H.E. Mr Tung Chee Hwa, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative region,
Your Royal Highness Prince Lavaka Ata Ulukalala, Prime Minister of Tonga,
H.E. Mr Wu Jichuan, Minister of Information Industry, People’ Republic of China,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my very great honour to welcome you to ITU TELECOM ASIA 2002.
It is often said that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made structure that can be seen from the moon. I asked an astronaut who had been to the moon if he could see the Great Wall. He said “no”, but he told me he could see buildings in Hong Kong. I am sure, however, he could not see fiber cables inside the buildings. In Hong Kong people speak twice faster than in Geneva. Twice more efficient! They have to use high-speed communications tools. Telecommunications must be more important than tall buildings to support the business activities in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong took many years to build. We too are here with a view to constructing the future. But what we are constructing is made out of information, not out of bricks and mortar. Information that travels over cyberspace is invisible to the human eye.
One decade ago the Asia-Pacific was home to just over 20% of telecommunication users worldwide. It now accounts for over one third of all subscribers. It is unique in being the only region in the world to have significantly grown its market share. It is currently adding new connections at the rate of more than one new user every second of every day. Even more astonishingly, it has sustained this remarkable growth rate for more than ten years.
Rapidly increasing penetration of voice and data services continues to drive buoyant economic growth across the region. Rising per capita income in turn drives even greater demand for telecommunications products and services. For instance, Asia-Pacific has almost half of the world’s ADSL broadband subscribers, and more than 90 per cent of current 3G mobile subscribers.
With Asia now leading change and defining the shape of tomorrow’s markets, this year’s ITU TELECOM ASIA event promises to be the most exciting yet.
In the coming week, you will have the chance to see exhibitors from around the world showcasing the latest technologies in every field.
You’ll also hear the best of the industry’s top speakers at this year’s ITU TELECOM Forum, which will feature more than 200 expert presenters, moderators and panelists.
With depressed economic conditions threatening to impede growth and adoption of next-generation products and services in much of the world, this year’s Asian Forum will play a critical role in helping other regions find their way to economic recovery. It will also focus on strategies to stimulate sector-wide growth, and to transform it into renewed prosperity in all world regions.
Telecommunications has become a commodity that is routinely bought and sold, however, it is much more than this. It is an essential public service. Because communication is a basic human right, the telecommunications sector has a special responsibility.
Today’s highly sophisticated telecommunications services really do have the power to transform lives. Ironically, it’s in the very areas where they are often least available that these services could do the most good.
Access to information and services like telemedicine, distance education, and electronic commerce can help end the cycle of poverty that afflicts many of the world’s people.
As many Asian nations are demonstrating, easy and affordable access to communications has become
the major enabler of economic growth, helping transform yesterday’s emerging economies into tomorrow’s economic powerhouses.
Access to advanced telecommunications services represents, for the developing world, the chance to finally take their place within the global economy, to break down long-standing barriers to growth, and to tackle local problems through information and education.
After centuries of economic inequality, the human race now has at its fingertips a technology with the power to act as a great global equalizer, breaking through barriers like distance, geography and language.
However, in every region of the world, the gap between those who enjoy anywhere, anytime access to the vast resources of the World Wide Web and those who cannot log on at all is widening. This is the new face of the development gap.
If we do not act quickly to bridge the widening Digital Divide between
the information empowered and the information
deprived, this wonderful technology threatens to have exactly the opposite effect. It could end up polarizing nations, marginalizing communities, and further intensifying existing disparities between rich and poor.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Almost 20 years ago, ITU published a report called The Missing Link. It highlighted the plight of the many communities lacking even basic access to communications and set an ambitious target: by the early years of this century, most of mankind should be brought within walking distance of a telephone.
When I opened the last ITU TELECOM ASIA here in Hong Kong, I remarked that we are now well on the way to achieving this target. At that time, I set a new goal. By the end of the current decade, virtually the whole of mankind should have easy access to advanced communications, including the Internet.
Meeting this challenge will require a coordinated international approach at all levels. That is why ITU is proud to be serving as lead agency for a new United Nations summit. The first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society will take place one year from now in Geneva.
The Society will bring together heads of state, industry leaders, UN agencies and NGOs to develop an action plan to build the Information Society.
Phase Two of the Summit will take place in Tunis in 2005, where a thorough review of progress will ensure that programmes are on track to deliver rapid, tangible results to those most in need.
Since the early 1990s, ITU has been campaigning to have the Right to Communicate declared a basic human right under the United Nations charter. One decade later humanity has yet to adopt this objective. That’s why we, at ITU, have taken on the slogan: Helping the world communicate.
During the week ahead, let us try to focus, therefore, not only on our business goals and sales targets, but on what communications technologies could mean, in the 21st century, for the millions still lacking access to even basic connectivity.
While there will be plenty of deals to be made on the show floor this week, telecommunications is about more than just making money. It is about building a better world, in which today’s children, regardless of race, creed, colour or nationality, can participate with equal hope, and with equal opportunity.
Let us all, during this week, help the world communicate.
Thank you.
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