WEF 2025: a conversation with the United Nations Global Compact

CGTN Europe's Juliet Mann spoke to Sanda Ojiambo, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations Global Compact.

Transcript

00:00The theme of this year's meeting in Davos was collaboration in the intelligent age.

00:05Juliette Mann spoke to the head of the United Nations Global Compact,

00:08which works to get businesses to adopt responsible and sustainable policies.

00:13Sanda Ojiambo says the global north-south divide in tech advancement must be addressed.

00:20It's really great to see the advancements in technology. It's acknowledged that tech and AI

00:24can help crunch through the immense amounts of data and information we have, allocate resources

00:29more efficiently, improve supply chains, allow for more prediction. But, you know, I think the

00:35thing that we have to talk about is bridging that gap. Because for every great technological

00:39advancement, there's communities, economies, countries that haven't truly started to fully

00:43reap the benefit. And I think, you know, so it's both about advancing, but also bridging the gap.

00:48Otherwise, then we continue to just widen what is already a divided world.

00:52So what needs to happen to boost that cooperation, collaboration, engagement?

00:57Well, from a technology perspective, I think there needs to be investments. Investments in

01:01infrastructure, investments in energy, investments in the affordability and accessibility of technology,

01:06data, devices, et cetera, and start bridging that divide. In terms of the collaboration,

01:11I think there's a lot that has to be resolved, I'll say, politically. I think the north-south

01:16divide continues to widen. We're seeing a lot more regionalization, a lot more nationalism.

01:21Those have been hot topics here at Davos. So I think there's some political reconciliation

01:26that has to be done. From the private sector, that is truly important, especially for multinationals.

01:31But, you know, business is one of those, I think, unified forces. Because, you know,

01:35for every single business, you're probably getting your labor, your inputs for your supply chain in

01:40another country. And so for them, you know, the geopolitical tension and fractions are not ideal

01:45at all.