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18 November 2022​​​, Virtual Session - Namaste, good morning, good afternoon, good evening it is a pleasure to join for this WSIS session marking World Children’s Day. Many thanks to Professor NK Goyal, President of the CMAI Association of India for his kind invitation. I am pleased to see we have so many top Indian educators as speakers. I have had a deep connection with India throughout my career, and it has been a pleasure to see the country emerge as a tech powerhouse, unlocking a whole new level of opportunity for India and the hundreds of millions of bright young people who call it home...

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​24 October 2022​​​, Rome, Italy - Welcome to this year’s symposium on ICT, Environment, Climate Change and Circular Economy. Many thanks to the Italian Ministry of Economic Development and Tor Vergata University of Rome for hosting us. Climate action is now more critical than ever before, as has been made abundantly clear by the experts, the science, and the evidence of our own eyes. Also evident, is the significant contribution of new emerging digital technologies to fight climate change...

3 October 2022​​​, Bucharest, Romania ​- Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for taking time out of your lunchbreak to join us. Many thanks to Nigeria for organising this side event together with ITU secretariat. It was at the suggestion of the WSIS Forum Chairman H.E. Prof Ali Ibrahim Pantami to have this side event here to promote the importance of WSIS to achieve the SDGs, and to brainstorm on how we can make sure that the WSIS+20 review comes to the right decision on its continuation beyond 2025. Unfortunately, he had to return to Nigeria for urgent business...​

25 September 2022​​​, Bucharest, Romania - Good afternoon, I am very pleased to be with you here today. When I proposed the creation of this group at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference held in Marrakesh in 2002, I never thought that I would be attending a meeting of the group 20 years later! I was the Deputy Head of the UK delegation at PP-02, and at a meeting of Commonwealth ministers to discuss the proposal it was agreed that it was a good idea, and I was asked to chair the group, which I did until I was elected Director of TSB four years later at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2006...​

29 August 2022​​​, Bangkok, Thailand - Good morning excellencies, distinguished delegates. It is a pleasure to be here again for this Sixth session of the Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway Steering Co​mmittee and the Regional Review of the World Summit on the Information Society. Many thanks to ESCAP for inviting me and congratulations on the progress on the Action Plan despite the challenges faced during the last three years, and many thanks also for ESCAP’s continuous support in reviewing and implementing the WSIS Action Lines in this region... ​

​​11 July 2022​​​, New York & virtual - How are digital technologies transforming education and how does ITU help support this? I am very pleased to have this opportunity to contribute to the discussion on the important role of digital technologies in advancing quality education. The importance of the technology for education has been very clearly highlighted by the COVID pandemic. During the pandemic 1.6 billion school and college students across the world had their studies interrupted, and many had to shift their studies online. However, not all could do so. One-third of the world’s schoolchildren were unable to access remote learning during school closures...

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10 May 2022​​​, Virtual Event - Good morning, good afternoon, good evening and welcome to ITU’s 9th Economic Experts Roundtable, which today will focus on the economic and fiscal incentives to accelerate digital transformation. The session is organized within the framework of the WSIS Forum 2022, specifically under Action Line C6 on Enabling Environment. ..​

6 May 2022, Virtual Meeting - Good morning, good afternon, good evening and welcome to this high-level dialogue on ICTs and digital technologies for healthy ageing. When it comes to technology, our world is moving fast; but unfortunately, not everyone has been able to keep up. Today we shine a spotlight on all the people who are 60 years old or over. There are already 1 billion of them across the world, and they are a global force to be reckoned with. Older persons have a huge contribution to make to society, provided they are given acces to digital technologies, can afford them, find these technologies attractive, know how to use them, trust them and feel empowered and safe when they go online...

​4 May 2022, Virtual Meeting - I am very pleased to be one of the men WSIS Gender Trendsetters! The ITU and WSIS are committed to maintaining gender equality and women’s empowerment, and to guaranteeing the inclusion of women in the emerging global ICT society. Since 2013, ITU has had its own gender equality and mainstreaming policy (GEM), which aims to ensure that the Union's commitment to gender equality is reflected in all decision-making and planning processes. As the co-organiser of the WSIS Process, the ITU is working with all the UN WSIS Action Lines facilitators to fully integrate gender equality perspectives in WSIS-related strategies... 

​3 May 2022, Virtual Meeting - It is a great pleasure to join you today for this WSIS session hosted by the CMAI Association of India, a long supporter and influential voice of the WSIS Forum. I want to thank my good friend Professor Goyal, President of CMAI whose contribution to the WSIS process has been invaluable over many years, especially in WSIS Action Line C7 linking ICTs with education...​

​2 May 2022 - Good morning, good afternoon, good evening and welcome to the special track on ICTs and Older Persons at WSIS Forum 2022. I am pleased to open this year’s track and shine a spotlight on the more than 1 billion people across the world who are aged 60 years or older. That includes me but I consider myself one of the lucky ones. Most people do not have access to even the most basic resources, let alone the digital technologies that would help them so much...

4 April 2022 - I am pleased that the ITU Council last week agreed that this should be the theme for next year's World telecommunication and information Society day. We look forward to that. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in strong growth in global connectivity, driven mostly by increases in developing countries where Internet penetration has climbed more than 13 per cent since 2019....​​

31 March 2022​​​ - Digital development through digital transformation, has become ever more important since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and various UN agencies and other stakeholders have assisted countries in their respective capacities, relying substantially on the digital component. Progress in the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines at the regional and international level is essential for socio-economic, sustainable development, and ITU is keen to collaborate with everyone, to make sure we achieve this...​

​28 March 2022 - Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and thank you for this opportunity to address CSTD. I would like to start by informing you that the ITU, as the UN specialized agency for ICTs, deplores the widespread destruction of critical infrastructure, failure of telecom services and mobile phone outages that have occurred across Ukraine since the beginning of the war. The ITU Council, currently in session, has adopted a resolution on “Assistance and support to Ukraine for rebuilding their telecommunication sector”...

16 March 2022​​ - Welcome to the ICTs and Youth Special Track at WSIS Forum 2022. I am pleased that we start this year’s Forum with this exciting track which looks at why youth is so important to all that the WSIS Process attempts to achieve in bringing the benefits of the information society to everyone, everywhere. One of last year’s Forum’s key messages was that young people can play an important role in leveraging ICTs to help achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals... ​

​18 January 2022 - As the world enters its third year of the pandemic, the role of ITU in bringing the benefits of digital technologies to all has never been more important. In an unprecedented year that will see ITU hold three of its major conferences within a few months of each other, can you walk us through what is at stake and how 2022 will be a key year for ITU and for international digital cooperation​​

7 January 2022, Virtual Event​ - Namaste! Many thanks to Shri N. G. Subramaniam, Chair TSDSI and Prof NK Goyal, Chairman Emeritus of TEMA and President of CMAI Association of India, for your kind invitation to join this Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony, for your welcome and introduction. Let me firstly recognize Shri Ashok Kumar Mittal, Member of the Digital Communications Commission, Dr Rajkumar Upadhyay, Executive Director C-DOT, Ms Pamela Kumar, TSDSI Director General, and the former Chairs of TSDSI - Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Dr Kumar Sivarajan, and Prof Abhay Karandikar... ​

5 November 2021, Hybrid Event - To begin, I would like to thank our co-organizers, UNFCCC, UN-Habitat, UNIDO, and UNEP-DTU. Thank you very much for your collaboration. I am pleased to say ITU has been participating in events such as this at climate change conferences for almost 15 years now, with the aim to increase the awareness of delegates to the significant contribution that digital technologies can bring to climate mitigation and adaptation. I believe over all these years the message has got home. What is needed now is to look at practical ways of implementing these technologies to save the planet...

