The United Nations (UN) and Tencent have announced a global partnership on Monday to support the UN75 initiative, in which the Chinese tech giant will provide videoconferencing and digital dialogue platforms to reach millions of people across the globe, according to a press release from the UN.
Tencent will employ some of its platforms, including WeChat Work and the new VooV Meeting, to help the UN to hold online discussions about “what the world should look like in 25 years” and the role of international cooperation in solving global challenges, like climate change and pandemics such as the COVID-19 disease.
The Chinese conglomerate will also share a one-minute survey from the UN on its social networking, gaming, media, video, and advertising platforms.
“As we are strengthening the UN75 initiative in the digital space and adapting to the current constraints, this partnership could not have been more timely and valuable,” said Fabrizio Hochschild, special adviser to the secretary-general on the preparations for the commemoration of the United Nations’ 75th anniversary.
Announced last October, the UN75 marks the organization’s 75 years, and aims to be the “biggest-ever global conversation” on the role of global cooperation. The collected ideas will be presented to world leaders during the 75th Session of the General Assembly, slated for September 21 of this year.
“We will spare no effort in providing technical solutions to support online meetings and idea exchanges for the UN, with the aim of bringing the global village even closer together and overcoming global threats through extensive dialogue and cooperation,” said Martin Lau, president of Tencent.
Just last week, Tencent’s ubiquitous social app WeChat also teamed up with the UN’s World Health Organization for a hackathon to speed up development of software to fight the coronavirus pandemic, along with other tech giants including Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and Slack, KrASIA reported earlier this month.