Speech by Malcolm Johnson, ITU Deputy Secretary-General

Commonwealth ICT Ministers Forum 2016 : Opening remarks

15 June 2016, London, UK

Excellencies
Distinguished delegates
Ladies and gentlemen

Good morning, 

And let me add my welcome to this Commonwealth ICT Ministers' Forum, 2016.

I would like to thank Secretary-General Shola Taylor for inviting ITU to participate in this Forum, and I bring greetings from ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao and my fellow elected officials.

It is a great pleasure for me to join you here. I have had a long association with the Commonwealth going back to when I was the UK representative on the CTO Council, and since joining ITU in 2007 I have encouraged closer association with ITU participation in CTO Forums, the Commonwealth ITU Group, Commonwealth IGF Group, Commonwealth Cybercrime Initiative, Commonwealth Cybercrime Law Working Group, and last year's CHOGM Forums in Malta.

Even though CTO is 115 years old this year, and ITU was founded 151 years ago, it was not until we organised the Forum on Next Generation Networks in Sri Lanka in April 2009 that both organisations held a joint event. I am pleased to say quite a few have followed since, which makes sense since both organisation have common objectives and common membership, and we look forward to more in the future.

I believe that with the growing importance of ICTs to social, economic and environmentally sustainable development, close collaboration and cooperation between ITU and CTO will be increasingly beneficial, so as to pool resources and avoid duplication of effort.

This will be particularly important with regard to the achievement of the 2030 development agenda. The cross- cutting contribution of ICTs to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals has been highlighted by the UN General Assembly, noting that ICTs can accelerate progress across all 17 SDGs. We look forward to working closely with CTO on this agenda.

We also appreciate very much CTO's coordination of preparations for, and participation in, ITU world conferences. Commonwealth countries are key players in four of the six ITU regions, so agreeing on common objectives to be pursued in the regional preparations and at the conferences, not only helps Commonwealth countries achieve their aims, but also helps the ITU conferences reach consensus more quickly. Commonwealth countries are very diverse in terms of development and geographic spread, so consensus building in the Commonwealth is a good basis for consensus building in ITU.

This Forum addresses many key challenges facing Commonwealth countries. From my experience I have always found that Commonwealth countries can often agree mutually satisfactory solutions far more easily than is the case of other gatherings, so I am sure this event here this week will be of great benefit, and I am very happy to be able to contribute.

I wish you all a very enjoyable and productive Forum.