Thank you Sarah, and thank you to Minister Choi, Chairman-designate Min, and Mr Suh for joining me here today to welcome you to the opening of this landmark conference.
It is both a pleasure and a privilege to be with you in Korea's proud 'second city', which has become one of the world's most vibrant international hubs.
Korea is, I think, a particularly appropriate and fitting venue for this landmark ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, because no other country in the world has so enthusiastically and successfully harnessed its national development to the power of ICTs.
In the space of just over 20 years, Korea has gone from a nation with only around 1% broadband penetration to being the most connected country on the planet. For four years in a row, Korea has been ranked Number One by ITU’s ICT Development Index, which I can say without false modesty is the world’s most accurate and comprehensive measure of ICT development and accessibility.
You will see from the Korean ICT market overview that our team has prepared for you that Korea has the world’s highest household Internet penetration, at over 98%. Four fifths of all Korean households now have a computer.
By the beginning of this year, fixed broadband subscriptions in this country reached 18.7 million, with a penetration of 38% – that’s far above the world average of 9.4%, the Asia & Pacific average of 7.4%, or even the East Asia average of 15.6%.
But your government hasn’t just focused on encouraging national network development to ensure that Koreans can get online. Your country has also rapidly built one of the most innovative ICT sectors in the world. Korean companies are now at the absolute forefront of new ICT developments, and are challenging even the largest and longest established players to match their pace.
The spirit of innovation that we see here in Korea has encouraged us to implement a number of our own innovations at this Busan Plenipotentiary Conference.
Those of you who joined us for the opening ceremony this morning know that the ITU Plenipotentiary will bring together around three thousand international delegates who will work to approve ITU’s next four-yearly Strategic Plan and Financial Plan.
On this coming Thursday, we will also elect a new senior management team, and my esteemed colleague, Houlin Zhao, currently our Deputy Secretary-General, will become ITU’s next leader. We will also see a new Deputy Secretary-General, a new leader of our Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, 12 newly elected members of the Radiocommunications Board, and 48 newly elected members of ITU Council.
Starting from this afternoon, we will hear Policy Statements from high-ranking officials of nearly 100 Member States, most of them focused on how their countries plan to achieve their Vision for the ICT sector for 2020, as presented in ITU’s draft Strategic Plan.
Before I hand the floor to His Excellency Minister Choi, let me just say a few words about other events and activities taking place within the context of PP-14.
Tomorrow, my team will host a Women’s Ministerial Breakfast, as part of our gender equality and mainstreaming programme. I invite you all to join us there, and to be present on Tuesday 28 October for the very first GEM-TECH Awards, which recognize and applaud leaders and initiatives that have made a real difference in promoting ICTs as tools for gender empowerment.
I was delighted to see that we had 360 nominations from 70 countries, and I have to say that all of the nominations were incredibly inspiring.
ITU has organized these awards in conjunction with UN Women, with the aim of creating a platform for advancing women's roles as decision-makers in the ICT sector. Our seven winners will be here onsite in Busan, and my press team will be delighted to put you in touch with them if you are interested.
In addition, this conference will host five lunchtime ‘Connect 2020’ round tables, each related to the content of the ITU Strategic Plan, which will cover the themes of growth, inclusion, sustainability, innovation and monitoring.
These events will feature panel debates between leaders from government and industry from around the world, and we invite you to join us in Room D to hear some very stimulating discussions.
We are also innovating at PP-14 in terms of youth, with the Young ICT Policy Leaders programme. This provides a platform for young policy makers to network and meet global leaders from the ICT sector, and to nurture knowledge and exchange at the international level.
Member State administrations have been invited to each nominate two attendees to participate. This important initiative is being generously sponsored by the City of Busan, which is providing paid fellowships to 35 candidates from Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States.
Last but not least, we will launch the official ITU 150 campaign tomorrow, with presentations on ITU’s plans to celebrate its 150th anniversary, along with a preview of the programme of national celebrations organized by ITU’s global membership.
But that is not all. I also know that our Host Country has a very full programme of exciting PP-14 side events in store for you, and I would now like to hand the floor to the Honourable Minster Choi, who will tell you more about what you can expect to see here at BEXCO and surrounds over the next three weeks.
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