money is going, that your money, your investment is going to be respected? So I think that's what ICTs bring to basically to financial governance and what has changed here over the last two conferences, as I understand. I wasn't DOA, but I wasn't in DOA representing ITU, is I think science and technology, again, generally, but ICT specifically are being seen as really important for creating that kind of transparent environment and bringing people in at the bottom of the of the financial period, the pyramid that haven't had access to the financial banking systems before. What can ITU do to contribute to the outcomes of the FFD conference and promote ICTs to leverage sustainable development? Well, I think we need to do what we've always done, which is to stick to our mission for 150 years, which is, you know, to bring connectivity to the world. What's changed in some aspects is how important that connectivity has become as an underpinning infrastructure for financial services. We're seeing the growth of the internet, which ITU has helped build as really our first global utility underpinning development across the board. So ICTs have always been a cross-cutting enabler for the three pillars of sustainable development, which are economic growth, social inclusion and environmental sustainability, but they have taken on a more prominent role as ICT networks become more basic infrastructure. I think what's what really the beginning of that change for me, anyways, my analysis was in 2010 when the least developed countries in Istanbul, in what's called the Istanbul Plan of Action, elevated ICT networks to on-par infrastructure with water transportation and energy. And these are these are countries that where people are living on less than a dollar a day. And people think it's ironic, but why would they do that? Why would they, you know, you can't eat a mobile phone? No, you can't eat a mobile phone, but people who don't have mobile phones realize what a powerful tool it is to empower themselves to gather the information that they need to better market their crops, to better, you know, improve their children's education, their own health, etc. So we need to continue to sort of keep our eye on what we do best, which is enabling creating enabling environments for ICT networks through capacity building, through regulatory reform and standards and licensing and supporting connectivity where we can. I think here in the financial side it's not so much specifically financial ICT, it's ICT as a tool for financial development. And that's what, you know, we've tried to promote not just here in the financing for development conference, but in the sustainable development conference, which is coming up in September, we've positioned ICTs as a cross-cutting enabler, but also as a means of implementation for all the goals. As you know, there's 17 proposed sustainable development goals, 169 targets. We have specific ICT targets for gender, education, infrastructure. And that one's very important because it specifies universal and affordable access in the LDCs to ICT networks. And in goal 17, ICTs as a tool of means of implementation. But it's not just means of ICTs unto itself as a tool of implementation. It's a means of implementation across all 17 goals. So what we will need to do is to ensure that ICTs are being reflected in the development strategies, tactics, and operation of all the activities that are going to be taken on to achieve those specific targets across 16 goals plus the means 17, which is means of implementation. So in having that recognized, having it recognized globally as an important tool is, you know, implementation is incredibly important. And just to quote the Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium who came to our side of that, we hosted a side event this week here in Addis with our interagency partners. And he said, what we need to do now is we're living in a technology revolution, but we have to turn that technology revolution into a development revolution and tying the two together. And I think that's very, very wise of him. And I think it's something that is really gaining traction and people understand the importance of ITU innovating together.