GERMANY

STATEMENT BY H.E. Mr. Bernd PFAFFENBACH
State Secretary, Ministry of economics and Technology

Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

May I first take the opportunity to congratulate you Chairman to your election. I am sure that under your able chairmanship this conference will achieve its goals in a most efficient way.

In addition to that, I want to express my sincere thanks to the Government of Turkey for hosting this conference.

The economic process of globalisation, the political processes of liberalisation and privatisation, and the technical process of convergence of the media are in full swing. We can see every day, that we are going through a historic transformation process in the way we live, learn, communi¬cate, work and exchange information.

In this context we are faced by the following question:
What is the best way to enable the ITU to continue to play a relevant role in the field of inter¬national telecommunications?

Since its foundation in 1865 the ITU has played the main part in the emergence of the global telecommunications market and should widen this leading role in the coming years. To achieve this, it must become an efficient, future-oriented ITU keeping pace with the rapid changes in ICT and guaranteeing that every country benefits from the innovations.

The ITU should strive to remain the internationally recognised plattform for the development and harmonisation of the telecommunications market and continue to guarantee the interopera¬bility and compatibility of products and services used in global communications.

To succeed in this, it is necessary to further enhance and deepen the integration of the private ICT industry.

The ITU has always played a vital role in helping to level technological disparities. As set out by WSIS, in particular in the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, the ITU should – together with other UN Agencies – play a leading facilitating role in the implementation of the Geneva Action Plan. ITU should actively engage governments, the private sector and civil society to bridge the digital divide.

Greater use should therefore be made – in conjunction with the Sector Member – of the opportu¬nity to have, in the ITU, an internationally recognised institution of dialogue between govern¬ments and industry, in which developing countries and the private sector have their place.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
within the Council and within the CEPT, Germany participated intensively in the preparations for this Plenipotentiary Conference. We are again presenting our candidature to the ITU Council, on whose shoulders a large part of responsibilities for future decisions is placed. This candida¬ture and the decision to maintain our present class of contribution demonstrates the importance that Germany attributes to the Union.

Ladies and Gentlemen, in closing – please allow me to offer to our host government and, in par¬ticular to you, Mr. Chairman, our best wishes for the success of the Antalya Plenipotentiary Con¬ference 2006.