The T20 Brasil Communiqué consolidates over 300 policy briefs and stakeholder engagements from six Task Forces to offer actionable policy recommendations for the Brazilian G20 Presidency. As a subtopic Co-Chair and Member of Task Force 05’s Digital Inclusion and Meaningful Universal Connectivity sub-track, Executive Director Alison Gillwald collaborates with Harishankar Jagadeesh and Payal Malik from the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) to offer insight into the enabling environment necessary to facilitate the use of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) as a public interest mechanism and driver of sustainable development.
Their chapter, ‘Building a trusted and enabling governance framework for equitable, inclusive and just digital public infrastructure,’ looks specifically at Task Force 05’s recommendation to “develop a non-binding common set of principles for DPI, especially concerning data justice, interoperability, and openness, backed by a permanent research fund to encourage the implementation of G20’s policy recommendations for effective participatory governance, accountability, sustainability, and inclusive digital development.”
Based on foundational principles such as access to information, data protection and interoperability, this implementation roadmap unpacks the essential importance of regulating DPI so as not to perpetuate inequality, permit corporate power concentration, or further isolate the vast number of people still offline. The paper contends that, should the G20 wish to deploy DPIs to redress long-standing digital inequalities, mitigate developmental lags, and provide the digital underpinnings of a harmonised single digital market, then policy must be transversal, equitable and just. What’s more, regulatory frameworks should incentivise competition, prioritise public value creation and keep the political economy in mind.
This Communiqué informs negotiations and the drafting of the joint declaration during the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 18 and 19, 2024. Watch the YouTube Livestreams here.
This paper was originally published by T20 Brasil in November 2024.
