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ICT leaders and journalists from around the world,
I am delighted to meet you all.
Welcome to Korea.
With the end of the opening ceremony, which marks the beginning of the long journey for the next three weeks, I feel great excitement, and I believe that many of you share such excitement as well.
This year's Plenipotentiary Conference is the first Plenipot held in Asia in 20 years.
I still remember the overwhelming feeling I had four years ago, when Korea was designated to play host to the 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference at the Plenipot held in Guadalajara, Mexico.
This was because, at the core of Korea's economic development for the last six decades, there have been ICTs, and Korea's ICT history has been with the ITU.
On the occasion of this year's Conference, Korea wants to provide opportunities to look back on the ICT history of Korea and the world, and to build on that reflection to design better ICTs for the future.
Through the opportunities to view 30 years of the mobile communications history and to experience the fastest possible network speeds, you will be able to see, in one place, the path that ICTs have taken, and the future we need to shape.
As you are well aware, Korea has transformed itself from an aid-recipient country to an aid donor, which is unprecedented in the world, and such history stands out more in the ICT sector.
At the initial development stage of electronic switching system, which marked the beginning of the Korean ICT industry's development, GTE, a US company, provided research funds to Korea. The Funds helped create a good environment for Korea to stably conduct the research project even in its unfavorable tech research environment at that time.
Along with this, the loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development also contributed big part to establishing the Korean Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, which has now become the cradle for semi-conductor research.
The Creative Economy that the Park Geun Hye administration is promoting and the vision for Hyper-connected Creative Korea started from the conviction that ICTs will serve as a basis in addressing global challenges, such as growth without employment, inequitable income distribution, and population aging.
Our goals under this conviction are to strengthen the ecosystem of the ICT industry with the software industry at its center; to accelerate the convergence of the ICT industry with others; to lay the foundation for universal access to quality education, health care, and safety services using ICTs; and to nurture creative talents who will attain these goals.
Although all of them are challenging tasks that require a fundamental transformation of the economy and society, it is our belief that if the government and the private sector cooperate one another, positive results will be achieved.
Korea will actively share with the international community the lessons and experience earned in pursuing the Creative Economy, in order to solve economic and social problems through ICTs and to take the initiative in laying the groundwork for sustainable development.
The performance you have seen at the opening ceremony, which was a homage to Nam June Paik's artwork, "More Log-In - Less Logging", was an effort to remind us of our mission of the times to shape the future of ICTs.
Peter Drucker once said, 'the best way to predict the future is to create it.'
I hope that PP-14 will be the starting point to create a future of hopes and prosperity with harmonious communication between the 193 Member States.
Thank you.
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