Mao Yu Lynn Yuan Attends Meetings During the 81st UN General Assembly High-Level Week
Photo credit: United Nations (UN Photo)
September 28, 2026 (New York, United States) — During the High-Level Week of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, Mao Yu Lynn Yuan, founder of the multinational social enterprise FANIQUE, film director and gender equality advocate, participated for the first time in meetings at United Nations Headquarters and at conference venues across New York, in her dual capacities as a company representative and an independent consultant to the United Nations Global Marketplace (UNGM). Her engagements that week included the UN Digital Cooperation Day 2026, organized by the United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET); the high-level side event "Beyond 2030: Renewing the Global Commitment to End Poverty in All its Dimensions," co-hosted by the Kingdom of Bhutan, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network (MPPN); and the SDGs Conference 2026, organized by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF).
UN Digital Cooperation Day 2026
Held on September 21 in New York under the theme "Shaping A Global AI Future Through Science, Policy, and Capacity," the UN Digital Cooperation Day 2026 brought together governments, the scientific community, industry, civil society and academia. In his opening remarks, UN Tech Envoy Amandeep Singh Gill framed the theme through three verbs — to know, to choose and to act. President Alar Karis of Estonia delivered remarks, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, UN Global Advocate for Human-Centric Digital Governance and filmmaker, took part in the day's proceedings. H.E. Samuel Ntsokoane Matekane, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Lesotho, spoke in the session "From National AI Strategy to Implementation," Lesotho being the first country application of the AI Strategy Blueprint. Ministers and senior officials from Guinea, Senegal, Pakistan, Suriname, Jordan, Brazil, Tanzania and Slovakia also joined the day's sessions.
Photo credit: United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET)
The program showcased country-led digital cooperation outcomes, with AI as its central thread and national digital transformation examined from foundational elements, beginning with digital infrastructure. On AI capacity-building, the UN Secretary-General's report to the General Assembly sets out the distinct challenges developing countries face — spanning infrastructure, data, skills, governance frameworks and public-sector capabilities — and identifies financing as the most acute bottleneck, against the backdrop of annualized private investment in AI infrastructure exceeding half a trillion United States dollars. Its central recommendation calls on the General Assembly to endorse and advance a global fund for AI capacity-building, to provide for regular reporting on AI capacity across countries, and to encourage Member States to nominate additional centers to the UN-supported network for AI capacity-building. The day's closed-door session, "Delivering a Global Fund for AI Capacity-Building," took up this agenda. On open-source governance, ODET, together with UNESCO and SWHeritage, launched the Public Code Observatory during UN Open Source Week in June 2026; its first report, The State of Public Code, covers 288,411 distinct public repositories, with all 193 UN Member States appearing via government domains. The European Commission's Open Source Observatory has since published a feature, "Public Code Observatory launches during UN Open Source Week," examining participation, collaboration and gaps across countries.
High-Level Side Event "Beyond 2030: Renewing the Global Commitment to End Poverty in All its Dimensions"
Co-hosted by the Kingdom of Bhutan, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network (MPPN) — whose secretariat is housed at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), University of Oxford — the high-level side event was held on September 22 at UN Headquarters. Sabina Alkire, Director of OPHI, and Adriana Conconi, Director of MPPN, moderated the proceedings.
In his opening address, H.E. Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister of Bhutan, noted that the 2025 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index identifies 1.1 billion people across 109 countries living in acute multidimensional poverty, more than half of them children. He highlighted Bhutan's reduction of its acute multidimensional poverty rate from 12.6 percent in 2010 to 2.1 percent in 2022, and argued that poverty reduction beyond 2030 should center on people rather than national averages, with greater attention to vulnerability and resilience. H.E. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary of ESCAP, observed that extreme monetary poverty in Asia and the Pacific fell from roughly half the region's population in 1990 to 4 percent in 2024, even as more than 1.1 billion people in the region still live below national poverty lines, some 500 million live in multidimensional poverty, and 660 million remain vulnerable to it. H.E. José Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Laureate and President of Timor-Leste, recounted his country's progress since independence across health, education, electricity and connectivity. H.E. Juan Manuel Santos, Nobel Peace Laureate, former President of Colombia and Chair of The Elders, shared Colombia's experience embedding its national MPI in development planning and budgeting, and urged renewed commitment to addressing existential threats, from climate change and pandemics to nuclear weapons and the potential risks of artificial intelligence.
