Skip to main content

Result of the G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting in South Africa

Published:

The representatives of the Digital Agency visited Cape Town, South Africa, from September 29 to 30, where they participated in the G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting and the G20 AI Task Force Ministerial Meeting. During the visit, they also held meetings with ministerial officials from participating countries.
Both meetings were part of a series of international meetings in advance of the G20 Leaders’ Summit, which is scheduled for November 22 to 23. The meetings were open to G20 member countries, invited nations, and relevant international organizations, all of which gathered to discuss various issues related to the digital economy. As a result of these discussions, the Chair’s Statement was issued as an outcome document.

Building on the last year’s G20 in Brazil, it was reaffirmed that in this year’s themes of “Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)” and “AI”, ensuring trust in data sharing and achieving interoperability are essential for their development and implementation. From this perspective, the importance of Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT), advocated by Japan at the G20 Osaka Summit in 2019, was also emphasized in the Chair’s Statement.
In addition, bilateral meetings were held with G20 participating ministers and officials, where the future direction of digital policies and cooperation in multilateral fora, including the G20, were confirmed.

1. G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting

On September 29, G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting was held in Cape Town, South Africa. During the meeting, discussions were held along the following four themes, and based on the discussions results, the Chair’s Statement was issued as the outcome document.

  1. Universal and Equitable Digital Inclusion
  2. Digital Public Infrastructure as a key element for Digital Transformation
  3. Digital Innovation Ecosystems: Unleashing the Potential of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)
  4. Equitable, Inclusive, Trustworthy and Sustainable Artificial Intelligence (AI) for good and for all

During the discussions of the Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting, we confirmed that enhancing interoperability is essential for the advancement of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), which serves as the foundation of an inclusive and sustainable digital economy. Furthermore, we confirmed that creating open and inclusive legal frameworks is important for the realization of ethical and human-centric AI, and therefore, in order to advance AI while protecting privacy, security, human rights, personal data protection, and intellectual property rights, it is crucial to promote the disclosure and sharing of data.
From the Japanese side, we emphasized the importance of realizing Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT) and stated that “data is indispensable for enhancing the value of DPI and AI, and therefore, promoting DFFT and interoperability is essential.”

2. G20 AI Task Force Ministerial Meeting

On September 30, G20 AI Task Force Ministerial Meeting was held in Cape Town, South Africa.
This AI Task Force was established at the initiative of South Africa presidency in response to the growing discussions on AI across diverse fields, with the aim of fostering an ethical, trustworthy AI ecosystems and strengthening global AI governance.

The Chair’s Statement was issued as the outcome document.

Outcome documents

G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting Chair’s Statement is as follows:

G20 AI Task Force Ministerial Meeting Chair’s Statement is as follows:

Share: