Statement
by
H. E. Mr. Reuven Rivlin
Minister of Communications
State of Israel

Tuesday, 19 March 2002

Mr. Chairman, Ministers, Mr. Utsumi, Mr. Touré, Distinguished Heads of delegations -

I feel very honoured to be here today.

I would like to begin by thanking the Government of Turkey, for their gracious hospitality and warm welcome.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express my high regard for ITU, especially to the Director of B.D.T. and his staff, for their excellent and important work over the years, in effort to bring the priceless advantages of modern telecommunications to developing and least-developed countries.

My country has always acknowledged the importance of this task, and it has a long tradition indeed of assisting fellow countries, especially throughout the developing world, in specific projects and fields, such as agriculture, health, and telecommunications.

For a country of only six and a half million people, our telecom market is just as progressive as any of the most advanced ITU members. Israeli telecom products can be found in every market in the world, in developing countries as well as in the most developed markets.

A latest major Israeli achievement in the telecommunications field, is an agreement, just signed in January, under which the Israeli AeroSpace Industry is cooperating with China to provide the first 2 satellites, in a series of 10 communications satellites. The satellites will be launched in time for the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, and will transmit the broadcasting of the games, all over the world.

Israeli technologies are already taking part in the task of bridging the digital gap, all over the developing world.

We feel that we can contribute to many developing telecom markets, in many fields. It is for this purpose that we intend to hold a special seminar in Israel, so that representatives from all over the world, will be able to discuss – under the auspices of the I.T.U. - ways to meet the technological needs of developing countries.

I would like to take this opportunity, To personally invite you all, to TELECOM ISRAEL 2002 – the biggest and most important telecom event in the middle east – which will be held in Tel-Aviv in November 4-7.

It is going to be an excellent opportunity to get a first-hand impression of the latest Israeli telecom technologies and services.

I believe that representatives from developing countries especially, may find much interest in this exhibition and conference, and we will be glad to see you there.

Thank you.