Photo credit: UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
Country representatives then delivered interventions: Carlos Antonio Mendoza Alvarado, Secretary of Planning and Programming of the Presidency of Guatemala, on the country's national MPI (58 percent of Guatemalans live in multidimensional poverty) and its household social registry; H.E. Kitila Alexander Mkumbo, Minister of State for Planning and Investment of Tanzania, on Development Vision 2050 and the drive to end extreme poverty; H.E. Denny Abdi, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Affairs of Indonesia, on multidimensional measurement and the post-2030 agenda; Sergio Colina Martín, Director-General for Sustainable Development Policies of Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the beyond-GDP intergovernmental process and SDG localization; Cataleya Phatoomros, Deputy Director-General of Thailand's Department of International Organizations, on Thailand's multidimensional framework for leaving no one behind; Ziggy Adam, Director of Seychelles' Poverty Alleviation Department, on housing and living-wage approaches in a small island developing state; and a representative of Nepal, on the country's reduction of multidimensional poverty from 30 percent in 2014 to 17 percent in 2022 and five post-2030 priorities, including climate-resilient poverty eradication.
Meeting recording (UN Web TV): https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1s/k1sq2h7e7z
SDGs Conference 2026
Organized by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF) in collaboration with 56 civil society organizations from 30 countries, the 11th annual SDGs Conference 2026 was held in hybrid format in New York on September 23 under the theme "Transforming Our World." The program featured three panel discussions: renewing multilateral systems to build a new global framework; bridging divides — strengthening civic trust and rebuilding shared values; and press freedom and independent journalism as a cross-cutting enabler of peace.
Photo credit: Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF)
With less than five years remaining until the 2030 target date, the conference focused on accelerating implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), addressing emerging threats to international peace and security, and advancing inclusive, action-oriented policy recommendations through a multidisciplinary platform. According to The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026, released by the United Nations in July 2026, the SDGs have delivered results at scale since their adoption in 2015, expanding access to clean water, electricity, health care and digital connectivity for billions of people. Progress, however, remains uneven and insufficient: of the 139 targets with available trend data, 36 percent are on track or making moderate progress.
About the UN General Assembly (UNGA)
Established in 1945 under the UN Charter, the General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations. Comprising all 193 Member States, it is the only UN body with universal representation. The Assembly holds its regular sessions from September to December each year at UN Headquarters in New York, where representatives of all Member States convene in the General Assembly Hall and heads of state and government address the annual general debate. The 81st session opened on September 8, 2026, under the theme "Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations That Delivers for All," with the general debate held from September 22 to 26 and on September 28. During the High-Level Week, high-level meetings on climate, development, health, security and other issues take place alongside the general debate.
Resources
The State of Public Code 2026:
Thematic brief of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, "AI Agents, Misalignment and the Risk of Losing Human Control" (advance unedited version):
The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026:
About Mao Yu Lynn Yuan
Mao Yu Lynn Yuan is the founder of FANIQUE, a multinational social enterprise established in Toronto, Canada in 2013 and registered in Hong Kong SAR, China in 2023. FANIQUE joined the United Nations Global Marketplace (UNGM) in 2026 as a registered sustainable development consulting service provider. Lynn holds a Bachelor of Arts in Arts Management from the University of Toronto, a Master of Social Sciences in Sustainability Leadership and Governance from the University of Hong Kong, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Markets and Portfolio Management from HKU Institute for China Business (HKU ICB). She serves as an independent individual consultant to UNGM and has served as a mentor and judge for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)-HKU Human Rights Case Competition. She has also long mentored youth and women entrepreneurs, serving with Canadian non-profit organizations including Futurpreneur Canada and The FORUM, as well as Founder Institute, a global incubator headquartered in Silicon Valley, United States. Under her leadership, the FANIQUE Innovator Program (2019–2023) incubated more than 300 young innovators worldwide and built partnerships with more than 50 universities and educational institutions across Canada, the United States, Sweden and beyond, advancing youth employment and entrepreneurship education. Lynn is also a film director and gender equality advocate. Her experimental art film Mermaid in the Garden of Escapism, which she directed and produced, centers on gender equality; it uses AI voiceover as both artistic irony and a creative tool, reflecting the absence of women's voices in society. The film has received awards and nominations at multiple international film festivals and has been covered by international media. She delivered a TEDx HKU talk at the University of Hong Kong, "Embrace Your Uniqueness: Individuality in the AI Revolution," exploring individual value amid the AI revolution and calling for AI development to be guided by environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles and pursued sustainably, so as to prevent it from widening wealth gaps and deepening gender inequality.
Statement
In her capacity as an Independent Individual Consultant with the United Nations Global Marketplace (UNGM), MAO Yu Lynn Yuan discharges her functions solely in her personal professional capacity. She adheres strictly to the principles of neutrality and independence, does not represent the position of any national government, does not express political viewpoints on behalf of any country, nor does she assume any representative functions at the national level. All her work is conducted in accordance with the relevant statutes, code of conduct, and international public affairs norms of the UNGM, upholding the principles of professionalism, objectivity, and neutrality in the performance of her duties.
