 Okay, well welcome back. I Don't know if you had that cake with the caramel sauce and the Thai lunch, but it was very good Uh, and I was just thinking there's one number that's going to be burned in my brain I'll never forget it and that's 2.9 billion and I think we all need to be thinking about it all the time anyway it's amazing how powerful that number is and We we need to keep thinking about it and we'll hear more about how to address it in this next high-level panel number six And our host for it is R. T. Olamini general secretary G. S. O. A Before we begin. I want to just reiterate each speak speaker has three minutes There will be a timer and as the time elapses at the end there will be a rather Unenjoyable Dinging sound so you really don't want to hear that so wrap it up by three minutes and also make sure when you're speaking You lean way into the mic because otherwise it can be hard to hear you so Archie take it away Thank you so much for your kind introduction Yeah, excellencies ladies and gentlemen. I'm honored to be the moderator for this important session We look forward to hearing about the meaningful pledges that all of our panelists and those joining us online will be making today and We hope to be following their implementation in the years to come as we work towards the next WTDC. I Would like to start by giving his floor to his excellency mr. Abdeshek Ahmed Minister of communications and technology from Somalia He's joining us physically. I believe Thank you. I do. Good afternoon, everyone happy to be here and Command the host country is a wonderful having us here Before I get into my comments and bled but before I get to my bridge So I want to just give you a few comments about where we stand in Somalia at a very high level of the problem of the chance we're dealing with and then Talk about a little bit about the challenge. I mean the pledges So in general I see sector in Somalia is vibrant imperative and dominated by local indigenous private mobile network There are also a fiber optic submarine cable operators that provide the financial connectivity There's three landing stations submarine cable landing stations in Somalia the mobile network operators provide data voice and services and Nearly everyone is connected about 90 percent of let me say there are still pockets within the country where connectivity is not available because of geographic reasons and political issues But the the tight spot in Somalia is mobile money and the preparation of mobile month 80% of the people who have mobile phones Actually use mobile money and it's very balanced in Somalia It's used everywhere a lot of people to hear about in Bessa and the success of investing Kenya Similarly Somalia is a very successful mobile money situation like many countries and the onset of the COVID pandemic Causing severe stresses and severe economic destruction Somalia while at the same time exposing gaps and vulnerabilities in our influence of the services Thus our government is keen on expanding digital capabilities Somalia by leveraging national infrastructure and services while also filling the gaps that In our ecosystem through policy and regulatory framework the goal of ensuring everyone in the country has access to broadband internet access To harness the success of the telecom operators established basis for competitive legal Agility environment services Somali parliament has passed the national education law which enabled the ICP policy that was done in 2019 and the goal is to have ICT or Transformation to be the heart of the digital transformation Somalia and to excellent accelerate and Transform Somalia to knowledge basic inclusive society That that develops to technology and attain the sustainable development goals This policy I don't think it is to cover with national fiber of the network I'm in attaining the goal of the theme of this conference. It's connecting and connected to achieve Sustainable development goals towards that and the federal Republic of Somalia place to follow Building a national broadband network to ensure universal network coverage in the country and brought in internet access by Number two continue developing and strengthening enabling policy and legal framework Foundations for the digital economy featuring laws such as data protection transactions and the finally completing digital inclusion policy to include marginalized groups that include the youth in the country. Thank you Your Excellency your country has faced its fair share of challenges in recent decades and it's tremendous to hear your pledge And all that you have achieved in in recent years. We wish you all the best of luck for the implementation of this pledge. Thank you so much I Would now like to give the floor to his Excellency. Mr. Peter Agaroka Minister of communications and aviation from the Solomon Islands who will be joining us virtually Thank you very much, Margarita Excellencies Public ministers ladies and gentlemen, it is indeed a pleasure for me to join The meeting virtually from the Solomon Islands. Actually, it's going to midnight now. It's good time for me actually, but anyway Solomon Islands in partnership and collaborations for broadband connectivity we've got policies in place and we've got Work plans in place but Solomon Islands will like it pledge to adopt and In not innovative approach to increase broadband coverage with its technology Neutral and free spectrum strategy With the project project with the project but government will work in partnership with service providers To ensure that broadband network coverage is available to the 900 islands in the Solomon Islands and Increasing network coverage to more than 80% of our country and people So that is our pledge the first place that we have That is in line also with our policy at the moment the infrastructure that we have in place is we have an undersea cable that goes from Solomon Islands to Sydney and Now we want to connect people by providing the broadband towers We were working with our partners to purchase 200 broadband towers To ensure that the Solomon Islands is covered the 900 islands are covered and its