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40th Session of the Board of
the RCC Communications Administrations Heads |
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Brdo, Slovenia |
21 May 2009 |
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Excellencies,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Colleagues and friends,
- It is a great pleasure to be here in Slovenia today as the Head of the ITU
delegation, and I would like to express my thanks for the kind invitation to
this event.
- I would also like to pass on a personal message of support from ITU’s
Secretary-General, Dr Hamadoun Touré.
- Dr Touré cannot be here today because this is a very important and busy
week for ITU back in Geneva, marked both by World Telecommunication and
Information Society Day – celebrating 144 years of ITU’s existence – and the
WSIS Forum.
- The WSIS Forum is reviewing the progress made in reaching the targets set
by the World Summit for the Information Society in Tunis in 2005, and in the
crucial United Nations Millennium Development Goals which we are striving to
meet by 2015.
- The Forum, which used to be known as the ‘WSIS Cluster’, has been renamed
and expanded this year, with the aim of creating an event which is both more
inclusive and more focused on concrete results.
- The WSIS Forum has also included, for the first time, a number of
High-Level Panels, which have addressed some of the most important issues we
face at a global level – including the financial crisis, cybersecurity,
climate change and ICT applications for a better life.
- And while the current global financial and economic crisis has been seen
as a threat to progress on the Millennium Development Goals – and indeed on
the WSIS goals and targets – we at ITU remain optimistic, not least because
technical advances continue at an almost incredible pace.
- We are firm believers in the need for close collaboration in all fields of
telecommunications and ICTs. And meetings such as the WSIS Forum in Geneva
this week – and this meeting here today – do a great deal to further that
process of collaboration.
- I would also like to extend greetings from the other elected officials:
Houlin Zhao; Sami Albasheer and of course your good friend Valery Timofeev.
- Myself and my delegation: Mr Hughes from the Radio Bureau, Mr Lagrana from
the Development Bureau, and Mr Zhazibaevich from the Area Office look
forward to contribtuing to what I am sure will be an interesting and
productive day – and to catching up with old friends and meeting new
partners.
Thank you.
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