3 November 2021, Hybrid Event​ - It is a pleasure to join you today at the invitation of GeSI to discuss how digital innovation and collaboration can accelerate climate action. ITU and GeSI have worked together in promoting sustainability in the information and communication technology sector for over 15 years, and I am proud to have been a member of the GeSI Board for most of that time. This collaboration has included the organization of joint activities at many previous climate change conferences, and I believe this has increased the global awareness of the role that the ICT sector can play in mitigating and adapting to climate change... ​

24 September 2021, Virtual Meeting - The UN Secretary-General’s address to this session of the UN General Assembly made it clear that we are at a time of great concern – “on the edge of an abyss” in his words. One of the six Great Divides he mentioned was the climate divide, and he referred to the climate alarm bells ringing at fever pitch, we must get serious and we must act fast he said. The incoming President of the General Assembly was somewhat more positive announcing his “five rays of hope” based upon our witnessing “incredible acts of kindness and compassion that reaffirmed our common humanity and collective strength”.​..​

20 September 2021, virtual meeting - On behalf of the Secretary-General, the Directors and myself, I am very pleased to welcome you to this important meeting of the Council Working Group on Financial and Human Resources - unfortunately once again virtual, but let us hope that we will soon be able to meet again physically. Just let me highlight a few points on your agenda....

​14 September 2021, Virtual Meeting - The last time I had the pleasure of visiting St Kitts and Nevis was to attend a Caribbean Telecommunication Union regional ministerial where I encouraged the participants to take full advantage of the remote participation that ITU has been offering for participation in ITU meetings and conferences since 2010, stressing how important it was for their voice to be heard in ITU – which is the lead UN agency for ICTs... 

​​9 July 2021, Virtual Meeting - The event will look at the importance of ICTs and the WSIS Action Lines in achieving the UN SDGs. It was the first session of WSIS, which took place in Geneva in 2003 that recognised the role of ICTs as a tool for world-wide good...​

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21 May 2021, Virtual Meeting - Good morning, good afternoon, good evening welcome and thank you for joining today’s session on information and communication technologies (ICTs) for Biological Diversity. ITU is pleased to join the missions of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and Republic of Uganda, to the UN, and the Convention on Biological Diversity to organise this event, and many thanks to the honourable ambassadors Edrees and Odida for your support and joining this event in celebration of tomorrow’s International Biodiversity Day...​​​

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4 May 2021, Virtual Session - Thank you for joining this thematic workshop on inclusive and responsible digitalization in the city. This is the first Mayor’s meeting at the WSIS Forum, I would like to thank our partners Geneva Cities Hub and the Government of Switzerland for making this possible. I welcome this initiative and look forward to strengthening this partnership next year exploring different formats of engagement with Mayors in the context of Smart Cities...​

3 May 2021, Virtual Session​ - This session is organized with the United Nations Group on the Information Society (UNGIS) which ITU is currently a Vice-Chair together with UNESCO, UNDP and UNESCAP. This is an opportunity for me to thank UNGIS and the more than 30 UN Agencies participating in it for their dedication to the WSIS Process and their contribution to the objectives of the (WSIS) - the World Summit on the Information Society - which are directed at the achievement of the SDGs...​

3 May 2021, Virtual Session - ITU is very pleased to be a co-organizer of this event together with ASME and UNMGCY, and I would like to thank Ambassador Milica Pejanović-Durišić and the Montenegro mission to the UN for supporting this event. The pandemic has illustrated as never before the critical role of enabling technologies in achieving the SDGs: through developing human infrastructure, strengthening partnerships, innovation and building back better for a more sustainable world... 

​​​​30​ April 2021, Virtual Session - I am very pleased to open this WSIS Forum Workshop organized by the CMAI Association of India, a long supporter and influential voice of the Forum. ITU has a much-valued association with CMAI in particular through my good friend Professor Goyal, whose contribution to the WSIS process has been invaluable...​

​19 April 2021, Virtual Session - Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, welcome and thank you for joining us for this Concluding Session of the Open Consultation Process. This is the second year that the WSIS Forum has been a fully digital event due to the pandemic. I has continued to provide a multistakeholder platform for enabling the power of ICTs to facilitate development. With the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, we have experienced and seen how ICTs are so important...​

14 April 2021, Virtual Session - Excellencies, dear members of the WSIS community, welcome to session on the importance of ICTs and the WSIS Action Lines in accelerating progress towards the SDGs. As we know, the world was already off track to achieve the SDGs on time before the COVID-19 pandemic, which of course has made things worse, disrupting progress and even undoing in some case what had been achieved. This setback has made it all the more important to redouble our efforts to ensure that ICTs and the WSIS Action Lines put the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development back on track... ​

24 March 2021, Virtual Session - Let me add my welcome to this High-Level Policy Session on Digital Economy and Trade/ Financing for Development and role of ICT. We are very grateful to the excellent panellists we have speaking at this session for sparing their time to be with us, and many thanks to you Rachel Sibande for acting as the high-level track facilitator. And thank you Rachel to your organization, Digital Impact Alliance for its ongoing fruitful collaboration with ITU in key areas like digitalization of government services and digital technology investment in support of the SDGs... ​

23 March 2021, Virtual Session - We are very grateful to the excellent panellists we have speaking at this session for sparing their time to be with us, and many thanks to William Njoroge for acting as the high level rack facilitator. This is another topic at the core of ITU’s mission as the UN specialized agency for ICTs. The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the importance of being connected like never before, to keep abreast of health advice, to continue working and studying, shopping and staying in touch with loved ones...​

​22 March 2021, Virtual Session - This topic is at the core of ITU’s mission as the UN specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs). The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrate the importance of being connected like never before, to keep abreast of health advice, to continue working and studying, shopping and staying in touch with loved ones...​

​15 March 2021, Virtual Session - Let me begin by thanking all our partners for their continuous support and advice in organizing this track, and especially our panelists for joining us today and Morten for moderating the session. During the Covid-19 pandemic, people around the world have relied more than ever before on ICTs to keep in touch with loved ones, be advise on health measures, continue their work or studies. However, this is providing they have access, and the skills and ability to make use of the connection. As we know almost half the world’s population is unconnected but also there are particular challenges for people with disabilities... ​

15 March 2021, Virtual Session - Good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever you happen to be and thank you for joining us, especially the honourable ministers from Bhutan, UAE and UK, and the expert panellists. Many thanks and welcome! Well-being and Happiness is a new special track for the WSIS Forum but clearly one which comes at a time which is probably the most challenging ever for people all around the world. The pandemic has resulted in death, illness, isolation, anxiety, uncertainty, unemployment, domestic violence and severe depression. A truly horrific time...​

​3 March 2021, Virtual Session - Happy World Wildlife Day! It is a pleasure to co-host this session with the International Union for Conservation of Nature as we mark the 48th anniversary of the signing of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Protecting wildlife should be everybody's responsibility, and time is of the essence: one million species are at risk of extinction, 10 million hectares of forests are lost annually, and the wildlife trade is the possible cause of the COVID-19 pandemic... ​

​3 March 2021, Virtual Meeting - International technical standards development is a core function of ITU, which is the lead UN agency for information and communication technologies (ICTS), and it has been a core function ever since ITU’s creation over 150 years ago. International technical standards were a necessity then, and are much more so now in today’s complex world.​ A common set of standards is like a universal language: it brings people, businesses, functions, economies and societies together. In a world constantly growing in complexity, common standards make things easier.​..

