Distinguished Guests, Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen
I am delighted to welcome you to this meeting that comes after a critical year of change for all of us.
At the 2022 World Telecommunication Development Conference, the ITU membership decided to substantially modify and rebrand the ITU Centres of Excellence programme to ITU Academy Training Centres - ATCs. Out of the 14 ATCs, 8 were part of our CoEs.
This overhaul was among the very first initiatives which I launched when I took office, and a major emphasis in my thinking given the gaping digital skills divide that we have today.
As a result, the new programme has a stronger association with the ITU Academy and is better aligned with the objectives of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau - BDT and indeed, our mission - BDT4Impact.
Now, almost a year into the programme, we have our first Annual Meeting with representatives from all of our current ATCs in the room! I welcome you all!
Please take maximum advantage of this meeting and the networking opportunities it offers. Please reach out to your counterparts from other ATCs and to the BDT team, with whom you will be able to interact over the coming days.
You will recall that the WTDC gave BDT the mandate to focus on five key areas: meaningful connectivity, enabling environment, digital transformation, international cooperation and resource mobilization, and cybersecurity including child online protection.
This is a mandate that requires us to join hands. That is why ATCs are critical for us to deliver on this mandate through capacity and skills building.
Collaboration is the name of the game here.
Collaboration on what we do, and how we do it.
Collaboration on courses. Collaborative exchange of good training practice.
Collaboration will help us respond to a constantly changing market.
It is collaboration that will make us more agile and impactful.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
ATCs carry an overly critical responsibility.
We are collectively preparing for a huge wave of digital transformation and introduction of new technologies around the world.
I believe that there can be no digital transformation without digital skills, and no digital skills without training.
Clearly, ATCs are at the root position of digital transformation.
It is incredibly important to get this right because we need to make a significant impact.
Our mandate is to ensure re-skilling and upskilling, to accelerate the transformation.
I am convinced that, you as our trusted partners in the ITU Academy Training Centres programme, will help drive our impact even further.
I look forward to hearing your plans and the tremendous progress we can achieve together to bridge the digital skills gap.
Thank you!
