ITU Telecom World 2009 In Review 2009 Geneva 5-9 October The digital economy represents 6% of the global GDP, so it’s a very important strategic sector. The widespread economic crisis afflicting the world has not really affected this sector, which is continuing to grow. This can be explained by the success of the “magic triangle” of the objectives of regulation: innova-tion, investment, competition and regulation of the sector. The crisis and the post-crisis period require maintaining regulation, so the idea of “regulatory holi-days” is not tangible at the moment. All around the world, but particularly in the developing countries it is vital that regulators and operators work together with one aim. That aim being to de-velop the country. All the studies indicate that when there are good telecom services, the economy grows, and like this they are partners in development. It is not just a way to make money, there has to be a constructive nature of engagement. The World Bank is trying to avoid what happened in the last crisis: curtailing or delaying infrastructure investments, or stopping them altogether. They push the pro-competition agenda thus enabling the private sector through new in-novative operating and business models typically of a PPP approach, allowing investors to come and to invest to the greatest extent unhindered to promote ICTs. Moderator * Mr Stewart White, CEO, Stewart White Consulting Ltd - SWCL, United Kingdom Panellists * Mr Masataka Kawauchi, Director-General for International and Technology Policy Co-ordination, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan * Mr Matthias Kurth, President, Federal Network Agency, Germany * Dr Amr Badawi, Executive President, National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA)., Egypt * Mr Jean-Ludovic Silicani, Chairman - President, Autorité de Régulation des Commu-nications électroniques et des Postes (ARCEP), France * Mr Mohammad Omran, Chairman, ETISALAT, United Arab Emirates * Mr Doyle Gallegos, Lead ICT Policy Specialist - CITPO, The World Bank, United States 104 Forum Summary Report