2 March 2021, Virtual Meeting - Today’s session of the WSIS Forum 2021 is organized by the South School on Internet Governance and Centro de Capacitación en Alta Tecnología para América Latina y el Caribe. ​Thank you for very much your support. It was almost exactly a year ago today that the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, and almost overnight our world switched to digital...​

25 February 2021, Virtual Meeting - It is my great pleasure to welcome all of you to the inauguration of the virtual global Hackathon on Ageing Better with ICTs, an event focused on innovating and building efficient ICTs solutions for assisting the older people within our communities. Let me begin by thanking all our partners for their continuous support and advice in organising this hackathon. In particular, I would like to recognise our Supporting Partner, the Global Coalition on Aging, and our UN sister organisations for their trust and collaboration, especially on the WSIS Forum special track on ICTs and Older Persons, which will no doubt replicate its 2020 successes...​

2 February 2021, Virtual meeting - I am pleased to add my welcome to the Second Virtual Meeting of the WSIS Forum 2021 Open Consultation Process on the Thematic Aspects, Innovations and Format and thank our co-organisers, UNESCO, UNCTAD and UNDP and our other sister UN Agencies who are facilitating the WSIS Action Lines for their continuous support and collaboration... ​

​​11 December 2020 ​, Webinar - It is a pleasure to join you today - thanks to my good friend, Gregory Francis. Greg and I go back a long way, I believe we first met at the ITU World Radiocommunication Conference in 1997. So let me start by congratulating you Greg, and Access Partnership on the white paper on lessons learned from COVID-19. I will build on some of the findings in the paper to tell you what ITU has been doing to in response to the pandemic and how we hope to help with the recovery...

​​10 December 2020, Virtual meeting​ - Like most people today I am working from home – as you can see. I am in the Mont Blanc massif close to many of Switzerland’s glaciers – which regrettably are disappearing fast. This is something I feel passionate about and since joining ITU in 2007 I have devoted a lot of energy to raising the importance of digital technologies to fight climate change...

​3 December 2020, Virtual Meeting - Welcome everyone to this WSIS TalkX on International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Many thanks to our distinguished panelists for joining us. ​ It is my pleasure to open and moderate this session of WSIS TalkX on ICT accessibility, a topic that I have championed during my time in ITU....   ​

2 December 2020, Virtual Event - It is a pleasure to join you for today’s launch. I have had ​a long association with the Commonwealth and have experienced first-hand what a powerful network the Commonwealth is for promoting sustainable development across the world. For me that strength can be summed-up in three words: collaboration, coordination, and cooperation. These principles are at the heart of ITU’s efforts to harness cutting-edge digital technologies in support of sustainable development, including advancing health for all...

​​​20 November 2020, Virtual meeting - Let me start by thanking Prof NK Goyal, Chairman Emeritus of TEMA and President of CMAI Association of India, for this opportunity to welcome Dr Rajkumar Upadhyay as the new Executive Director of C-DOT and address this august gathering. Nice to see so many good friends even if only virtually, especially my ITU-APT Foundation of India friends who contribute so much to ITU’s work​...

​​​​26 October 2020, Virtual Meeting - ​It’s a pleasure for me to be with you here today to celebrate the World Development Information Day which recognises the vital importance of Information and Communication Technologies  (ICTs) to help achieve economic, social and environmental development. ITU’s mission is to connect the world and to bring the benefits of ICTs to all the world’s people...​​​

​​​​​​​26 October 2020 - Virtual meeting - I am very pleased to add my welcome to this launch of the Digital Solutions for Climate change report. ITU has had a long and very fruitful collaboration with GeSI and I myself have been pleased to serve on the GeSI Board for over 10 years. As the UN specialized agency for ICTs we have worked with GeSI on a number of studies and activities especially in advocating the case for ICTs for mitigation and adaption to climate change in the climate change conferences ....

​​​20 October 2020 - ITU Virtual Digital World 2020​ - Welcome and thank you for joining the first of three Ministerial Roundtables dedicated to the role of digital technologies during and after the COVID-19 pandemic... 

​​15 October 2020, Virtual Meeting​ - It is my pleasure on behalf of ITU to add my welcome to this the 15th Annual Session of the Global Forum on Human Settlements - the first virtual session due to these extraordinary times. ITU is very pleased to once again joining forces with GFHS and the other co-organizers of the event. Last year, we had the opportunity to organise and participate in multiple panel discussions dedicated to smart sustainable cities at the 14th Annual Session of GFHS in Addis Ababa...

​28 September 2020, Virtual Meeting​ - Señor Presidente, Señor Vice-Presidente, Comisionados, IFT colegas, damas y caballeros. Mucho agradezco al IFT y a su Presidente, el Señor Adolfo Cuevas Teja, al haberme invitado para dirigirme a ustedes en el Día Internacional del Acceso Universal a la Información. Ahora, permítanme continuar en inglés. It is an auspicious day to launch "Conozco Mi Consumo" which is an innovation that privileges the interests and right to information of Mexican consumers of telecommunications services. My congratulations to IFT for their achievements and for this innovation...

​22 September 2020, Virtual Meeting​ - Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening wherever you happen to be. I would like to thank the organisers (China Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics and The Global Coalition on Aging) for inviting me to speak at the 2020 China Silver Economy Forum. During lockdown, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have given billions of people around the world the ability to continue their work, studies, care of others and remain connected to loved ones. But as we know elderly people are most at risk for COVID-19 and also older people are especially vulnerable to loneliness and social isolation during lockdown...

​​9 September 2020, Virtual Meeting - Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, welcome and thank you for joining us for this review of WSIS Forum 2020 Highlights and Key Achievements with the help of some of our workshops organisers. I am very pleased that this new innovative virtual Forum has been so well received. It has given us an opportunity to scale the event to a wider community and be even more inclusive...

​​8 September 2020, Virtual Session - Many thanks to GovInsider for inviting me to this year’s Live Festival of Innovation and congratulations for selecting such a challenging topic for this session. Of course, we all​ yearn for stability in our lives, no one likes change - even if it’s for the better. If it was difficult to achieve stability with all the uncertainty in the world prior to COVID-19, now it is even more difficult and even more longed for... 

​26 August 2020, Virtual Meeting - Let me add my welcome to this fifth and last session looking at some of the excellent WSIS 2020 Champions projects which are contenders for this year’s prizes. Our panellists today are WSIS Champions from Africa, the Arab States, and Asia and the Pacific. They represent governments, civil society, and the private sector. And like the 40 panellists before them, they are the faces of the WSIS Prizes Champion projects and the ambassadors of ICT...

​​11 August 2020 - Virtual Session - Good morning, my warmest greetings to all of you, I am pleased to join you today for this 4th session of the Asia Pacific Information Superhighway Steering Committee meeting and the WSIS Asia Pacific Review meeting. I would like to thank the ESCAP for organising this meeting and for its continuous support in implementing the WSIS Action Lines in the region, so important for the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)....

