Opening Press Conference

Dr Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General,
International Telecommunication Union

Excellencies,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen of the press,

Thank you for joining us here today in Palexpo for the opening of ITU Telecom World 2009.

I am delighted to be able to tell you that we have a great event here – in spite of the global economic crisis.

We have 450 exhibitors from 50 countries – and a more varied exhibition than we’ve ever had before, with many national pavilions, thematic pavilions, and community initiatives on the show floor.

We have heads of state and top government representatives here, along with more than 80 ministers and over 400 CEOs.

We have a really innovative Forum programme, where many of the key issues of the day – including the financial crisis, climate change, and cybersecurity – are going to be discussed in depth.

And we have the Youth Forum, which has brought together some 300 young people from 150 countries around the world to share with us their wisdom – as digital natives – and to engage with industry and government leaders.

ITU is also launching a new report today, entitled Confronting the Crisis: ICT Stimulus Plans for Economic Growth.

The author, Phillippa Biggs, will be available at the media reception, immediately after this press conference, with copies of the report and would be happy to take any questions you may have at that time.

Before handing you over to our other speakers, I would also like to let you know that on Wednesday, at 2pm, we will be releasing new global guidelines on Child Online Protection, as part of ITU’s Global Cybersecurity Agenda.

These guidelines are a unique achievement, and have been put together with the help of numerous international organizations and private sector companies, and I welcome their publication.

Without further ado, then, let me introduce you to the other speakers here today:

First we will here from Mr Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

He will be followed by Mr Jianzhou Wang, Chairman & CEO of China Mobile – easily the world’s largest telco by subscribers, with numbers now having passed 500 million.

And finally, we will hear from Mr Robert Hensler, the Geneva State Chancellor.

Given our very limited time this morning, and in order to leave time for questions, could I please request that each speaker is as brief as possible?

Thank you.