The Global Digital Compact invites the promotion of digital public goods, the building blocks of the connected world made available to all. Proving one's identity, paying, exchanging data securely: these functions can belong to all or to a few, and that choice will decide who benefits from the digital revolution. President Macky Sall, a candidate for UN Secretary-General, argues for a digital world built as a common good.

Open foundations. Free software, an open standard, public data are shared without paying each time. Built in common, these tools spare each country from reinventing everything and from depending on a single supplier.

Infrastructure before applications. A trustworthy digital identity, an interoperable payment system, a governed exchange of data form the base on which thousands of services are built. The countries that laid these foundations saw a digital economy emerge that no monopoly locks down.

Standards and rent. Without common rules, a few companies set the standards and collect the rent. Interoperable and governed in common, digital public goods ground a shared sovereignty: they return to states and citizens the control of their own tools.

Promoting digital public goods at the UN. A shared technology serves peace better than a captured one. The Secretary-General can champion the principle, as the Compact invites, and support the financing as well as the spread of these tools.

Shared governance and the vision for the UN. Tools governed in common are negotiated among states; President Macky Sall brings to that task the experience of twelve years as head of state and of the chairmanship of the African Union in 2022. That experience explains why the vision statement filed with the United Nations frames its proposals as obligations: peace and security conceived with development; a renewed multilateralism; stronger governance of the Organization.

Africa at its heart, the world in its sights.

The Global Digital Compact and the United Nations registries of digital public goods are public. Read all public positions at www.mackysall.net