Dear colleagues and friends, it's wonderful to see so many representatives from all our current ATCs in one room!
Today's meeting will provide an excellent opportunity for you all to compare notes and share experiences and to explore new avenues for collaboration. By collaborating on common projects and exchanging insights on best practices for training, we can ensure the training you offer meets the evolving needs of learners in a constantly changing market and, crucially, continue to drive up the quality of learning.
Impactful training is the core priority of the ATC programme, and that means maintaining a high standard of training excellence among the ITU membership. To this end, we must continue to refine and improve our training and ensure they continue to meet both ITU's strategic goals and our learners' needs.
On that note, let me take a step back to reflect. As you know, we decided at the WTDC 2022 in Kigali to rebrand what was then our 'Centres of Excellence' programme. The resulting 'Academy Training Centres' have a stronger association with the ITU Academy and are better aligned with the objectives of the ITU and BDT, above all the pressing need to accelerate digital transformation.
In the year and a half since then, the number of courses and of certified learners have steadily increased. This year alone, more than 50 courses have been completed or are in progress, with more to come in the remaining quarter, so you are making great strides.
I want to thank you, our ATCs, for the active role that you are playing in implementing the ITU-European Commission project, 'Capacity Development for Digital Transformation. I must add that this is only possible because of our solid network of partner institutions. We successfully concluded the very first ITU/BDT Summer School jointly with our partner, UNU-Merit at Maastricht University, as well as several face-to-face training courses.
Based on the level of applications received so far, there is a tremendous appetite for such face-to-face courses, both from our member states and other ITU Academy stakeholders, so we can look forward to delivering yet more training in this format. And let's not forget why this work is so important.
ITU's digital development work aims to build a society where everyone has the knowledge and skills they need to use digital technologies to improve their livelihoods and their societies.
Promoting digital training programmes - like ours - around the globe, and strengthening institutional capacity for digital literacy, is key to ensuring the inclusive and secure telecommunications and ICTs that are so crucial for sustainable development.
On that note, I want to express my appreciation that you will also be joining us at the Digital Skills Forum starting tomorrow, and I look forward to interacting with you there.
In the meantime, I encourage you to make the most of today's meeting. I have no doubt that your interactions with the other ATCs, as well as the ITU team, will be extremely valuable. I wish you a productive meeting and I look forward to hearing about the progress made.
Thank you!