people are covered Our second pledge is to include equality access and management to its equality and relevant education for all Supported by ICT Our pledge our country pledged to improve ICT infrastructures and connectivity to facilitate equitable access to learning and create an effective teaching and learning environment supported by a quality digital resources and Technology so Most of our islands are unreachable and it is important for us to reach them Communication and ICT is an important key component in that regard so that our children can be educated We can have an education and not only education people can do their research Into the internet system that we have Our third pledge is the digitalization for inclusive development for Solomon Islands Our pledge Solomon Islands pledged to develop a national digital transformation framework in an inclusive approach The framework is expected to be fully implemented in 10 years time According to our program To achieve a digitally enabled environment for participatory and inclusive social economic development This is to enable our people in the villages around Solomon Islands to be able to participate in this digital transformation and Hence the government's approach is to ensure that we have this broadband People can utilize to do the business, not only business but also That they can be connected to people They can be connected to businesses, they can trade And they can connect to e-health, e-education and e-commerce And that is the pledge that our government has made for the people So, Moedweta, thank you very much That's my three minutes presentation Thank you all Thank you very much, Your Excellency Indeed, it is not easy at all to connect island states and the pledge made by His Excellency will surely go a long way to helping bridge the digital divide in Solomon Islands Next of all, I would like to give the floor to His Excellency, Mr. Yankovar Gyatara The Minister for Digital Economy and Telecommunications from Senegal Your Excellency, the floor is yours Thank you very much, Madam President Madam Director Storrin Madam Seniors It is particularly pleasant to share with you the experience we had with the President of the Republic of Senegal His Excellency Makisal through his Kengenal program He has devoted the inclusive digital society as the third presidential initiative with the ambition to promote a learning and a innovation economy His Excellency, through Senegal's 2025 strategy he declared as follows The numbers for all and for all users in 2025 in Senegal with a dynamic and innovative private sector in a performance ecosystem Why did the theme of the summer of this year connect what we are not yet in order to achieve sustainable development is a priority and a phase with the ambitions of Senegal In fact, we are particularly eager to achieve the price of connectivity and digital users in the territory beyond the achievements carried out in the field of digital in order to achieve sustainable development objectives Senegal takes 10 commitments linked to the initiative to connect with Senegal The adoption of regulatory provisions is necessary to share infrastructure The pursuit of the decrease in the front of the electric radio spectrum a decrease of 20% has already been done and 50% in the services areas The universal access project for an affordable internet connectivity in the white areas a population and a low-service location that additionally impacts 2.6 million people through different technologies based on the principle of co-building and co-financing the infrastructure for groups around the framework of partnerships private, public, and telecommunications The implementation of a geographical information system with the infrastructure of telecommunications owned by the operators and the sectoral actors The expansion of the national Dorsal has been optical but also the expansion of the network of access for the numbering of the territory and connectivity at the beginning The adoption of digital has been carried out by the citizens by the dematerialization of administrative procedures and the development of digital skills and the employment of young people and women The finalization of the digital technology park composed of three TIC towers two TIR3 datacenters two BIPIO centers two innovation centers the female entrepreneurial project the TIC project and the digital address project I would like to thank the Senegal delegation for addressing my live thanks and congratulations to the government of Rwanda for welcoming and hospitality and I take the opportunity to request from the friends we support the Senegal candidature for the renewal of our mandate within the Luité Council I thank you for your kind attention Thank you very much, Mr. Minister I appreciate your pleasure I will not forget that especially the regulatory part which is very very important for the development of solutions Thank you very much Ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure now to give the floor to Mr. Jamal Stahan parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the Bahamas Please, the floor is yours Thank you Mr. Secretary General Madam DDT director Your Excellencies, fellow delegates Madam Session Chairman Good afternoon On behalf of the government of the Commonwealth with the Bahamas I am honored to share with you the commitment of our government the digital inclusion and transformation across the lane and breadth of our family of islands Firstly, and before I begin I would be remiss if I did not wish on behalf of the government of the Bahamas and our delegation expressions of our gratitude to the government and people of the public of Rwanda for the warm, exceptionally warm welcome reception and hospitality I also wish to extend congratulations to the Developmental Bureau of the ITU for the visionary initiative in particular and the overall execution of the WT DC in general As we reflect on the theme Connecting the Unconnected to Achieve Sustainable Development I wish to share with you First, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas is an archipelago of some 700 islands and quays and 14 