​​​​10 August 2020, Virtual Session - Nameste – I am delighted to be with you today at this Digital Dialogue on accessibility to ICTs for persons with disabilities, and the launch of the White Paper. Many thanks to Broadband India Forum for inviting me, in particular my good friend T V Ramachandran. It is a honour to join the distinguished panellists ....

​3 August 2020, Virtual Session - Thank you for joining us for the opening session of the ICTs and Sports track, which will provide a platform for all stakeholders to discuss issues around Sport as an Enabler of Sustainable Development, highlighting the aspects of youth empowerment and innovative Technologies...

​15 July 2020, Virtual Meeting - Good morning, good afternoon, good evening and thank you for joining us today at this HLPF side event which will look at how ICTs and the WSIS Actions lines can help accelerate the SDGs, learning from the COVID-19 experience to build back better. Firstly let me thank the Government of Saudi Arabia for hosting this side event and co-organizing it with us...

​10 July 2020, Virtual Session - Namaste! I am delighted to join this WSIS Forum Special Track organized by the CMAI Association of India, a long supporter and influential voice of the Forum. ITU has had a long association with CMAI and in particular my good friend Professor Goyal...

​8 July 2020, Virtual Meeting - Thank you for joining us for this HLPF side event on Digital with Purpose: Accelerating action and transformative pathways for delivering on the sustainable development goals and recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic. ITU is very pleased to co-organise this event with GeSI and the UN Office for South-South Cooperation...

​22 June 2020, Virtual Session - Good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever you happen to be. Thank you for joining us for this opening session of the new special track on the ICTs and Older Persons. I would like to thank the Global Coalition on Ageing as our Supporting Partner for organizing this session and taking an active part in this special track...

​18 June 2020, Virtual Session - Good morning, good afternoon and good evening - especially to my friends in China! It is a pleasure to join you for this WSIS TalkX on the important topic of 5G Technology for COVID-19 Prevention and Control...

12 June 2020, Virtual Session - It is a pleasure to join the 23rd CSTD session and I would like to thank UNCTAD for inviting me to provide updates on the WSIS implementation process...

​15 May 2020, Virtual Meeting - Namaste. I am really pleased to join you on this special day. It was just a few months ago that we all gathered in New Delhi for India Mobile World Congress, just days before the start of the ITU World Radiocommunication Conference 2019. This conference forged pathways for future digital communications that will be essential for the realization of every single one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the focus of this year's World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. ​

​28 November 2019, Riga, Latvia - It is already fifty years ago that a team of graduate students at UCLA sent a digital data transmission making two computers talk to each other for the first time. What started as a small network of academics' computers eventually led to the Internet revolution....

​25 November 2019, Wiston House, Steyning, UK - It is a pleasure to be here with you today at the invitation of Wilton Park to discuss the promise of digital health, and how we can work together to realize that promise. I am pleased to be joined on this panel with two medical experts, Anushka Patel from The George Institute for Global Health and Virginia Arnold from WHO, an organization with which ITU has a long history of collaboration...

​13 November 2019, Attard, Malta - It is a great pleasure for me to have this opportunity to be with you today. Malta has a long association with ITU. It is a country which ITU has promoted as a role model, especially during the period of great change in the telecom sector in the 1990’s with liberalization, competition and digitization. Today, once again, Malta is leading the way in many new areas of information and communication technology, in particular distributed ledger technologies, blockchain and artificial intelligence...

24 October 2019 - Beijing, China - As we know the 17 Sustainable Development Goals are very ambitious addressing a wide range of challenges including ending poverty and hunger, providing quality education for all, and bringing clean water and sanitation to everyone.​..​

​​21 October 2019 - Wuzhen, China - In Game Two of the historic 2016 match between Lee Sedol and AlphaGo, the machine made a move that no human ever would. Artificial intelligence has captured the imagination of the public ever since, prompting us to rethink the very nature of the innovation process. And the pace of innovation in this area is moving fast, with 50 percent of all AI patents being published in just the last five years...

​​​​21 October 2019 - Wuzhen, China - ​Let me take this opportunity to congratulate China on behalf of ITU on its efforts to use next generation-networks like 5G to expand mobile and broadband connectivity, both in urban and rural areas. At the end of the day, bringing radiocommunication technologies to all people is the ultimate goal of a conference like WRC-19.​

​​​20 October 2019 - Wuzhen, China - We are in the midst of a digital revolution, driven by new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT), 5G etc. These emerging technologies are changing our economies at tremendous speed and scale....

​20 October 2019 - Wuzhen, China - It is a great pleasure to be here with you in Wuzhen for the sixth World Internet Conference. Thank you for your kind invitation to ITU, and greetings from Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.

Firstly, let me congratulate the People's Republic of China on its 70th anniversary and recognize, as President Xi Jinping did, the country's epic progress over the past seven decades.

​15 October 2019, New Delhi, India - Good morning! It is a great pleasure to be here, and I thank the Department of Telecommunications for the kind invitation to address you today at India Telecom 2019. India enjoy a tremendous diversity of people, cultures and ideas. Yet we are living through a time of accelerating globalization. Technologies are converging. Industries are converging...

​15 October 2019, New Delhi, India - There is a lot we can learn from India. With “Ayushman Bharat”, India is running the world’s largest health care scheme. Like Prime Minister Modi, ITU believes in harnessing digital technology to transform health care and to advance health for all...

​14 October 2019, New Delhi, India - Good morning, namaste. First of all, let me thank you for your kind invitation to be here this week and congratulations on the growth of India Mobile Congress. I look forward to participating in a number of sessions and visiting the exhibition, especially the startup hall. It is always a pleasure for me to come back to India, a country I have enjoyed visiting over many years, and where I have so many friends!

​28 August 2019, Bangkok, Thailand - I am going to be brief because this meeting is about you. We want to hear from you, whether you are an Action Line Facilitator, a government representative, an expert, or a member of an international or a regional organization, how we can foster partnerships, what the regional challenges and opportunities are...

​26 August 2019, Bangkok, Thailand - It is a pleasure to be back in Bangkok for the third session of the Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway Steering Committee and WSIS Regional Review. I want to thank the Chair of the WSIS UN Regional Commission, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), for its role in the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines in the region...

​24 July 2019, London, United Kingdom - I would like to thank CTO Acting Secretary-General Gisa Fuatai Purcell for inviting ITU to today's meeting and for giving us the opportunity to speak about the importance of having a common approach to promote the digital economy.​..​

17 July 2019, Tehran, Iran - Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen good evening. Ahmad, thank you for your kind words. And thank you for your active involvement and leadership in ITU activities...

​10 July 2019, New York, USA - For people to be persuaded to take up digital financial services they must have trust in them. Trust will only come with security, and authenticity, so people are confident that they are transacting with the right entity. And there must be a high quality of service, at an affordable price. Over the last two years ITU has been developing the international standards to meet these requirements...

​9 July 2019, New York, USA - My name is Malcolm Johnson and I am the Deputy Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs). Thank you for joining us tonight to discuss how frontier technologies can help accelerate climate actions and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)... 

​7 June 2019, ITU Headquarters, Geneva - ​It is my great pleasure to welcome you to this workshop​, co-organized by ITU's three Sectors, on the Future of Television for Europe. I would like to thank our sponsor, HiSilicon, for their generous support. Television is deeply woven into the fabric of our lives...

