‪UN taps Tencent for videoconferencing during anniversary initiative

The United Nations has announced Chinese technology company Tencent as the provider of videoconferencing and digital dialogue solutions as the international organization celebrates its 75th anniversary.

To boost online outreach and promotion of the initiative, called UN75, the organization is calling on people all around the world to engage in, organize and participate in online discussions of any scale with the aid of Tencent's VooV Meeting platform, WeChat Work and Tencent Artificial Intelligence simultaneous interpretation.

The move is a timely one, as the world is combating the novel coronavirus pandemic at a moment when "international cooperation and solidarity (are) more critical than ever", according to a UN press release.

"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.

"Tencent's technology and global outreach is particularly important to reach young people. As one of the world's largest tech companies, Tencent's support for the UN75 campaign sets an important example," he said in the release.

"Tencent is honored to participate in and facilitate UN75 global conversations. We will spare no effort in providing technical solutions to 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.

The company has been active in extending its technologies overseas in the fight against COVID-19, the official name of the contagion. For instance, Tencent has teamed up with industry leaders like Microsoft and Facebook to invite developers around the world to a global hackathon in order to help the fight against the disease with technology.

It has also made the international module of a dedicated COVID-19 mini program open source to software developers, so more people around the world stand to benefit from digital information through a few taps on the phone.