ITU Elections: Acceptance Speech

Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
I am deeply honoured and very pleased with the result of my re-election. I sincerely thank all of you for your confidence in me. At this happy moment, I would like to thank the Chinese Government for their decision and support for putting forward my candidature to this position, to thank Mr. Liu, Vice-Minister of MIIT, and the Chinese delegation for their efforts to promote my candidature at PP-10, to thank all delegates and experts with whom I have worked over the last four years, to the ITU staff, for their invaluable support and cooperation shown to me, and finally I would like to thank my wife who has always stood by my side.
 
Mr. Chairman, I would like to offer my heartfelt congratulations to Dr. Hamadoun Toure, Secretary General re-elected for his second term. Over the last four years, he has constantly shown me his full confidence and respect, sometimes with his own way to challenge me with new tasks. Thanks to his good will, we have a very enjoyable working environment between the two of us. Having been re-elected at the same time for both of us,  I see a clear message from you all that you appreciate the good relationship between us and that you wish us to continue. I would like to assure you that I will do my best to fulfill my responsibilities as Deputy Secretary-General in general and to assist him in the management of the Union in particular.
 
Mr. Chairman, with the continuing and rapidly changing environment, the ITU has managed to adapt itself to the new situation that ITU keeps its pre-eminent status both in the public sector and the private sector. It is clear to us that without the support from our Members, it would not be possible for ITU to enjoy today’s recognition by the world telecommunication and information family. For our future endeavours, I kindly invite your continuous support.
 
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to the Directors with whom I had the privilege to work over the last 4 years. Two of them Mr. Malcolm Johnson, Director of TSB, and Mr. Sami Al-Basheer, Director of BDT, are standing for their re-elections. I wish them good luck. The last one, but surely not the least one, Mr. Valery Timofeev, has successfully completed his second term, and therefore he will leave the management team of ITU. He is a wonderful colleague with a very rich professional knowledge, very strong leadership skills, and very friendly personality. We enjoyed our personal gifts in the Spring of 2009, when I got my first grand-child in January 2009, whom I called my own 3G; soon afterwards, he had a great-grandson that I have called a 4G product for him. I wish him a very happy life particularly enjoying his own specific 4G. Surely I would like to see him if he would join our activities one way or another in the future, since he is still young in his spirit of life.
 
Thank you for your attention.