​31 May 2019, Geneva, Switzerland - Welcome to the last day of this year’s AI for Good Global Summit and this session on Smart and Safe Mobility in particular. The event this week has focused on how AI can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs are very ambitious: ending poverty and hunger; providing quality education for all; bringing clean water and sanitation to everyone; all by 2030...

​15 May 2019, Paris, France - As we know, vulnerability anywhere is a threat to security everywhere, so ITU strongly advocates capacity building in cybersecurity especially in developing countries. As an international standards-making body for ICTs, interoperability, accessibility and security are our requirements from the design stage. ITU’s core function is harmonising the world-wide use of spectrum...
  

​15 May 2019, Paris, France - Thank you minister and thank you for inviting ITU to this discussion and your warm hospitality. I am pleased to have this opportunity to inform you of our activities on AI. ITU, as the UN specialized agency for information and communication technologies, is an advocate of AI for good, whilst being mindful of the challenges and risks associated with the technology...

1​3 May 2019 - ITU Headquarters - It is a pleasure for me to open this year’s symposium 11 years after I opened the first of these symposia in Kyoto in April 2008 ! The report of that symposium resulted in the establishment of the Focus Group on ICT and Climate Change and the repositioning of ITU-T Study Group 5 to focus on studies related to climate change, including energy conservation and e-waste, and the wider environmental issues that this group, and now other areas of ITU, address...

13 May 2019 - Palais des Nations, Geneva, Swizterland - I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak to you today about the progress made in implementing the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), and to reiterate the need for close alignment between the WSIS process and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development...​​

​29 April 2019, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago - Secretary-General Bernadette Lewis, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure for me to be with you to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union and I bring greetings and congratulations from ITU’s Secretary-General, Directors and staff. We are most grateful for the very productive track record of ITU and CTU working together over the last 30 years and look forward to it continuing and growing stronger, especially in helping achieve the Caribbean Single ICT Space and the 21st Century Government initiatives... 

​2 April 2019, Amsterdam, Netherlands - Firstly let me say how pleased I am to join you today. It is the first time for ITU to participate in the Geospatial World Forum. I was also pleased that we entered into a cooperation agreement with WGIC yesterday. For those of you who may not be familiar with ITU, it is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs)...

20 March 2019 - Geneva, Switzerland - ​Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to ITU. We are very pleased to host this event on the future of space, and space issues in Geneva. In particular I would like to thank the Permanent Mission of France for organizing today’s event, and in particular Ambassador François Rivasseau, who was Special Envoy for Space and Head of the Security Policy and Space Policy at the European External Action Service prior to his appointment in Geneva.

As you may know, ITU maintains the only international treaty on the use of the radio spectrum and satellite orbits – the Radio Regulations. This is a complex technical treaty which includes the regulatory procedures to be followed in coordinating the orbital slots. It ensures that satellites operate free from harmful interference. ITU has been maintainin....​

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15 March 2019, Nairobi, Kenya - Before I begin, I would like to offer my condolences on behalf of ITU to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in last Sunday's tragic plane crash. ITU lost two dear colleagues Maygenet Abebe and Marcelino Tayob, who was here with me at the previous Environment Assembly. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families and friends. Mr. Chairman, with an ever-growing and more diverse membership, ITU serves as a platform for concerted action amongst governments, industry, civil society and academia, and is at the forefront of the digital revolution...

​12 March 2019, New Delhi, India - It is a great pleasure to share with you ITU’s latest work on smart sustainable cities. Allow me to start by commending Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his unwavering commitment to digital technology. Bold initiatives like the “Smart Cities Mission” are a testament to India’s vision of a smarter and more sustainable future for all. The focus of this initiative is on sustainable and inclusive development...

12 March 2019, New Delhi, India - It is a great pleasure for me to be back in New Delhi, in a country and a region that is fast emerging as a hub for technology innovation. India is a technology powerhouse, and I am pleased to see that the ITU Council has confirmed the establishment of a South Asian Area Office and Technology Innovation Centre here in India...

​11 March 2019, New Delhi, India - It is a pleasure to be back here in New Delhi for the “13th CMAI ICT World Communication Summit & Awards 2019,” an event that celebrates innovation and the vitality of India’s ICT industry. We are living in a time of extraordinary advances at the intersection of various fields of innovation. Industries are entering new shared space. New technologies are emerging, from the Internet of Things and cloud computing...

​14 February 2019, WHO HQ, Geneva, Switzerland - What brings us here together is one of life’s most precious gifts - our hearing. But hearing is a fragile gift. And, as we have heard, the risks posed to young people’s hearing from playing music too loud on smartphones and other devices is serious and one we can all relate to...

​20 January 2019, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA - Aloha, everyone! It is a great pleasure to be here, and I thank the Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association for the kind invitation to address you today.  ITU has had excellent collaboration with PITA over many years and so I am very happy to have this chance to join you today, as I did the last time I participated in PTC two years ago...

​11 December, Nairobi, Kenya - Firstly, let me thank UNCTAD for the opportunity to speak to you here today. It is a pleasure to be back in Nairobi for the first ever Africa eCommerce Week. I am sure this audience understands well the importance of access to the digital economy, including e-commerce, for social, economic and environmentally sustainable development...

​3 October 2018, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago - Welcome to this important session on Spectrum Management, National regulatory and policy issues. It is a pleasure for me to be chairing a session on spectrum as I started my ITU career in the radio sector. I led the European countries at three WRCs: 1993, 1995 and 1997...

1 October 2018, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago - I am very pleased to join my distinguished panelists this morning to discuss the important topic of broadband planning of digital transformation. I don’t believe it is necessary to make the case to this august audience of the importance of broadband access to bring social, economic and environmentally sustainable development to the citizens of the world...

​1 October 2018, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago - It is a great pleasure to join you here at this Commonwealth ICT Forum 2018, thank you for the invitation, and of course I bring greetings from ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. It is very nice to be back in Trinidad again where we always have a warm welcome. I have had a long association with the Commonwealth, and CTO especially, going back to when I was the UK representative on the CTO Council...

​​​​27 September 2018, St Kitts and Nevis - Congratulations to CTU for such a successful 21st General Conference of Ministers ! It is four years since I last participated in this event and it really has stepped up since then. And thanks to the government of St Kitts and Nevis for their excellent organisation and warm hospitality.....

​​25 September 2018, St Kitts and Nevis - I bring warm greetings from ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. He thanks you for the invitation to join you here at the Opening Ceremony of ICT Week -St Kitts and Nevis, and sends his regrets due to a previous commitment. However, his misfortune is my good fortune! I am very pleased to return to the beautiful island of St Kitts...

​​13 September 2018, Durban, South Africa - Welcome to this High Level panel discussion on promoting ICT opportunities for women empowerment. Gender inclusion is a very important objective for ITU, so let me take this opportunity to explain some of our activities....

​11 September 2018, Durban, South Africa - Good afternoon. Thank you all for coming. I am very pleased to welcome you to this ministerial roundtable on the all-important topic of Financing for Digital Development. I was given a choice of ministerial roundtables to moderate but I was particularly keen to moderate this one, so I am happy to be with you...

