Your Excellency Dr. Hamadoun Toure, Secretary General of the ITU
Distinguished Ministers,
Excellencies and distinguished delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning.
Today's world is changing at an accelerated rate and most countries are rapidly witnessing various breakthroughs and developments at many areas and levels. With ever evolving technology, this era is often described as the "Age of Communication and Information Technology". This makes us contemplate on the reason behind choosing this particular term. After all, the current era has witnessed the most significant industrial, medical and scientific research breakthroughs in the history of all mankind. In the midst of the major achievements and innovative inventions seen in our countries at all stages, the common factor remains the need to highlight and promote these achievements and introduce them to target markets and end users. Therefore, it is necessary to have developments in communication technologies parallel with mechanisms, to introduce and promote the advantages of these products and how to best make use of them.
We can affirm today that ICT sector plays a vital role in leading and accelerating the comprehensive development processes all over the world. This is effectively achieved by fashioning an appropriate environment and building the necessary infrastructure to provide databases, communication mechanisms, connection through the internet, social networking channels, and mobile applications.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the International Telecommunication Union, one of the world's oldest international organizations formed in 1865. As we celebrate a major milestone in the history of telecommunications, it is important to recognize the efforts of the ITU's founding fathers. Those were the individuals who convened the organization's first conference in Paris in 1865 to establish the ITU which was then known as the "International Telegraph Union". We would also like to recall their effective role in unifying efforts of concerned countries at the time. Their determination over the years to develop mechanisms, build work strategies, draw the broad lines of the organization's structure and adopt the legal framework, maintained the momentum for successive conferences. Today, every member state plays an important role in pursuing the development process for this organization, keeping up with the accelerated rate of constant ICT breakthroughs and innovations.
In recent years, the United Arab Emirates has contributed effectively in supporting activities for the International Telecommunication Union through hosting many important international conferences and actively and effectively participated in key discussions, studies and meetings related to various crucial topics, as well as chairing the Committee responsible for implementing the transition to IPV6. We continue to show our commitment and proudly announce the United Arab Emirates as the "Gold Sponsor" for the celebration to be held on the 17th of May 2015 with strong participation and attendance of all stakeholders and industry influencers worldwide. A special working group formed by the UAE TRA is working to develop the best scenarios and proposals to make these celebrations, taking place at different periods throughout the next year, a great success and honor the strenuous efforts and hard work done by all councils, departments and work groups at ITU offices globally.
This celebration provides an important opportunity to engage ITU members in reveling over key achievements in the history of telecommunications and information technologies. The role of the Union will be highlighted, as they enable yet another 150 years of innovation.
The commemorative events will also comprise of a series of activities and innovative initiatives which will include highlighting decisions taken by the Council Session 2014, the Plenipotentiary Conference 2014, organizing a series of events with academic institutions, a global radio amateur's event at the ITU and a scholarship program on the 150th anniversary. This will also include launching a global campaign on the ICTs role in development and creating a memory repository of the history of telecom and ICTs.
And in order to highlight the efforts of the ITU in leading the international telecommunications industry towards new horizons, we at the UAE TRA are working to establish national discussions about the future of ICT. In addition, we will host technical seminars in collaboration with academic institutions and research centers, industry and entrepreneurs. In attendance, there will be a group of key industry experts on both local and international levels present. Next year, we will also publish books about key figures, personalities and important achievements that contributed to the growth of ICTs at the national and regional levels. Moreover, we will issue a set of technical documents focusing on the future of the ICT sector and other communication material including stamps, posters, and flyers to mark this major occasion.
To conclude, I would like to emphasize the continued commitment of the United Arab Emirates, represented by TRA, to support the ITU efforts and activities now and in the future.
Thank you.
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