 provided, including yesterday's excursion to the UNESCO Heritage Site of Mosque Heta, one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. And also the wonderful evening, the dinner, gala dinner, we enjoyed it. I know that you made a lot of effort to make this world telecommunication indicator as a symposium, very special. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, we have been following ICT trains for many years. I'm pleased to see that many countries have been making great strides towards the information and knowledge society. I want to congratulate you and hope that when we unveil this year's ICT Development Index at lunchtime, this will also be evident. But since our prime minister will travel to foreign countries immediately after this opening series, I'd like to just highlight the secret to know that according to our latest statistics to be published at lunchtime, Georgia is one of very few countries last year made enormous progress in the ranking because today the ICT Development everywhere seems to be macho. It's very hard to move one rank ahead, but Georgia had made several ranks ahead. How many? We leave this to the secret to be announced by the director of VDT. So congratulations. Having said that, let me stop and pause two questions. Do we really know the population that remains unconnected despite statistics showing that there are seven billion mobile cellular subscriptions? Do we know who are the unconnected despite that three billion people have access to the internet or that 2.3 billion people have access to mobile broadband? I want to call upon the member states to help us identify the really unconnected people. So we may know who to target as we continue to invest in infrastructure. It is also very important for governments as they formulate public policy aimed at stimulating investment and competition in this sector. Distinguished colleagues, since 1889 to date when we are about to commemorate ITU's 150th anniversary, ITU has been collecting and processing telecommunication statistics and indicators thanks to the support and contribution by the countries. Our work in ICT measurement has grown from strength to strength. Today, ITU maintains ICT statistics for 200 economies and over 100 indicators. I have no doubt that this cooperation with countries will continue in the future. I can give you my word, ITU is committed to ensure that very high standard is maintained as we help countries monitor their progress towards attaining universal access which in turn could drive economies, education, health, and everything that we do. At this moment, let me congratulate Mr. Buraki Masano, the newly re-elected director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau of ITU and his team for successfully re-engineering what used to be a very small technical meeting to the big symposium that it has become today. I see the ministers, director-general of both national statistical offices and telecommunication regulatory authorities, and I also see many experts and very senior government officials in the room. Of course, Georgia is a very attractive tourist destination. That is one of the reasons we see many participants here. I heard from our prime minister, last year Georgia attracted more than 5 million tourists. Not everybody has a chance to visit Georgia, but anyhow we see many delegates come to join us. This diversity is crucial as we need political will and expertise to drive the important process of data collection, processing, and reporting. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, as the ITU secret general-elect, I want to assure you here and now that I continue to provide unflinching support for the work related to measuring the information society. This is all the more important as the international community has now set the sustainable development goals that recognize that ICTs play a pivotal role for future attainment. Thank you for your attention and look forward to engaging with you personally and to listen to the many interesting sessions over the next two days. Thank you very much. Your Excellency, Mr. Prime Minister, your Excellency, Mr. Prime Minister, your Excellency, distinguished ministers, distinguished friends, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, I would like to recognize that it's a great honor for me to be the host of the 12th Symposium of ICTV to Georgia. And to cordially welcome each of you, I would like to join the prime ministers, congratulations to Mr. Hulindjao and Mr. Brahima Sanos, on telecommunication. So to be regarding on their election on the leading positions of ICTV and wish them large successes on this responsible, very important work, so the highly developed information telecommunication technology present the very strong tool for the formation of the information community, which is very conducive for the country's social, cultural and economic development arising from this, the Georgian government is paying a lot of heed to ICT realm in terms of its development by means of ICTV tools. So in the country, the investment-friendly environment has been created and special measures are being taken for developing the entrepreneurship and competition in order to millerate the existing ways and inculcation of new methods. So in ICTV, very important reforms have been carried out just recently, which has been insured by the development of E-Nets over the country. So the introduction of the ICTV in the curricula of the schools and as the result of access to high-speed internet, they are working on raising an elevation of skills of ICTV of the students and also open management program of Georgia is being carried out, which is aimed at the amelioration of public services and the increase of the engagement of the public in the governing of the country and the creation of the safe government. The portal of the services has been set up, which is offering over 300 public services to the customer. Over the last year, as a result of the work that has been carried out, Georgia has ameliorated its positions on the world ICT rankings and his excellencies, Prime Ministers, personal participation has contributed a lot in the high ratings and high rankings of Georgia, but we cannot indulge with the highly-received results because the ICT development is the challenge