​9 September 2018, Durban, South Africa - ​​​I would like to thank APC and CRASA for the invitation to say a few words at the opening of this event held in conjunction with the ITU World Telecom, opening at the ICC tomorrow. As will be seen from the discussion at the World Telecom event this week, ITU promotes investment in digital infrastructure, digital literacy, cybersecurity and connecting the world.​​

​6 September 2018, Prague, Czech Republic - I would like to thank the OSCE and the Italian Chairmanship for the invitation to be here today and to speak to you about what a multilateral organization like ITU is doing to leverage the opportunities of today’s digital economy...

​4 July 2018, Thanh Hóa, Vietnam - It is a pleasure to add my welcome to this fourth Asia-Pacific Regional Forum on Smart Sustainable Cities and e-Government. I would like to thank our hosts, the Ministry of Information and Communications of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Thanh Hóa province for offering us this beautiful venue and wonderful facilities...

​18 June 2018, Melbourne, Australia - Myself and my colleagues, Mr Ba Chief of Finance and Mr Koroivuki, Regional Director, are very pleased to be with you at this important meeting of the APT preparatory group for PP-18. Our thanks go to APT for its invitation and we hope to assist you in your preparations for the conference. I am pleased to see representatives from other regions also participating...

6 June 2018, UNHQ, USA - It is my pleasure to be here today to welcome you to this side-event, co-organized by ITU and Mexico during the UN STI Forum, which brings together key stakeholders to share their experiences from the AI for Good Global Summit. It’s early days, but AI is making its way out of research labs and into our everyday lives. It already shows the potential business applications and economic value for a range of analytics and AI technologies...

​6 June 2018, UNHQ, USA - Welcome to this session on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: Unlocking the Full Potential of ICT, sponsored by the International Telecommunication Union and GeSI, the Global e-Sustainability Initiative. As you all are aware, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes that the spread of information and communication technology and global interconnectedness has great potential to accelerate human progress...

​6 June 2018, UNHQ, USA - I am quite pleased to be back in New York. The last time I was here was in 2015 for the WSIS+10 review held in December 2015. Back then I talked about the extraordinary potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve social and economic development, and how we all need to come together to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)... 

22 May 2018, Geneva - As the lead UN agency for ICTs, much of ITU's work relates to the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Without ICTs it will be impossible to achieve any of the 17 SDGs, including of course SDG3: Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages. For example target 3.6: By 2020, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents. This will clearly rely on ICTs for better road traffic management, collision avoidance systems and autonomous vehicles. ITU is working closely with UNECE on the international standards in this area...

​18 May 2018, Leela Mumbai, India - Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you and let me thank the organisers again for their kind invitation. The subject of this conference is attracting great interest all over the world.5G will change things radically. In a new age of technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing and the internet of things, 5G will create new opportunities to stimulate social and economic development...

​17 May 2018, Hotel Imperial, Delhi - Namaste! And Happy World Telecommunication and Information Society Day! It is a real pleasure to be here with you in New Delhi on this special day. The story of ITU starts on 17 May 1865, with the signature of the first International Telegraph Convention. It is a story of innovation in the face of technological change...

​16 May 2018, Vigyan Bhawan, Delhi, India - It is a pleasure to be back here in New Delhi on a visit to India that will take me also to Mumbai for discussions on 5G and artificial intelligence (AI). These emerging technologies are opening new frontiers and also new possibilities. And ITU is at the forefront of this digital revolution. But with possibility comes responsibility. Let’s remember that 3.8 billion people are not using the internet. Education and skill development will be key to bridging the digital divide...

11 May 2018, Kumasi, Ghana - My organisation ITU is based in Geneva and is the lead UN agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs). Using this technology for the social and economic empowerment of women and girls is high on our agenda. We are particularly keen to encourage girls to choose a career in ICTs, and this is one of the reasons ITU initiated Girls in ICT Day....

​8 March 2018, ITU Headquarters, Geneva - On behalf of ITU welcome to this hackathon entitled Hack Against Hunger organised by ITU and FAO. I am pleased to be joined by Samuel Varas, Director of IT Division at FAO. This is the first event of this year’s WSIS Forum. It is nice to see so many young and enthusiastic participants and good regional and gender balance amongst you...

​13 March 2018, Buenos Aires, Argentina - It is an honour and a pleasure for me to be able to join you in Buenos Aires for the CITEL Assembly. I bring greetings from ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao and my fellow elected colleagues. I would like to express my gratitude to the government and the people of Argentina for their warm and kind hospitality, congratulate the government of Argentina...

​12 March 2018, Buenos Aires, Argentina - Buenos Dias. Es un gran placer estar aquí. Good morning. I would like to thank the Argentine Republic and the OAS for inviting ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao to participate in this event. Unfortunately, he was not able to be here and sends his apologies and best wishes. However, his misfortune is my good fortune! I am very pleased to be back in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires...

8 March 2018, Palexpo, Geneva - Good morning and on behalf of ITU welcome to this Symposium on the Future Networked Car. Let me begin by thanking our co-organizer, UNECE and its Director of Sustainable Transport Division, Yuwei Li for being here with us. This is the thirteenth FNC and the fifth we have co-organised with UNECE...

​26 February 2018, ITU Headquarters, Geneva - Good morning and on behalf of the Secretary-General welcome to this second TSAG meeting of the 2017 to 2020 study period. I am pleased to have this opportunity to commend ITU-T for the significant contribution it makes to the work of ITU with its particular focus on innovation and future technological developments.

​2 February 2018, Almaty, Kazakhstan - Thank you for the question but let me first thank the government of Kazakhstan for inviting ITU to participate in this forum, and for the excellent hospitality and warm welcome. It's a great pleasure to be with you here in Almaty, and congratulations on putting together such an interesting programme...

15 January 2018, Geneva, Switzerland - Good morning, and on behalf of the Secretary-General, myself, my fellow elected officials and the ITU staff Happy New Year and welcome to the third meeting of the Council Working Group on Strategic and Financial Plans, and the start of two weeks of Council working group meetings. The Secretary-General is not able to be with us this week but will join us for the second week.

​6 December 2017, Nairobi, Kenya - It is a pleasure for me to have this opportunity to speak to you about ITU’s work towards a pollution-free planet, and the important role of information and communication technology (ICTs). As UN Secretary-General Guterres said recently, “ICTs are a powerful tool to help us achieve each and every single Sustainable Development Goal”...

​21 November 2017, ITU Headquarters, Geneva - It is a pleasure for me to welcome you to Geneva for this celebration of the 90th Anniversary of the founding of the "Comité Consultatif International pour la Radio" (CCIR) which occurred at the International Radiotelegraph Convention in Washington, D.C. on 25 November 1927...

​14 November 2017, Bonn, Germany - I would like to thank GeSI and  Deutsche Telekom for inviting me to speak to you here this morning. Just a few weeks ago the World Meteorological Organization announced that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the highest for 800,000 years. This comes at a cost...

​25 October 2017, Brussels, Belgium - Four Speakers, known for their talent to "think outside the box" were asked to present emerging technologies that in their perception will have major impact on the achievement of SDGs in the mid to long term future.

​23 October 2017, Brussels, Belgium - I am very happy to be here with you today for the first G-STIC conference. I am going to talk to you this afternoon about building a digital future where no one is left behind, where information and communication technologies can and will help us achieve the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. And the clock is ticking…

​23 September 2017, Bangkok, Thailand - Good morning, everybody and let me add my welcome. Today, ITU is partnering with the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity and Forum Global to launch this new Internet of Things Summit for the Asia-Pacific region. It is an honour to have the Secretary General of the APT here with us today, Mrs. Areewan Haorangsi. And I’m happy to see so many representatives of different IoT stakeholder communities, all together in the same room...

