Dr. Peter Vari, Deputy Director General, NMHH, Mr Oli Bird, Co-President of CEPT, excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to the Regional Preparatory Meeting for Europe in anticipation of the World Telecommunication Development Conference 2025.
I would like to thank the National Media and Infocommunications Authority of Hungary for hosting this meeting the second in our worldwide series of RPMs, following the first in Jordan a few weeks ago.
This is not the first time I have visited Hungary and each time I am struck by the growth of the digital sector which contributes over 6% of GDP, making Hungary a natural venue for our discussions.
As you know, WTDC-25 itself will be held this November in Baku, Azerbaijan. Our task now is to identify the new Regional Initiatives to be adopted at WTDC-25 for implementation in the next cycle based on the unique circumstances and potential of Europe.
In recent years, our existing Regional Initiatives have impacted huge numbers of people and made a difference in real human lives.
Indeed, under the BDT4Impact vision, ITU's work has had a profound impact across the world so we have much to be proud of in our 160th anniversary year.
There is increasing recognition of the importance of our work.
Last year, world leaders agreed a Pact for the Future, Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations giving added impetus to the progress we are making towards the implementation of the Kigali Action Plan. Much is also reflected in the State of Digital Development and Trends in Europe report launched at yesterday's Regional Development Forum.
There is no doubt of the progress Europe is making in advancing both universal and meaningful connectivity and sustainable digital transformation and leading the way for other regions.
So, I am proud of the important role ITU has played at the European level in bringing the benefits of digital technology into people's everyday lives including in the less developed European countries.
For example, we supported Montenegro to establish an IPv6 Laboratory develop a state-of-the-art broadband strategy and digitalize public services through the ITU-UNOPS.
We provided a digital transformation strategy to North Macedonia and developed Digital Innovation Profiles for Albania, Malta and North Macedonia and Digital Development Country Profiles for almost all countries with a UN Presence.
In Albania, we also carried out a Digital Skills Assessment focusing particularly on elderly people as we know there is a generational divide to be bridged and we will do the same in Moldova under a new ITU-ILO project.
At the other end of the generational spectrum, we carried out Child Online Protection assessments in Andorra, Malta, North Macedonia and Serbia and a series of train the trainers capacity development meetings.
In Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Moldova, we have also worked with regulatory authorities to support upgrades of their National Broadband Mapping Systems while concentrated support was provided to Ukraine.
In the field of emergency telecommunications following successful projects in Moldova and Georgia we have a subregional initiative for five Western Balkans states to roll out cell broadcast across the region.
Our annual regional forums remain a key platform for learning and partnership building.
The ITU-EKIP Regional Regulatory Forum 5G Techritory Accessible Europe Cybersecurity Forum and the Her Cybertracks Workshops,all provided amazing opportunities to participants.
We have also strengthened cooperation with regional institutions like the European Commission, BEREC, EaPeReg, EMERG and the Council of Europe.
In addition, we are leading coordination on digital at the regional level of the UN system through the UN Digital Transformation Group for Europe and Central Asia as well as UN Brussels TaskForce on Digitalization and proactively inspiring UN Country Teams to include digital as one of the focus areas in the UN Sustainable Development Frameworks.
So, we have an incredible platform to build on in the next two days following yesterday's highly productive Regional Development Forum.
Let's build on that success with an eye to WTDC-25 and to the Inter-Regional Meetings in July and September.
Remember that a successful meeting will be a step towards sustainable digital transformation that benefits millions so let's make the most of our time here together.
Thank you!