of the 21st century and one of the most important priorities for Georgia, for which alongside with this relevant Oregon, so by our ministers, with the NGOs as well and international organizations, alongside with all these organizations, by their narrow collaboration, we have worked out the subsequent plan of action for the realization of which we have kicked out some concrete steps, concrete activities, new technologies, new innovations, highly-developed information and communication technologies must be conducive to the countries, so raising of competitiveness and economic strength, so very deep integration in the Euro-Atlantic and the practical realization of programs under the auspices of our ministry, the technology of innovation and technologies was set up, which is to ensure the creation of technological parks, the business innovation center as well as their functioning, which will be furthering the further development of the country based on the knowledge and economy and innovation, so the communication, information technologies to become the penetrating assets in every field of the science and research of Georgia and elevation of their competition. Also, the digital agency was set up, which will secure the coordination of efforts of switching to the digital broadcast. The ministry is proceeding with very active work on the construction of the new information space connected in Europe and Asia, which is attached to a lot of strategic importance, also the fact that alongside with the strategic and energetic projects, overall, it's creating the countries, so whole transit area. In fact, this is the new information technology, Silk Road, the telecommunication international union and by the decision of EU in the European Union countries as well as Georgia. Till 2015-17 of June must be transacted from the switchover from analog to the digital broadcasting, which is present in the international commitment of the country. The work has been carried out in Georgia up until now and Georgia will switch to the digital broadcasting in the determined term in the ICT field. The realization of the aims set by the Georgia Prime Minister requires the state as well as private sector and the international organization, very narrow cooperation with them, so for which we stand continuously ready and we are in hope that in this direction, as concerns our and ICTU's very narrow collaboration will become more deep and more narrow. Georgia has very ambitious goals in this direction and please accept our short answer that we will achieve all these goals one more time, except my welcome. Wish you productive work. Thank you very much for your attention. Before his remarks and invite Mr. Brahim Asano, Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau ICTU to deliver his welcome remarks. Your Excellency, Mr. Irakli Karibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia, Excellency, Mr. George Kirikashvili, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development and Prime Minister of Georgia, Mr. Dimitri Komishvili, Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Mr. Wachtang Abashidze, Chairman of the Georgian Communication Commission, Mr. Ulin Zawo, Deputy Secretary General and Secretary-General-Elect of the ITU, Honorable Ministers, Director-General, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is my real honor to welcome you to the 2014 edition of the World Telecommunication ICT Indicator Symposium, WTIS, here in Tbilisi, with its unique and ancient cultural heritage. I would like to thank the government of, oh, it's mixing, let me come back, sorry for that, this is technology also, still have a lot to do, yes. I would like to thank the government of Georgia for hosting this event and for the kind and warm hospitality extended to all of us. This year, the WTIS 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 positive improvement in terms of ICT Development Index. The availability of high-quality, timely, unreliable data and robust international measurement framework is of paramount importance. For this reason, I recently commissioned a study aimed at evaluating our current data analysis. I would like to thank the government 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 is 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 Sixth World Telecommunication Development Conference in the Resolution 131 of the Just Completed ITU Plenipotentiary 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 states, international organizations, industry 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 and guests 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 Excellency, you have also set the bar high for the next hosts of this symposium. Thank you so much for grating this meeting by your presence. To all minister, director generals and other VIPs who are here today to share their vision, expertise and ideas I want. Let me recognize also the high expert who will be here today. Distinguished participants and gentlemen, let me conclude by saying this. It's very important meeting. I want to thank you by this 3G mobile. But we all know that if we want to go to the next stage and if we want to implement e-health, e-educate and other services which is one of the challenges and this number 14. So this is how the methodology can affect on the ranking, can affect where we are, what we are doing with the chief. So I one more time want to thank you, the organization mentioned that this event is very important. To our country, to all member states, we should understand where we are, what we should improve and how we can improve it. Thank you very much. Good morning, Excellencies. Distinguished guests. Effective policy making, now the impediment of our new strategy. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for the key development and some inclusion of ICT. But nonetheless I say a particular time frame, 15 years from 2000 till 2015. So in terms of gas and gas, we are using to generate power. There is a child. Even billion people connected. But who are these people? So we are at all determined. I think in the report is really about people and possibilities. So it's for the gadgets to enable that kind of manifestation of people get born, manifestation of assets of the world, such as the oceans. And we will build a lot of proof of data and head stage as well, which is we need to equally focus on use of that data, uptake of that data. So for example, we might produce lots of time data, but in government organizations, do real-time decision-making action, procedures and structures necessary to make use of? I'm slightly worried we're going to get this huge log jam in an innovative financing mechanism is what is being discussed throughout. