The Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau, Mr Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid, joined with partners to announce development initiatives for the CLMV countries through a joint communiqué issued at the end of the Forum.

Forum delegates thanked ITU and its development partners for announcing new CLMV-specific initiatives, particularly in the areas of human capacity development, cybersecurity, green ICTs and connecting villages. The Forum also called for increased cooperation among all stakeholders at the subregional and national levels, with a view to finding creative ways and strategies to turn challenges into opportunities for the subregion and individual CLMV countries.

The Forum urged all parties to initiate detailed discussions to plan and implement the announced initiatives and to ensure coordination among partners to minimize overlap and maximize the impact of investments in ICT development projects.

"This Ministerial Forum is about commitment and concrete actions, about bringing the right stakeholders together to further ICT development in a way that will benefit all," said Mr Al Basheer. "The participation of the CLMV business sector and development partners demonstrates that the intention, the will and the sense of purpose exist; it is now a question of making a commitment and identifying the concrete actions that need to be taken in order to meet the objective of this Ministerial Forum for an ICT-strengthened and connected CLMV subregion."

A special report entitled Enabling Frameworks for ICT Development in CLMV: Moving Forward
www.itu.int/ITU-D/asp/CMS/Events/2009/CLMV/index.asp was also released at the Forum. The report highlights the significant differences that exist between countries that make up the subregion, noting that such disparities will need to be taken into account when making an assessment of the subregion’s progress and suggesting measures for possible improvement.

Mr Al Basheer announced a number of proposed new partnerships and initiatives to assist the CLMV subregion, including collaboration with: