GREECE

STATEMENT BY MR NISSIM BENMAYOR
DIRECTOR OF THE CERTIFICATION DIRECTORATE
MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS

Mr. Chairman,
Mr. Secretary-General,
Distinguished Heads and Members of Delegations,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Mr Chairman, first, let me congratulate you on your election as Chairman of this Conference and your excellent leadership.

I am deeply honoured to have the privilege of addressing the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union, the supreme policy-making body in the field of telecommunications.

Greece, being one of the founding members of this international telecommunications community has always been aware of the important mission of the ITU for the development of a global telecommunications and information society.

Now that all nations of the world are facing the consequences of convergence and the challenges of the digital divide, we need to include the development of information technology and telecommunications among our highest priorities.

The Greek Government has decided to invest in the education and the information society. Therefore, we make great efforts in order to extend the use of Internet by our citizens and provide them with adequate facilities of wide band and mobile networks as well as new services. Special projects have been undertaken in order to facilitate the access of young people to the Internet. We will support every development, which will allow even more people and nations to have access to the Internet and continuous information.

We are committed to build an information society, without social exclusions and oriented towards its development. In this context I would like to emphasize the fact that recently Greece has organized the Internet Governance Forum, which we believe has greatly improved the coordination and collaboration between all interested parties, providing all of us an understanding of future developments, a common vision and ground for a continuous dialog and collaboration.

Since the last Plenipotentiary Conference, Greece has invested in space technology, creating its first satellite network. Recognizing that radio frequency spectrum and geo-stationary satellite orbit are both limited natural resources, we attach great significance to spectrum management and radio regulatory process by the ITU. We firmly believe that it is essential that these resources should be used in accordance with the fundamental provisions of the ITU Constitution. With the new wireless communications technologies, spectrum management process may become extremely complex. It is necessary to find means for more flexible spectrum management. Future technology has to be oriented towards this scope.

In our days, communication networks and information systems are essential factors in the development of the economy and society. Secure networks are necessary to make the Digital Economy function. Greece has the great honour to host the European Network and Information Security Agency.

Greece believes that this Plenipotentiary Conference will take the best decisions to pave the way for the development of an effective information society during the next four years to the benefit of all countries and nations in the world.

Last, I would like to thank on behalf of the Greek Government, our hosts for their exceptional hospitality and for the perfect organisation of this Conference.

Thank you very much Mr Chairman.