major populated islands One of 14 more than 60% of which have communication connectivity challenges which impacts economic growth education and access to government services The government has taken on this challenge of providing affordable high quality communication services through the countries particularly in the last developed least populated islands through the recent announcement of several key initiatives notably the electronic communication sector policy Through this policy the government has set us its mandate the provisions of affordable high speed connectivity to all citizens in the archipelago The government recognizes that the provision and digitization of the services is just one half of the equation our citizens must first have access It is important to note that in our discussions of access a common theme comes about and that is affordability Affordability is exeomatic in the discussion of access Our government pledges the establishment of the universal services fund to subsidize the provision of communication services in the Bahamas thereby ensuring greater access to affordable communication services particularly in our dispersed other islands that we affectionately call the family of islands that are currently underserved In addition to subsidizing the provision of high speed connectivity services will ensure access to high speed broadband for all citizens Our government has pledged to establish an infrastructural fund as well to incentivize telecommunication service providers who invest in infrastructure expansion on the family of islands to facilitate affordable access to telecom services We have also indicated and issued our e-Bahamas revolutionary initiative It's a digital initiative that will allow for the development and continued development of all of our family of islands We have also introduced our crypto bank digital currency that came about in October 2020 This will allow for more dispersed family islands to have access to financial commitments In conclusion we are committed to achieving these goals and objectives and mandates of the International Telecommunications Union because we must all remember that we are in this together and even though we advocate for our respective countries we all seek to have inclusivity and access across the globe And before I end I would just like to remind everyone that the Bahamas is once again seeking re-election to the ITU council in September Thank you so much Thank you so much Mr. Shahan We should all remember that the Bahamas has faced some disasters in recent years and nobody should underestimate what it takes to rebuild and connect everybody after such events have taken place in your territory Thank you so much for your pledge I would now like to give the floor to Mr. Ajamal Awan member of International Coordination from the Ministry of Information Technology and Communication of Pakistan Mr. Awan is joining us virtually I hope that we have resolved his connectivity problems The floor is yours Thank you very much moderator Excellencies, distinguished guests and participants, good afternoon and good morning for the online participants where it's morning for them Pakistan considers the partner to connect digital coordination is a game-changing opportunity to take a holistic approach catalyze new partnerships and mobilize the resources needed to connect those who are still offline In this regard, Pakistan while utilizing its resources in line with the sustainable development goals will synergize its efforts along with partner to connect that will open new avenues of collaboration The digital Pakistan policy is focused to enable a good governance-oriented ecosystem that can benefit the citizens of Pakistan Due to the effective policies of the present government Pakistan witnessed landmark achievements in the ICT sector in the recent years Pakistan's ICT exports have doubled in the last three years Despite COVID-19 pandemic-related global economic slowdown ICT export remittances including telecommunication, computer and information services have surged to US dollar 2.12 billion at a growth rate of 47.6% during 2021 financial year compared to the previous year Pakistan's ICT sector is the largest exporter in the services sector with phenomenal year-on-year growth in trade surplus of 75% earning significant foreign exchange for the country Keeping in mind the critical role played by startups in the economic growth, job creation, financial inclusion reducing the income divide and building knowledge economy Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has established a network of five national incubation centers in the cities Islamabad, Lahore, Kirtan, Karachi and Peshawar and through this platform Pakistan pledges to establish two more in the next two years 2022 and 2023 It is worth mentioning that more than 2,000 female founders and employees are working in these startups In addition to the above Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication in collaboration with Pakistan Software Export Board is also running IT certification programs Just to cut it short I would like to utilize this forum and on behalf of Pakistan I would like to make the following pledges very quickly Pakistan will empower underserved and unserved communities through subsidy-driven next-generation wireless and optical fibers sustainable development programs Pakistan will work for the development of two new national incubation centers that will make a total of seven incubation centers in the country Currently there are only five Pakistan will prioritize collaborative regulation to become ITU's leading G5 regulator in South Asia by the end of this year Number four, Pakistan will facilitate the commercial launch of Aasan mobile account scheme and achieve 10 million accounts by the end of 2023 Number five, Pakistan will develop and implement a strategy for digital gender inclusion in Pakistan with the support of national and international stakeholders and just the last but not the least Pakistan will use the device registration and blocking system to promote smartphone penetration and local manufacturing of mobile phones