H.E. Mr Vasilios PHILIPPOU Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Cyprus at Mexico We believe that the cornerstone of our policy must be to ensure the uptake of ICT by businesses and house-holds and promote the development of both public and private services. We should also increase invest-ment in human capital. This way, we shall increase productivity, establish an open and competitive dig-ital economy and promote an inclusive society, thus boosting growth and jobs. In our efforts, we must explore ways to seize the opportunities of cloud com-puting to provide productivity and efficiency gains as well as environmental gains especially for public bod-ies, small businesses and communities. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, Honorable Ministers, Broadband accessibility should not be a privilege but a right to every citizen. Concrete steps should be taken to overcome the digital divide by meeting the target of 100% coverage, taking into account the needs of the future for ultra high speed communica-tions. Distinguished delegates, First, on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus and the Cyprus delegation, let me express our thanks and gratitude to the Government of Mexico for hosting this Plenipotentiary Conference and con-gratulate At the same time, we must reduce the prices for Internet access to be affordable to everyone and create a secure flow of information and operation of networks because people will be reluctant to trans-act over the Internet if they are not confident that what they do is secure. Furthermore, governments need to use ICT in their internal functioning to be-come you, Mr. Chairman, on your election. The present global economic crisis renders impera-tive more efficient and productive and also to pro-vide services to the citizens and businesses. the need for the creation of a dynamic and com-petitive knowledge-based economy. Information To achieve a truly digital society, we must also pro-mote and Communication Technologies (ICT) constitute the basic tool and an “intelligent investment”, as they help in the creation and maintenance of high paying jobs and economic growth and consequently in the faster exit from the crisis, while at the same time create the foundation for constant future eco-nomic digital literacy and skills as well as the benefits offered by ICT in daily and business activities. In this effort, we need to make sure that nobody is left be-hind. Particular attention should be paid to the vul-nerable groups of society, people with special skills, the elderly, the poor. growth. 54