President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva of Brazil visited ITU on 15 June 2009 where he received the World Telecommunication and Information Society Award.

Accepting the award, President Lula said he was pleased to see international recognition for the efforts of the Brazilian government to promote digital inclusion and a safe and democratic virtual space, especially for children and adolescents. "We are determined to fight digital exclusion, which is today one of the major constraints in the quest for development," President Lula said. "To reduce inequalities we need to increase access to modern communication technologies to a larger number of people. Access to technologies should go beyond the communications infrastructure dimension. People should be able to use these technologies in a critical and interactive way. This is important to promote the involvement of all people in the knowledge society."

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