in Pakistan to boost the 4G ecosystem Thank you ITU and thank you all the organizers Communications Technologies Authority IKTA from Turkey Welcome Mr. Karagwabli Thank you Mr. Arati Excellencies, Mr. English delegates, ladies and gentlemen This is the first statement with the new official name of our country that has recently been changed as Turkey in all official languages of the United Nations Firstly, I'd like to express my heartfelt appreciation to the people and government of Rwanda for their generous hospitality and fabulous organization of WTDC22 for the first time in Africa I'd like to also express, extend our gratitude to Ms. Doreen Bogdan Martin Director of BDT, ITU management and team for their efforts in preparing the P2C initiative which I believe is an excellent opportunity for strengthening partnerships to reach and better connect to a better connected world Turkey attaches great importance to digital development and especially accessibility of ICTs everywhere by everyone Broadband connectivity is crucial for digital inclusiveness and digital literacy The fastest growing service in Turkey is the Broadband Internet Service Currently the total number of Broadband Internet subscribers exceeded 88 million Today I wish to share with you our pledge to utilize our resources and expertise in ICT's training to achieve digital transformation and an inclusive information society BTK Academy is the online training portal of our administration which provides ICT trainings from professionals for all segments of the society to increase the human resources capacities of Turkey In April 2020 when BTK Academy was announced to public by His Excellency President Erdogan it had 10,000 registered users As of today it reached over 900,000 registered users Our goal is to reach 1 million users, 120,000 minutes of online training material for 215 topics by January 2023 BTK Academy contributes to equal opportunity in free and quality education In this context our administration will continue contributing to the empowerment of our people with ICT's skills, development and capacity building to ensure inclusive information society digital transformation and promote lifelong learning In conclusion, Turkey, being one of the founding members of the ITU is committed to contributing to the union for achieving its goals appreciates and supports the P2C initiative We hope to contribute our collaborative efforts by being reelected as a council member from Region B at the upcoming elections at PP22 I hope this initiative inspires all stakeholders to mobilize their resources for our ultimate goal to leave no one behind Thank you very much Thank you Emma for that pledge and congratulations on the first presentation in the name of your country with its new name again, thank you, congratulations If I understand well, we are continuing with physical speakers only can somebody give me an indication? Online I believe we do have Ms. Paola Bonilla with us and I would like to give her the floor, Executive Director, Communications Commissioner from the Commission de Regulación de Comunicaciones de Colombia Please, the floor is yours I believe you might be on mute Thank you Good morning and good afternoon to all of you My name is Paola Bonilla Castanio I'm the Executive Director of Communications Regulatory Commission of Colombia I want to thank the organizers for inviting me and allowing me to share with you the pledges that we are proposing from Communications Regulatory Commission as we join the ITU partners to connect initially This pledge reflects the core values and policies that we as communications regulators believe we foster mean connectivity and digital transformation The first pledge is about the regulatory improvement policy We are committed to developing better regulation and we believe that regulatory improvement is achieved only through a comprehensive approach that includes all aspects of regulatory activity Our regulatory improvement policy includes four fundamental pillars Regulatory agenda, regulatory simplification the application of regulatory impact analysis methodology and knowledge of the ecosystem In August of this year, we will publish the regulatory improvement policy This publication will include cases studies to explain how we have applied the regulatory impact analysis and which methodologies have been at a great in evaluating alternatives during the design and development regulatory projects of the telecommunication of both sectors The second pledge is about the infrastructure development In our country, the CRC as the sectoral regulator can issuance regarding barriers to the deployment of the telecommunication infrastructure due to local government regulations Under the same provisions, the CRC can issue a barrier-free accreditation to local governments These accreditations benefit the local governments because it grants them better priority in the programs and projects of the National Broadband Development Fund As a specific case and to tackle the problem of deployment barriers In July 2020, we launched the Infrastructure Deployment Favorability Index This is a tool that has allowed us to measure how easy it is to deploy infrastructure in a capital city In 2020, when we launched the index, only three capital cities that is 9% of them were accredited as free of barriers to deployment At present, we already have 64.5% of the country's municipalities accredited of which 12 are capital cities That is 37.5% of the capital cities in Colombia Many thanks for your attention Thank you, Mrs. Bonilla. It was great to hear about you I hope so I'm not going to say it's over. I'm not going to say it's over I'm not going to say it's over Mr. Malinovich, I do believe we can hear you well. Please, can you present your pledge? Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Thank you Oh, excellent. Thank you Distinguished representatives of ITU, Excellencies, Colleagues It is both my honor and pleasure to greet and address you all Before I proceed with the pledge, allow me to congratulate ITU and its partners on launching the Party to Connect Digital Coalition as a multi-stakeholder's alliance which is much needed in bridging the digital divide Fully recognizing that progress can only be achieved through a multi-stakeholder collaboration and commitments to achieve universal and meaningful connectivity on behalf of Bosnia and Herzegovina the Communications Regulatory Agency pledges to develop, improve and implement a regulatory framework This provides incentives and opportunities for investment in high-capacity broadband infrastructures to promote competition and to ensure affordable and secure access to high-quality communications networks and services available, accessible and affordable for all As a prerequisite for that, a comprehensive broadband mapping system is required based on the policy paper enabling environment for broadband mapping in Bosnia and Herzegovina developed with the support of the International Telecommunications Union by the end of 2023 CRA pledges to improve the deployment and uptake of connectivity throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina by developing a regulatory framework as well as empowering key stakeholders to better platform to tasks that underpin targeted development including following measures Measure 1. Identify data on network and service availability Measure 2. Developing new and updating the existing regulatory frameworks concerning infrastructure development and Measure 3. Monitoring the implementation of regulatory obligations To carry out the pledge, mobilizing CRA's internal human resources, its value is estimated to be 110,000 US dollars for the planned implementation period Finally, I assure you CRA remains open for dialogue and cooperation Thank you for your attention and I wish you a successful conference Thank you Thank you so much Mr Milinovich for your pledge Your country has come a very long way in achieving what it has today and we wish you all the best of luck in the implementation of your pledge Thank you Thank you I would now like to give the floor to Mr Amar Bukhvich, Director General of Global Practices and Partnerships from the Islamic Development Bank of Saudi Arabia Mr Bukhvich, the floor is yours Thank you Your Excellencies and distinguished participants It is a great honor and pleasure to participate in the partner to connect Digital Development Roundtable here in Kigali on behalf of the Islamic Development Bank I would like to express my appreciation to ITU management and team and government of Rwanda for this great event today As a developmental institution in the service of 57 member countries, the Islamic Development Bank has been actively supporting digital transformation and digital infrastructure efforts for years The Islamic Development Bank would like to make a pledge A pledge of conducting capacity building training for at least six out of 57 member countries Nominating members from each country in 2022 in the first phase related to the increase of competition in telecommunication sector To enable private sector participation along with sharing knowledge on regulatory framework optimal practices The bank will cover the cost of training and organize the training in hybrid format so that people who wish to travel to our headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia can visit and remaining and join online The training will be conducted by an internationally recognized entity with expertise in the telecommunication sector The Islamic Development Bank can also explore inviting experts from ITU to ISDB to conduct trainings and workshops to enhance the capacity of policymakers in Asia, Africa and Lina region in the first phase In addition, the bank plans to establish an ISDB digital inclusion technical working group to help develop ISDB digital inclusion strategy 2025 to better serve the needs of our 57 member countries as a consultative and collaborative manner ISDB wants to make a pledge to organize a hybrid workshop to share optimal practices to bridge the digital divide and connect the unconnected either in combination with the capacity building exercise or separately by early 2023 Moreover, ISDB is currently working with other MDBs, IFIs and UN agencies on several initiatives and working groups related to digital economy development and will be pleased to explore more opportunities to collaborate with our partners sharing common goals We strongly believe that our deliberations today will provide further impetus for us to strengthen our contributions to the ISDB sector in our member countries and deepen our partnerships for a more connected, inclusive and sustainable development for all Thank you Thank you so much, Mr. Vukut. Indeed, we must not underestimate the importance of capacity building and training with all of the innovations that are happening with ICTs. This is indeed very, very important. Thank you for your pledge. Next, I would like to give the floor to miss Jeanette Bovo, who is the founder of Way in the United States. Jeanette, the floor is yours. Thank you. Thank you so much. Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it's been a great honor to participate in the Partner to Connect initiative and it's so inspiring to learn about the pledges of commitment to bridge the digital divide and to connect the unconnected across the world. And as a young person, this message resonates quite deeply with me as two thirds of young people under the age of 25 don't have access to the internet and are at risk of getting left behind. And as a youth who just participated in the first ever Generation Connect Global Youth Summit, I know the potential youth have to change the world when given the resources and the tools to do so. And it's really what ready we are to have our voices heard and take an active role in building out the policies and infrastructure for the digital future. As such, I have teamed up with my fellow Generation Connect Visionaries board members for a joint pledge focused on elevating the profile of the P2C effort, leveraging our deep networks on social media and curating youth voices from around the world. So we have gathered voices of youth leaders and advocates sharing why they believe youth-centered