​21 September 2017, Bangkok, Thailand - We live in an age of digital transformation. Big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, 5G and other emerging technologies that will shape our digital future. But we must ensure that they shape our future for the better - and for everyone. This morning...

​21 September 2017, Bangkok, Thailand - Welcome to our 3rd Asia-Pacific Regional Forum on Smart Cities and e-Government. I am delighted to share the stage today with Thailand’s Minister of Digital Economy and Society Pichet Durong kaveroj and the Secretary General of the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization, Dr. Young-sook Nam...

​14 September 2017, Beijing, China - It is an honour and pleasure for me to be here in Beijing today to speak at this Opening Ceremony of the Belt and Road High-level Event on Disability Cooperation, and to have the opportunity to see the different innovations in cutting-edge technologies that will make such a difference to the lives of persons with disabilities...

​11 September 2017, Maputo, Mozambique - Secretary-General Taylor, dear Shola, thank you for your generous introduction and for your leadership at the helm of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO). The Commonwealth is a compelling force for good in the world and an effective network for promoting development. In these turbulent times, we need it – we need you – now more than ever...

​11 September 2017, Maputo, Mozambique - Good morning everyone. Mr. Chairman thank you for your kind words. And thanks to my good friend Secretary-General, Shola Taylor for giving me an opportunity to be with all of you here today...

5 April 2017, New Delhi - Good afternoon, it is a great pleasure to be back here in New Delhi. I know that today is a major Indian festival, so I wish you all a happy Ram Navami! I thank FICCI for the invitation to speak here today at the 2017 India Internet Conference, and congratulate FICCI for organising this event and especially for launching the FICCI-Indian Language Internet Alliance here today. Statistics show that 85% of the world's population is covered by at least 3G services, yet less than 50% of people are connected. It's no use providing connectivity if people cannot afford the service......

​14 March 2017, ITU Headquarters, Geneva - On behalf of ITU, the host of this meeting and the co-organizers, UNESCO, UNCTAD and UNDP, I welcome all onsite and remote participants to this final physical meeting of the WSIS Forum 2017 Open Consultation Process on the Thematic Aspects and Format....

​​9 March 2017, Palexpo,​ Geneva - Good morning and welcome to this Symposium on the Future Networked Car. It is 10 years since I first opened this event. It was then called the Fully Networked Car event and the purpose was to bring together experts from the ICT standardization sector and the automotive sector...​

​14 February 2017, ITU Headquarters, Geneva - On behalf of ITU, the host of this meeting and the co-organizers, UNESCO, UNCTAD and UNDP, I welcome all onsite and remote participants to the second physical meeting of the WSIS Forum 2017 Open Consultation Process on the Thematic Aspects and Format. The WSIS Forum, is a joint effort of the UN system...

​7 February 2017, ITU Headquarters, Geneva - On behalf of the Secretary-General and my fellow elected officials it is a pleasure to welcome you to this thirtieth meeting of the Council Working Group on WSIS both in the room and online...

3 February 2017, ITU Headquarters, Geneva - On behalf of the Secretary-General it is my pleasure to welcome you all to this physical open consultation meeting of the Council Working Group on international Internet related public policy issues on the topic of the "Developmental Aspects of the Internet"...

​2 February 2017, ITU Headquarters, Geneva - On behalf of the Secretary-General it is a pleasure to welcome you here today to the thirteenth meeting of the Council Working Group on Child online Protection. Thank you all for joining us – in the room and those online. We appreciate your support and commitment to addressing this important issue....

​1 February 2017, ITU Headquarters, Geneva - On behalf of the Secretary-General it is my pleasure to welcome you to this meeting of the CWG on languages, those on-site as well as on-line. Thank you for joining us. And thanks to you chairman for taking on this responsibility, and thanks also to the nominated vice-chairmen for offering their support...

​17 January 2017, Honolulu, Hawaï - I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak to you today about ITU's work related to ICT for development. The UN General Assembly has highlighted the cross-cutting contribution of ICTs to the Sustainable Development Goals and called for close alignment between the World Summit on Information Society process and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, noting that ICTs can accelerate progress towards all 17 SDGs.

12 December 2016, CICG, Geneva - It is a pleasure for me to welcome you to Geneva for this celebration of 110 years of the ITU Radio Regulations. Last year we celebrated the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the ITU, created in 1865 to deal with the problems of international connection and interoperability of the telegraph service in Europe – the fixed telegraph service.

​8 December 2016, ITU Headquarters, Geneva - It is a pleasure to welcome you to this workshop on Digital Financial Services and Financial Inclusion. It marks the conclusion of over two years of study by the ITU Focus Group on Digital Financial Services, which I had the pleasure of launching in 2014 when I was Director of the ITU standards bureau...

​6 December 2016, Guadalajara, Mexico - It is a great pleasure to be back in the beautiful city of Guadalajara, 6 years after the city hosted the very successful ITU Plenipotentiary Conference of 2010. ITU Secretary-General, Mr. Houlin Zhao was very disappointed not to be here himself and sends you his best wishes for a very successful IGF, his thanks to the Mexican Government for hosting this meeting ....

​​5 December 2016, Guadalajara, Mexico - Since ITU is the UN Specialized Agency for Telecommunication and ICTs one of its major objectives is to connect all regions of the world and bring the benefits of ICTs to all people, regardless of their location, gender, age or income. According to ITU’s latest statistics 47% of the world’s population is using the Internet...

​2 December 2016, Pittsburgh, USA - It is a pleasure to be here with you today in this renowned university. Thank you for inviting me to speak about the work of ITU. Surprisingly, given that ITU is the specialised agency of the UN dealing with telecommunications and information and communication technologies (ICTs), and how much importance people and business place on ICTs, it is not a particularly well known organisation. I believe this is because it carries out its role quietly and efficiently...

​14 November 2016, Marrakech, Morocco - It is a pleasure to join you here at this conference to speak on the topic of ICTs and climate change – a topic which is very close to my heart - and a topic which I have championed in ITU since I first joined ITU in 2007.

When we first published our report entitled “ICTs and climate change” in 2007, the overwhelming reaction was: what have ICTs got to do with climate change; and why is ITU getting involved in climate change?

​11 November 2016, Bangalore, India - It is estimated by World Bank that for every 10% increase in broadband penetration in the developing world, GDP will be boosted by 1.38% on average. As I stressed in my opening speech, we need to ensure that all nations and all people – and especially the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people – have equitable access to this vital resource which is vital for the sustainable growth of the Digital Economy.

​10 November 2016, Bangalore, India - It is a great pleasure to be here again in Bangalore, and I thank the Indian government for inviting ITU to this meeting. I convey the greetings of ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao who could not be here with you today as he is attending the UN Chief Executive Board meeting in New York. His misfortune is my good fortune! Let me firstly say how much the Secretary-General, myself and the other elected officials, and ITU staff appreciate the tremendous support the BRICS countries give to ITU...

​9 November 2016, Delhi, India - Good morning, it is a great pleasure to be back here in New Delhi. I wish to thank Mr. M F Farooqui for his invitation to speak to you here today. The ITU Secretary-General, my fellow elected colleagues and ITU staff are very grateful for the very positive role that India plays in ITU...

