ITU Telecom World 2009 In Review The event was also marked by the strong presence of the United Nations fam-ily, represented at the highest level. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon took part in many of the week’s activities, along with the Director- General of the UN Office at Geneva Sergei Ordzhonikidze; International Mari-time Organization Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos; World Intellectual VVIPS and Ministerial Insight Property Organization Director-General Francis Gurry; World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Michel Jarraud; and Universal Postal Union Director General Edouard Dayan. Ban Ki-moon describes the challenge A round table debate by Heads of State and Government and chief executive officers of major ICT companies noted that every crisis brings with it fresh op-portunities — and the current economic crisis is no different. Their discussion covered many of the key issues of our time — the global economy, the digital divide, and cybersecurity — but the main focus was on climate change. The session was moderated by ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré, who began by welcoming United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Mr Ban commended the government leaders for their strong commitment to connecting the world. He also stressed the great potential influence of the private sector. “It is the business leaders who can invest their resources and make technological innovations happen,” Mr Ban stated. He said that while all the issues to be discussed by the round-table meeting are important, he wanted to focus on how the power of ICT could be used in addressing climate change. “I know that the ICT industry itself is part of the problem, caus-ing 2 to 3 per cent of greenhouse-gas emissions. But at the same time, by using ICT as tools, you can reduce at least 15 per cent of greenhouse-gas emissions in other sectors.” VVIPS and Ministerial Insight