digital inclusion should be a priority. This video will be shared here in Kigali and will continue to add more youth voices over time, elevating the P2C efforts and building momentum across youth communities. Thank you so much. Sinead, we need the energy, the vision and the action of your generation to continue to achieve the pledges that have been made and in order to bridge that digital divide of 2.9 billion. Thank you so much. Thank you. I would now like to give the floor to Mr. Alfie Hamid, Senior Manager from Cisco in South Africa. Alfie, the floor is yours. Your Excellencies, Director Doreen Bogdan-Martin, all present here today. On behalf of Laura Kintana, Vice President and General Manager of Cisco Networking Academy, and the entire Cisco team here in Rwanda, Africa and around the world, I am proud to announce our commitment to ITU's Partner to Connect initiative. Today Cisco announces our page of $25 million in in-kind contributions for programs and curricula through our Cisco Networking Academy program, which includes our Skills for All program, which is a breakthrough in self-paced education where students guide the learning journeys themselves. The Cisco Networking Academy program is the world's largest and longest running corporate-led, purpose-powered workforce development program. Through our near 25 years of impact, we have invested in our mission to transform the lives of learners, educators and communities through the power of technology, education and career opportunities. Through our quarter of a century of service, Cisco Networking Academy has touched and empowered over 15 million students with our courses, programs, connections and a talent-matching engine. Our pledge to the Partner to Connect initiative will have the ability to reach over 250,000 people across 47 least developed countries over the next five years. We aim to make a difference where the demands are the greatest and to advance equality and equity among underserved populations and communities where investment is needed most. The call to come together and Cisco's pledge arrives at a time when the world is grappling with the fundamental challenge of preparing the workforce for the future. Millions of jobs in vital areas such as cybersecurity, networking and IT are going unfold. At the same time, there is a widening gap between today's jobs and the jobs of the future. This is a great threat to our future growth, people's well-being as well as community progress. The World Economic Forum's Future Jobs report indicates that digitization will displace roughly 85 million jobs in the next five years. At the same time, 97 million new jobs will be created. The math is clear. We need to invest in our people. I often say that talent is equally distributed. However, opportunity is not. We have a chance here. We have to change that. We are proud to partner with ITU and support partner to connect so that together we can invest in people, empower communities and create a stronger tomorrow. Thank you. Alfie, thank you. Investment is absolutely key if we have any hope of achieving all of the pledges that have been made here today. I thank Cisco for that commitment. I thank you all, your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, including the colleagues who have joined us online for these inspiring pledges. I'm sure that in the years to come that lead to the next WTDC, we will see great progress on them. I look forward to hearing about that. Now, I would like to take a couple of minutes to talk to everybody about the two pledges that have been made by Josoa, the Global Satellite Operators Association, of which I'm Secretary-General. At the last WTDC, we heard about a digital divide of three billion people. At this WTDC, we hear about the large number of 2.9 billion. That means we have successfully connected 100 million in the last four years. Well done to everybody. However, if we are to actually have a hope of bridging the digital divide and removing the inequalities and the disparities that exist so vastly between the haves and the have-nots in all of our societies, we need to accelerate connectivity. If we do the maths on the 100 million that we've achieved over the last four years, if we continue at that rate, it will take more than 100 years to actually bridge that digital divide. That is 100 years that we do not have. We must accelerate. We must make the greater progress now. Josoa members are acutely aware of their role and the role of satellite communications technologies in bridging that divide and accelerating connectivity. In view of that, we have made two pledges. The first one is to increase the number of satellite data connections by 250% by 2030 and to do so while preserving the space environment for future generations to come. The second pledge is a programmatic pledge. We will be organising regional workshops to foster a greater understanding of how to use satellite solutions. We will be creating opportunities for Josoa members to demonstrate affordable connectivity for LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS all around the world. We are aware that there is so much innovation in our sector and that it is not obvious at all to policy makers how to use and how to regulate satellite services going forward. We therefore commit to really helping to do capacity building and foster a greater understanding of how to make use of those solutions. Thirdly, in view of the increasing number of disasters often due to climate-related events, we pledge to do more to support the disaster response all around the world knowing that satellite is the answer when other technologies have been destroyed or are overloaded. And finally, we will be working with the ITU to create a satellite playbook as a means of sharing case studies, best practices and reference architectures from Josoa members that can be replicated and scaled up within ITU member states. I would like to close this session by recognising once again BDT director Doreen Bogdan-Martin. Doreen, it takes real leadership to inspire the pledges that we have been hearing over the last few days and that we have heard in this