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Telephone: +41 22 730 6039
Fax: +41 22 730 5939
E-mail: pressinfo@itu.int
Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Dear Friends,
On behalf of the ITU Secretariat, it is my pleasure to welcome all of you to Geneva and to the opening Plenary Meeting of the World Radiocommunications Conference.
All of us know that we are facing a very heavy agenda, and that we have a lot of work to do in the next four weeks. Our task will be made all the heavier by the very large volume of documentation that has been produced for this conference – so large, in fact, that our budget for document production is already exhausted.
I hope that we will not spend too much time writing even more documents or reminding each other how much work there is to be done. If I may borrow a well-known advertising slogan, instead of urging each other to work efficiently, let's "just do it"!
In this spirit, distinguished delegates, I hope you will allow me to speak on behalf of everyone in this room when I express to you, Mr. Chairman, our congratulations on your election, our confidence in your leadership, and our willingness to do everything we can to help make sure that this conference is a success.
Ladies and gentlemen,
With this event, the eyes of the world are on the ITU perhaps more than ever before.
There is unprecedented interest, not just in the telecommunications industry, but in the whole international community in the results of this conference.
Why is this so?
This is partly because telecommunications itself has become a matter of intense media and public interest. As you know, scarcely a day passes without some major story being written about a new technology breakthrough, or the latest developments on the competitive battlefield, or the social consequences of the information revolution.
But I think there is more to it than this.
In recent years, there has been a growing awareness at the highest levels of the international community -- in both the public and private sectors -- that telecommunications is the foundation of the global information economy and society.
In a way, this recognition is flattering to those of us who are used to working in obscurity, away from the bright lights of media and public attention
All of us in this room today, and all of those who will take part in the work of this conference, have a very heavy responsibility. Your decisions will have a major impact on the life of mankind in the twenty-first century -- and we in the Secretariat must do everything we can to help you reach the right decisions.
Mr. Chairman,
As a result of the intense international interest in your work, I will have to be absent from this conference for a few days later next week.
I will go first to Cologne to address the private sector Global Information Infrastructure Commission on the role of the ITU in the development of the GII.
I will then go straight to New York, where the United Nations General Assembly is about to consider a report I have submitted on universal access to basic communication and information services -- what I like to call "the right to communicate".
On both occasions, I promise to report on the work this conference is doing to make these noble goals a practical reality. I hope that you and the distinguished delegates will forgive me this short absence, and agree that it is in the Union's interest.
Mr. Chairman,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Let me try to set a good example by concluding my remarks, and by wishing you all the best in dealing with the very challenging agenda before you.