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, from Intel Corporation. I ask you for floor to share our experience we may have made just last week and the lesson we have learned just last week about the relationship between the regulation and availability of ubiquitous, high quality and affordable broadband. What triggered the question? We have discovered that in the high end market, the data rates grow produced by consumers is flattening. Sales, mobile, make sure that the revolution is going to have a bilateral information for development, value chain, which explains to us not just what happens when you add data and technology, but also the need to add capabilities and empowerment and so forth in order to make sure that ICTs have a true developmental result. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I would like to mention for our colleague from Saudi Arabia that concerning the ICT and the revolution happening in the Middle East, ICT sector was the sector who really succeed to absorb the negative side and the slowdown happened in the economy within the whole, compared to the other sector. I think this is not only in Egypt, but also in the other country. I would like to mention as well to the point of the colleague from the satellite company. As I mentioned, it's 50% of our population have used the internet, but not all of them use it through broadband technology. The percentage is less than this number, but we have already planned short-term and medium-term plan for penetrating the broadband in our country. And I agree with you that the satellite is very important and recently the government announced that the satellite will be one of the main important mechanism to reach the sub-saharan and the remote area for the broadband. And finally, I think in order really to reach the equilibrium between the demand side and the supply side between the policymaker and the statistical producer, we have to have this important link between them in order to benefit the policymaker in our country with the data, with the information and with the analysis to reach what the economic series said for us. Thank you. Thank you. Please. Thanks, Chair. I think the rights-based approach, especially in the context of IT, is a very important one because it unleashes a new form of commons and the commons that should be appropriated by citizens. So the business model that allows for this new creative commons is very, very important. On the question of statistics, it elevates in a way that is the data revolution prospects for use and utilization of statistics and access so that citizens can, and leadership in all forms, be business, politicians and so on, can hold this mutual accountability, the notion of accountability is much more facilitated easily in the context of a data revolution. So there is a new social contract that is now possible to be implemented, but such change, yes, will be influenced by the data revolution, by the new technologies, but more importantly it's discussing and engaging with these kinds of social contracts because only when they exist can we actually create better commons than either to have envisaged and seen. Thanks. Thank you. Please. I think that there's a lot of work to be done in promoting the new refocused role of ICTs. And this is because at the end of the day, the post-2015 agenda is a global agenda, but finally it's going to be implemented within countries. And how these countries adapt and utilize ICTs for the implementation is going to be key. So whilst the wording of ICTs and the focus of ICTs might not be as explicit in the agenda as has been said, I think there's a lot of room where countries can actually do that. By way of information, the negotiations on the post-2015 agenda begins towards the end of January. So there is still room to look at some of these areas in terms of the rights-based approach in terms of making sure that ICTs is an enabler as well as has a stronger presence in the final post-2015 agenda, which will be concluded in the General Assembly of September 2016. Thank you. Sorry, 2015. 2015. Thank you very much. Well, who could possibly summarize all this body mass of information? Maybe it's the big data situation we have. I hope you were taking your notes. I will just take 30 seconds to give you my highlights of this. I think we need appropriate policies to be in place, an appropriate legal framework, a regulatory framework, but combining the activities of the regulatory authorities with those of the National Statistical Officers to make sure that data collection is consistent and also that we may save resources in the process by not duplicating effort standards. You know, ITU is quite a leader in this area. We need to set standards to make sure that our statistics are reliable. And finally, I think I sympathize with the Honorable Minister. He said that the World Bank changed what's midway through and changed the methodology. And then they ended up being number 14. The good thing is our methodology does not change that way. It is a member-driven methodology. So you change it. So you know exactly when you change. By the way, the World Bank, our friends, they use also our statistics. So with this, I would like to thank you for all your questions, for paying attention, and also particularly if we could give a round of applause to the panelists. And on this note, I would like to hand you over to the chairman, the minister, to say to close this morning session. And maybe you should also refer to the program to see what is coming next. I believe it's lunch. And we are going to start right on time if you could kindly come. You haven't seen anything yet. It is going to be really exciting when we come back here. So minister, please. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. I want to say thank you to all participants. And I would like to invite you to the lunch. Thank you.