session. That is not to be underestimated, that is to be really, really commended. The pledges we've heard today are a testimony to your great leadership. Thank you. Thank you to everybody. With that, I close the session. Thank you. Hello. Oh, there you are. Thank you. Thank you so much, Artie. Great panel. We're going to go right into the next high-level panel number seven. So we do need to get the new panel up there. I wanted to just make one suggestion. Probably some of you have been doing this anyway. I know maybe it's my hearing, but for many of the speakers, if you wear the translation headset even on channel zero or one, you can hear way, way better than just listening in the ambient sound of the room. So I highly recommend using the translation headsets whether or not you're getting translation. You'll hear everything much more clearly even when you're listening in English. So with that, very pleased that we have, it is true. What Artie was just saying, it's a cornucopia of great ideas we've been hearing here. And it is extremely impressive and exciting and an honor for me to be part of this program listening to all this wonderful innovation. But let me now turn it over to Mr. Lassina Kone, Director General of Smart Africa here in Rwanda. So in effect, one of our hosts. So Lassina, please take it away. Thank you very much for this work program. Dear commissioners, focal points, special guests, representative of private sector and public sector. Good afternoon, your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome once again to Rwanda, and I hope you all had taken some time to see around. And otherwise, you know, I urge you really all to do so when you have time. For the benefit of all the participants, I am Lassina Kone, Director General of Smart Africa, the Pan-African organization working to transform Africa into a single digital market. And I'm really, really honored to be here as the moderator of this high level panel seven. I'm expecting these to last a 45 minute panel to be interactive and focus on the digital development. As we only have 45 minutes for 10 interventions total and each intervention will last about three minutes. And we will have at the end about 11 minutes for the buffer, which should allow us to actually land safely in beauty and leave this panel with the best approaches for digital development. Without further due, let's call our first speaker, his Excellency, Mr. Jose Agostino da Silva, the Minister of Transport and Communication of East Timor, who is physically present with us this afternoon. Please welcome him. Thank you for your opportunity, Mr. Moderator. On behalf of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Lester, I'd like to express my deepest gratitude to her Excellency Minister of ICT and Innovation of the Republic of Rwanda for inviting me to attend this excellent ITU, the WTDC 2022 in T-Gallie. This Excellency Secretary-General of ITU is doing its delegates from the member states of the ITU. In a digitally connected wheel, accessibility of high quality, fast and reliable communication networks in a country is a fast becoming, a request for training high economic growth and improve living standards for its population. In Timor-Lester, we have been tackling the connectivity issues continuously with some progress achieved. In 2012, when the government actively liberalized the telecommunication market, the total internet bandwidth of the country was about 150 mbps. As of March 2022, the aggregate internet bandwidth of Timor-Lester has a rate of 30 gigabyte per second, that is 200 full, the aggregate capacity we had in 2012, just 10 years apart. To be ensured, the country has the bandwidth required under this exponential growth to offer it into the next decade. Last week, we have just signed a subject contract agreement with Alcatel Summary Network to build the first submarine cable system for our country. In addition to this public infrastructure, I am also glad or proud to share with you all that we are keen to attract private investment to you. To date, there have been several private connectivity projects involving submarine and terrestrial cable systems endorsed by the Council of Minister recently. Certainly, having a reliable international cable system shown only the first mile of the connectivity province, there is more to work on still on the subsequent mile to get in the internet access to our people wherever they are located in the country. Now, given the strategic priorities in our national development plan, as the Minister of Transport and Communication of Timor-Lester, I am glad to, too, double the dedicated bandwidth allocated to the Timor-Lester research and education network on our public submarine cable system from 10 gigabyte per second currently to 20 gigabyte per second in 2024. So, connect all schools in 2030, connect all health clinics in 2030, yet determined to build quality and accessible distribution networks so that we can ensure the availability of our last mile connectivity to connect those unconnected soonest. Thank you. Thank you very much for your excellency for this insightful intervention. With a new normal, we will jungle between physical and virtual presentations. Let me call our second speaker who will be joining us online. His excellency, Mr. Karim Bibi Treki, Minister of Transport and Communication of Timor-Lester. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Lacuni. