 It is my main honor to welcome you to the 2014 edition of the world telecommunication ICT indicators symposium at BTS here in Tbilisi. It means it's unique and ancient cultural heritage. I would like to send the government of Georgia for hosting this event and for the kind and warm hospitality extended to all of us. This year the WCIS is bringing some very positive changes. For the first time we are launching the measuring the information society report. This is where the flagship report of ITU that we launch every year. I can tell you that we are happy to launch it here in the country that I make very good improvement in term of ICT development index. The availability of high quality, timely and reliable data and robust international measurement framework is of paramount importance. For this reason I recently commissioned a study aimed at evaluating our current data collection and processing. The expert will present to us here his final report. Further one of the key topics of this year is big data. ICT are part of the debate on the data revolution because data revolution or data capital as some call it is mainly driven and dependent on ICTs. This why I also commissioned a report on big data that will be presented this afternoon to trigger discussion on this very important issue. As you know ITU's mandate and work in data statistics and measuring the information society have been reinforced by resolution 8 of the 6 world telecommunication development conference in the resolution 131 of the just completed ITU planning potential conference. We count on your support in order for us to continue providing reliable data and statistics to all the stakeholders of the ICT ecosystem. Let me take this opportunity to thank all the member state, international organizations, industries and experts that support us in our work. Our two statistical expert groups, the expert group on telecommunication and ICT indicators with around 500 members and the expert group on ICT household indicators with around 300 members. We work continuously to improve methodologies, define new indicators and review existing one. I would like to thank all the experts for their artwork in contributing in those two groups. Your Excellency Prime Minister of Georgia, in case of order of this meeting, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and the member of your cabinet here present. Your Excellency, you have demonstrated political will by your government to embrace ICT for social economic development. Your country has also set the bar high for the next host of this symposium. Thank you so much for grating this meeting by your presence. Distinguished participants and gentlemen, let me conclude by saying this. In fact, it is our action that can help shape the 21st century agenda and make a real difference in people's life. When I look at the work you do, beyond the figures, I see people. I see very young boys and girls, I see women and men, I see people with disability and I see the elderly who already rely on ICT to change their lives. ICT impacts each of us. Let us be the agents driven by the shared vision, a vision to make the fruits of the information society accessible to all. I thank you very much.