First Plenary ITU Monday, 4 October Other landmark events include the World Telecommunication Policy Forum, which was held in Portugal and which addres-sed Since then, we have held two very successful meetings, one in July in Geneva and the second in New York just last mon-th, a number of high-level issues right across the ICT sector, ahead of the 2010 MDG Summit. At this second mee-ting we presented the Commission’s report to Mr Ban Ki-moon, and which attracted great support from the Membership. The Forum enabled ITU to address the key issues of ICTs and climate change, and ICTs and the global financial crisis. We all know that this sector – our sector – has been the most resilient of all sectors during the economic crisis, and I think it is safe to say that ICTs came to the rescue of the world du-ring and he was very positive indeed about ITU’s work. This report has only just been published and is currently available in English; I ask your indulgence of the transla-tors, who are working overtime to ensure that we have it available in the other five official languages before the end of the Conference. We would like to recommend this report as a referen-ce this crisis. The WTPF also addressed the implications of convergence and the emergence of new technologies; the transition to next-generation document for all Member States, and I would like to networks; Internet-related public policy matters; take this opportunity to thank the two Co-chairs, HE Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, and Carlos Slim Helú, Honorary Lifetime Chairman of Grupo Carso, as well as my Co-vice-chair, Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, and of course all of the Commissioners, some of whom are present or will be present with us in Guadalajara for this Conference. They include Senator Stephen Conroy of Australia and United States FCC Chairman Mr Julius Genachowski. A separate information note on the Broadband Commission is available to delegates as part of the PP-10 documentation. Ladies and gentlemen, This is an opportune moment for me to say one or two words about ITU’s relationship with the rest of the UN system, which it would be no overstatement to say is bet-ter and the International Telecommunication Regulations. Over the four-year cycle we also staged successful re-gional ITU Telecom events in Cairo, Egypt, and Bangkok, Thailand, in 2008; and held the ITU Telecom World event in Geneva in October 2009. Over the same period we also successfully transformed the annual WSIS Forum into a more useful, meaningful – and it must be said well-atten-ded – event. Following the World Summit on the Information Society and the Antalya Plenipotentiary Conference, we also un-dertook a number of important initiatives in response to Membership’s requests that we take more active steps in addressing issues such as the digital divide, cybersecurity, climate change and the provision of ICTs during emergen-cies and disasters. In 2007, we launched the ITU Connect series of events, starting with the hugely successful Connect Africa event in Kigali, Rwanda, which brought in an unprecedented USD 55 billion in ICT development pledges for Africa over a seven year period. In the first two years since then [2008 and 2009], an im-pressive than it ever has been before. I would like to thank the other members of the UN Chief Executive Board, the CEB, some of whom are also Broadband Commissioners. I can proudly say that we are acting as one under the vi-sionary leadership of Mr Ban Ki-moon, who has truly lent his support to ITU whenever needed. Members will also be aware of the Global Cybersecurity Agenda which was launched in 2007 and which is now in its operational pha-se, USD 21 billion was spent on ICT infrastructure investment in Africa, and we confidently expect the final total to exceed USD 70 billion – demonstrating the true power of partnership and business-friendly initiatives which serve real people in developing countries. A second successful ITU Connect event – Connect CIS – was held in Belarus in 2009. Another initiative where we have been very active lately – and which also addresses the digital divide – is the Broadband Commission for Digital Development. This was launched by ITU, in partnership with UNESCO, in May this year, in respon-se with a physical home in Malaysia at the headquarters of IMPACT – the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber-Threats. As part of the GCA, we also launched the Child Online Protection initiative, which was endorsed by Council in 2008 and which was the focus of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day in 2009. Before looking ahead to the next four years, I would also like to mention that we have listened carefully to Members’ requests to make our own internal organiza-tion to the UN Secretary-General’s call for renewed efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals. more efficient and transparent, and to that end we 17