15th Global Symposium for Regulators
Libreville, Gabon, 9 -11 June 2015
Closing address
Brahima Sanou, Director of BDT
His Excellency Mr Pastor Ngoua N’neme, Minister of the Digital Economy and Posts,
Mr Lin Mombo, President of ARCEP and Chairman of GSR 15,
Mr François Rancy, Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau,
Mr Abdoulkarim Soumaila, Secretary General of the ATU,
Presidents and Directors-General of regulatory agencies,
Distinguished participants of GSR 15,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As we prepare to bring down the curtain on GSR 15, I am pleased to take the floor to tell you how happy I am at the resounding success of this GRS.
During the very fruitful exchanges of the past three days, we have had an opportunity to share our respective points of view and best practices.
Throughout these exchanges, it has been clear that in the age of the digital economy, confidence, reliability, transparency, accountability and cooperation among the different sectors of the economy are the things needed to create a development-friendly environment.
I am pleased to hear that the GSR continues to be a solid global platform where you can come together, hold discussions and exchanges, and collaborate for a better world.
For over 150 years, ITU has been at the service of its Members, and for 15 years the GSR specifically has been at the service of regulators and Members, providing a neutral platform for exchanging and identifying innovative ways of working together.
In this process of exchange, dialogue with the private sector and other ICT stakeholders is crucial to building the smart society of tomorrow: a society full of promise, but also of challenges which we must transform into opportunities by laying the foundations of effective, flexible regulation based on best practices and consultation. That is our lofty mission. As I said in my speech in the opening ceremony, if we don’t do it, no one else will.
I am pleased to note that across the different meetings, we recognized the importance of working together, of consolidating and broadening our cooperation at the national level through improved dialogue with other sectors such as health, education, commerce, finance and tourism.
We also recognized the need to strengthen regional and international cooperation in order to develop a harmonized approach in an increasingly globalized and interconnected world, a world in which data originating from objects, individuals and machines circulates globally, without restrictions of time and space.
We would not have achieved these results without the resources offered by our hosts, their hospitality, their generosity and their commitment to making GSR 15 a resounding success. They surpassed all our expectations. Thank you, Minister; thank you, President of ARCEP!
More than 400 eminent specialists from all over the world took part in this edition of the GSR. Its success is your success!
The pre events of 8 June and the information sessions helped to pave the way for our discussions during this session and for future events.
On behalf of all the participants I want to express our sincere gratitude to His Excellency, Mr Ali Bongo Ondimba, President of the Republic of Gabon, for placing GSR 15 under his distinguished patronage; and His Excellency, the Minister of the Digital Economy and Posts, for his boundless support and encouragement.
Before I conclude, I must also express my sincere gratitude to Mr Lin Mombo for chairing the 15th GSR so effectively. My sincere thanks also go to his entire team for its dedication and professionalism, and to all those who laboured anonymously to make our stay such a pleasant one.
On behalf of all GSR participants, I appoint Mr Lin Mombo GSR Ambassador to promote the GSR and disseminate the GSR 15 Guidelines which we have just adopted. Mr Chairman, I am delighted on behalf of all the participants to present you with the GSR trophy for your exceptional chairmanship.
I would like to thank the interpreters who enabled us to understand one another, and all the ITU experts and authors of discussion papers for their presentations, the moderators and the panelists, all the participants, and the national and international sponsors.
Allow me also to thank the ITU team for all its tremendous work.
On your behalf and of ITU, I would like to thank Egypt for its offer to host the 2016 edition of the GSR, and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, for offering to host GSR 17.
I now wish you all a safe return to your families, and note that we shall meet again in May 2016 in Sharm El Sheikh in the hope of writing another page in history!
Thank you.
