Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I warmly welcome you all to the ITU-EKIP Regional Regulatory Forum for Europe 2023.
This forum is an annual gathering and a significant platform for discussing key topics on the future of telecommunication in Europe.
I thank our esteemed partners, EKIP, the Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services of Montenegro, and the Governemento Montenegro for their efforts in supporting this event, and Budva for hosting us.
This year's theme - Universal Connectivity in Europe: The Current State and the Future Prospects - is pivotal. It is the essence of the digital future of the region.
This forum is key in the implementation of the Regional Initiative 1 for Europe on Digital Infrastructure Development.
In this, we look towards an era in which digital infrastructure is synergistic, resilient, and universal.
You will agree with me that, we need a digital future that has transformative impact on everyone, where no one is left offline - a future where everyone has universal and meaningful connectivity.
The digital landscape is now more complex, multi-dimensional, and very different to the sector-specific approaches of the past.
We see gigabit networks taking shape in Europe.
Over the Top - OTT - players of global scale have emerged.
Consumer protection, inclusivity, sustainability, and digital skilling are now incredibly important factors. Above all, digital policy is increasingly becoming cross-sectoral.
Ladies and gentlemen,
To realise this digital future, we need enabling policy and regulatory environments in place.
The growing need to understand these issues cannot be underestimated, and this is why our forum is significant.
The workshop this morning on Strengthening Broadband Infrastructure and Services across the Europe Region and beyond, formed a good precursor for the discussions at this forum, considering that infrastructure networks are a formidable bedrock for a digital future.
ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau has a number of joint programmes with Montenegro, including “Her CyberTracks Europe", which we concluded last week at a forum in collaboration with GIZ and the Western Balkans Cyber Capacity Centre - WB3C. The forum marked the culmination of a 4-month journey of learning and mentorship for over 40 women policymakers and diplomats from the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe. The goal is to empower women in national and international cybersecurity policy processes.
Ladies and gentlemen, Distinguished participants,
To move forward, we need a pathway to help in navigating through this landscape.
Our discussions here follow on from the Global Symposium for Regulators this year, or GSR-23, as we call it.
GSR saw many outcomes and new ideas.
- We launched the Best Practice Guidelines, highlighting regulatory and economic incentives for an inclusive Sustainable digital future. You will be hearing more of this later in the forum.
The guidelines cover a huge canvas. We saw the formulation of cross-sector digital principles.
- We also explored possibilities in incentive development for meaningful connectivity as well as for access, adoption, and use.
But, there is another dimension here:
- Partnership and collective vision.
Earlier today, I mentioned the Digital Regulation Network, a collaboration of networks that we launched at the GSR to share experience and good practice.
These are only a few of the tools and initiatives we have to support our Members.
They underscore our commitment to forge strategic alliances and collaborative regulatory actions that will shape the broadband landscape in Europe and other regions across the globe.
I very much welcome our activities with the European Mediterranean Regulators Group and the Eastern Partnership Electronic Communications Regulators Network.
This collaboration is open not only to European Regulatory Agencies and Policy making agencies, but also private sector - service providers and operators, as well as academia.
Ladies and gentlemen
Let us strive to move Universal and Meaningful Connectivity from an aspiration to a reality.
Working together, we can use it to unlock immense potential to create a brighter, more connected Europe.
I would ask you to be agents of change. Change to a more connected Europe.
With that let me also wish you successful deliberations at this forum.
Thank you!
