Representatives of governments, industry, academia, civil society and the technical community at the World Telecommunication/ICT Policy Forum 2026 (WTPF-26) today adopted a set of Opinions on critical issues shaping the digital future.
ITU - the UN agency for digital technologies - organized the three-day Forum in Nassau, The Bahamas, as an opportunity for a global policy dialogue addressing the digital divide, sustainability, resilience, space connectivity and innovation.
The non-binding Opinions come two months before ITU's Plenipotentiary Conference 2026 (PP-26), helping to build consensus approaches on major global information and communication technology (ICT) issues ahead of ITU's highest decision-making meeting.
"We came to Nassau determined to move from vision to action to accelerate an inclusive, sustainable, resilient and innovative digital future," said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, ITU Secretary-General. "The five Opinions adopted at WTPF sharpen our focus to do just that, while keeping people at the centre of digital transformation as we head to PP-26."
As artificial intelligence (AI), space-based connectivity and rapidly changing digital infrastructure reshape the global digital landscape, the Opinions offer guidance to ITU membership on key challenges, including:
- Bridging digital divides, particularly on gender and age as well as skills and connectivity
- Green digital transformation: climate change and environmental sustainability
- Resilience of telecommunication and ICT systems
- Space connectivity
- Strengthening ICT-centric innovation ecosystems and entrepreneurship
"Small island developing states must not simply be affected by global digital policy, but be at the table helping to shape it," said Sebastian Bastian, Bahamas Minister of Innovation and National Development. "For The Bahamas, the opportunity before us is to move from access to capability to opportunity, building the skills and conditions that allow our people to benefit meaningfully from emerging technologies."
The Forum, which brought together a multistakeholder community of over 500 participants in person and online from 2 to 4 September, was the seventh in the WTPF event series. ITU convenes WTPF periodically to ensure policy discussions keep up with rapid technological change.
Previous Forums have helped the international community navigate other major shifts - from the emergence of new telecommunications services and Internet telephony to broadband, Internet-related public policy issues and on new and emerging technologies such as AI.
"The issues before us are shaping the future of societies and economies around the world," said Randol Dorsett, Chair of WTPF and the Bahamas Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA). "The work we have done in Nassau has produced practical, forward-looking outcomes that should influence global telecommunications and ICT policy for years to come."
A high-level Strategic Dialogue WTPF-26 preceded WTPF on 1 September with a discussion on the choices needed to shape the digital future.
The Strategic Dialogue highlighted the perspectives of small island developing states and other vulnerable economies to explore how policy, investment, innovation and international cooperation can turn technological progress into meaningful benefits for people everywhere.
