Kenya diplomat Erastus Ekitela Lokaale appointed to facilitate UN summit review
By Lutta Njomo, January 21, 2025
Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York Erastus Ekitela Lokaale has been picked to co-facilitate a panel to review the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society, a summit hosted by the United Nations.
In a statement on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei confirmed Lokaale’s appointment in that prestigious role.
Korir noted that Lokaale’s selection to help review the outcome of that global summit was a statement enough of progress made by the country to become a leader in the technological space.
“Join me in congratulating our Permanent Representative in New York on his appointment as co-facilitator of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on Information Society.
“A great honour to him and recognition of Kenya’s leadership in technology,” Korir’s statement read in part.
Join me in congratulating our PR in NY @eelokaale on his appointment as co-facilitator of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on Information Society. A great honor to him and recognition of Kenya’s leadership in technology. @ForeignOfficeKE pic.twitter.com/FwBA7f0kH4
— Korir Sing'Oei (@SingoeiAKorir) January 21, 2025
Lokaale’s role
In a statement issued by Philemon Yang, a member of the All Permanent Representatives and Permanent Observers to the United Nations, Lokaale will play that important role alongside Rytis Paulauskas, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Lithuania.
Lokaale and his co-facilitator Lokaale will oversee the intergovernmental consultations to finalise modalities for the overall review by the General Assembly of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society.
Their task majorly will revolve around addressing new challenges and shaping future digital strategies. The sole purpose is to reaffirm commitments, promote digital inclusion, and align with sustainable development goals through high-level discussions.
The high-level event is scheduled to take place from July 7 to 11, 2025, at Palexpo in Geneva, Switzerland.
“I would like to thank the Ambassadors Lokaale and Paulauskas for accepting this important responsibility and invite them to work closely with all Member States and ensure the meaningful engagement of all relevant stakeholders in the consultations, as requested in the resolution,” their confirmation letter read in part.
WSIS summits history
The first World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was staged in two phases: in Geneva in 2003 and in Tunis in 2005.
Global leaders convened and declared a common desire and commitment to building a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented information society. This portrayed the political goodwill in harnessing information communication technologies (ICTs) to support development objectives.
Through its resulting Geneva Plan of Action and Tunis Agenda, WSIS laid the groundwork for reaching an agreement in the fields of internet governance and ICT financing mechanisms, as well as on implementation measures in the form of targets and eleven Action Lines.
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is one of the major outcomes of WSIS, as mandated in the Tunis Agenda during WSIS’s second phase. Operative paragraph 72 of the Tunis Agenda sets forth the mandate for IGF.
A role played by Lokaale would help world leaders adopt new strategies that would shape the digital world, especially with the advent of Artificial Intelligence.
The Kenyan envoy replaced Ambassador Martin Kimani who previously served as Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.