4 November 2016, Beijing, China - Thank you Chairman, and thank you for inviting ITU to participate in this meeting, in this beautiful venue, and for your generous hospitality. Mr. Chairman, I would like to take this opportunity to emphasize the importance of access to the information and knowledge society, so important to facilitate innovation and the development of the digital economy, and the need to promote broadband connectivity, especially in developing countries...

​Wuxi, 31 October 2016 - It gives me great pleasure to be here at the World Internet of Things Exposition, Wuxi Summit. On behalf of the ITU I would like to congratulate the organiser for this summit which I am sure will be a great success. Greetings for ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao!

As the specialized agency of the United Nations for information and communication technologies (ICTs), ITU has the responsibility of maintaining and developing international cooperation in the field, promoting innovation and the efficient use, with trust and confidence, of the major global telecommunication resources: the international radio spectrum; the geostationary satellite orbit; and the international telecommunication fixed networks.

​13 October 2016, Le Richemond, Geneva - In September 2015 the UN General Assembly agreed the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and set out a global agenda for development based on economic prosperity, social inclusion and environmental sustainability known as the '2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'. It identifies five pillars of "people, the planet, prosperity, peace and partnerships". The SDGs build on the foundations established by the MDGs...

12 October 2016, ITU Headquarters, Geneva - On behalf of ITU, welcome to this the first physical meeting of the WSIS Forum 2017 Open Consultation Process on the Thematic Aspects, Innovations and Format for next year’s Forum. The overall theme of WSIS Forum 2017, which will be held in Geneva from 12-16 June, is the Information Society for SDGs. This reflects the Outcome of the UN General Assembly Overall Review of the implementation of the WSIS which called for a close alignment between the WSIS process and the SDG process, recognising that ICTs will play a crucial enabling role for the achievement of all 17 SDGs.

12 October 2016, ITU Headquarters, Geneva - It is a great pleasure to welcome you here on behalf of the Secretary-General to the twenty ninth meeting of the Council Working Group on WSIS. As the United Nations specialized agency for ICTs, we have been working towards ensuring that ITUs activities contribute most effectively to the achievement of the goals and objectives set by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UNGA Overall Review on WSIS.

​11 October 2016, ITU Headquarters, Geneva - I welcome you all to this third physical open consultation meeting of the Council Working Group on International Internet related public policy issues. I would also like to inform you that CWG-Internet Chairman Mr. Majed Al-Mazyed...

10 October 2016, ITU Headquarters, Geneva - It is a great pleasure to be here with you today, and on behalf of the Secretary-General let me offer you a very warm welcome to all participants – both here and following us online.  I appreciate your continued support and commitment to this important Working Group on Child Online Protection.

5 October 2016, Bangkok, Thailand - As the lead UN agency on information and communication technology (ICT) it is an honour to speak to you this afternoon on the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) process and how ITU intends to work closely with ESCAP and its Member States on implementing the WSIS Action Lines.

​5 October 2016, Bangkok, Thailand - I am honoured to have this opportunity to speak to you today about ITU's work towards promoting broadband infrastructure connectivity. It is now well recognised that broadband Internet access is a driver of national competitiveness, productivity and innovation...

​4 October 2016, Bangkok, Thailand - It is a pleasure to be here at this first Regional Review meeting of the World Summit of the Information Society following the UN General Assembly’s invitation to the regional commissions to coordinate the implementation of the WSIS at the regional level. I would like to congratulate ESCAP for taking this initiative...

​21 September 2016, Geneva, Switzerland - On behalf of the ITU, it is a pleasure for me to express my congratulations to the JIU on the 50th anniversary of its founding. I would like to acknowledge my deep appreciation to the Chairman of the Joint Inspection Unit...

​13 September 2016, San José, Costa Rica - I am honoured to be here with you today to address the importance of national broadband plans, policies and strategies to promote the roll-out of broadband infrastructure to the increase hyper connectivity which will be so essential to the implementation of the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs)...

​13 September 2016, San José, Costa Rica - It's a great pleasure to be here. I would like to thank the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) for inviting ITU to speak to you this morning at this World Information Technology Forum (WITFOR), and we look forward to closer collaboration with IFIP and WITFOR...

​9 September 2016, Montevideo, Uruguay - Welcome to the last and final day of the Green Standards Week 2016. I hope you agree that it has been a very interesting and worthwhile experience. During this week we have benefited from many excellent speeches and interesting discussions on this important subject of smart sustainable cities...

​8 September 2016, Montevideo, Uruguay - Buenos días a todas y todos. Let me thanks ASIET for holding its 17th edition of the Ibero-American Meeting of Digital Cities in conjunction with Green Standards Week. This is a good illustration of the collaboration and cooperation between different organisations and stakeholders that will be essential to transition to smart sustainable cities...

​5 September 2016, Montevideo, Uruguay - Buenos días a todas y todos,  bienvenidos a la Semana de las Normas Verdes. It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you to this the 6th annual ITU Green Standards Week. We began these events in Rome in 2011 when I was the Director...

​18 July 2016, Geneva, Switzerland - On behalf of the Secretary-General I am pleased to welcome you to this special session of TSAG to prepare for WTSA-16. Mr Zhao is on mission today but hope to be able to address TSAG on Friday at its closing plenary. He also intends to participate throughout WTSA-16...

15 June 2016, London, UK - 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...

6 June 2016, Geneva, Switzerland - Good morning and on behalf of the ITU Secretary-General I am pleased to welcome you to ITU and this Women in Aerospace - Europe Networking Breakfast. ITU is pleased to support this initiative to expand women's leadership opportunities and visibility in the aerospace sector...

​18 May 2016, Rome, Italy - It is a pleasure to welcome you to this forum on "Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities: Striving for sustainable development goals". I would like to thank UNECE, the Ministry of Economic Development of Italy, the Chamber of Commerce of Rome and Tecnoborsa for jointly organizing this forum with ITU...

​6 May 2016, Geneva, Switzerland - Welcome to the closing ceremony of the WSIS Forum 2016. I hope you found the week both productive, informative and enjoyable. This year, the Forum attracted more that 2000 WSIS Stake holders from more that 150 countries...

​5 May 2016, Geneva, Switzerland - Good afternoon and welcome to this Workshop on Building Effective Partnerships for Sustainable Management of E-waste.Your presence here today is a reflection of the important and universal concern that we share on managing e-waste...

​2 May 2016, Geneva, Switzerland - Good afternoon and welcome to this information session From Bits to Bytes – Scaling Sustainable Development - part of the pre-launch of the Global e-Sustainability Initiative's report entitled "System Transformation: How digital solutions will drive progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals"...

​28 April 2016, Geneva, Switzerland - I am very pleased to welcome you all here to ITU for our ‘Geneva Girls in ICT Day’ celebrations. It is always very rejuvenating to be surrounded by so many bright young people, so it’s very nice to have you with us. Thank you for coming. You are joining a global community...

16 December 2015, New York, United States -

Thank you for joining us today, this session will provide us with an opportunity to inform you about the key role played by the ITU in the WSIS Process since its inception. ITU Initiated WSIS in 1998, and led the organisation of the two phases, Geneva 2003 and Tunis 2005. Since then ITU has been playing a lead role in the implementation and annual follow-up of the WSIS outcomes...