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I would like first to thank the DDT office for the partner to connect initiative and for the opportunity to share Algeria pledges today. As we move into the digital era, our mission at the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications in Algeria is also changing and evolving. Our mission today is to enable every citizen, every business and every government entity in our country, enable them to allow them to play an active role in this digital era. And how can they play such a role if they are not connected? That's why a key pillar delivering on our mission is to connect the unconnected. As part of our government strategy and plan, we have set a goal, we have set the key objective to connect two-thirds of households in Algeria to high-speed fixed broadband by the end of 2024. This is around six millions. This corresponds to around six millions of households to be connected again to high-speed fixed broadband by the end of 2024. A priority for the development of our fixed access network will be using fiber to the whole FTTH technology. And in order to achieve our goal, since we are targeting number of subscribers and not only number of available connections, we need to work to not only make sure technology is available by deploying fixed broadband everywhere in our large country, but we need as well to make sure that technology is affordable to all our citizens. So in addition to wireless fixed broadband using FTTH, as I mentioned, we are leveraging different technologies including wireless fixed broadband, but also mobile broadband and even satellite communications using the Algerian telecommunications satellite AlcronSAP. And we are also leveraging different sources for funding, including universal service. And in parallel, and since internet is a worldwide network, we are developing our international bandwidth capabilities. We doubled actually our international bandwidth since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, reaching today 15% of the total international bandwidth connecting the continent to Europe and working progress to double it again through this second pledge. On the other side, we are engaging in new cables, new submarine fiber cables in order to increase the number of routes and diversify also the landing stations in order to further strengthen the resilience and the security of our international network and international bandwidth. This takes me to our third pledge. We have the will to leverage the know-how and the experience of our engineers and the huge investments we are making either on developing our international bandwidth or on developing our optical national backbone, reaching today all our frontiers. We would like to leverage these assets and this infrastructure in order to benefit to more citizens in Africa and join hands with our sisters and brothers in order to connect the unconnected. Thank you. Thank you. Once again, we have just gone through an inspiring moment from his excellency, the minister from Algeria. Our third intervention will be physical and will be delivered by Mr. Micaela Sanchez Malcom, secretary of state for technological innovation in the public sector from Argentina. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here and it's also a pleasure to be able to speak in my own language. So I'm going to speak in Spanish. It's your time to put your headphones on. We are going to present the pledge of the Argentine Republic in the framework of the Parna to Connect program and our pledge is set in our federal program of digital public transformation. Our program today represents the most important critical digital infrastructure in the country and it is also a part of the development of integral digital services. We are talking about the management of digital providers, we are talking about the distance between citizens, we are talking about digital firm solutions. And this is incorporated in all public areas of the national government. This basically means that any act of the national government of Argentina is carried out through our platform and our digital firm solution. And this guarantees not only the integrity, but also the transparency and traceability of all government assets. All the management and management is based on these digital services. And this level of sovereignty and this level of technical capacity of professional teams that are from the Argentine State, is worth among other things, for example, that last week Red Hat recognized us as the only country in the South to receive its prize in digitalization and innovation 2022. And from this, too, the possibility of working together with neighboring countries and friends such as in Chile, Paraguay, Brazil and Colombia, among others. Some numbers that we would like to share with you from our digital ecosystem and that have to do with the parameters that citizenship makes in digital form. We have more than 2,300 assets. We have more than 3 million users in Argentina active on our platform. We have 41 million generated documents. And in the internal framework of the government, in the management of official documents, we have more than 411 million documents. And we have more than 280,000 active users. Basically, our program aims to digitalize national management, but also to transfer resources to the entire country. Argentina is a very big country, has 24 provinces and also has 2,300 local governments. Our goal is to be able to transfer resources to all these governments. We do it through a fairly established methodology that allows us between 12 and 14 weeks to put a government and offer a digital solution for the management of its actions. We do this through parametrizing the demands of local governments. We do this through the cost of capacity, implementation of infrastructure and production costs in just 14 weeks. The reality is that these policies are absolutely focused on citizenship. And in addition to that, we have as an objective for 2026 to reach 70% of the digitalized jurisdictions and work with more than 250 local governments, which will make us an investment no less than $12 million. This continuous work, this collaborative work, has to do with demands of jurisdictions to establish a better and greater link with citizenship. And this was absolutely put in place in the pandemic. Three more questions that I would like to add before I finish. On the one hand, in the partner to connect framework, it is important to be able to establish links and exchanges, and I think this is a solution that we can set up. The second question is that it is a pleasure to be here as a woman and we must add every time participation of more women in these spaces of discussion and global construction. And the third, to remind you that Argentina is also a candidate to renew its position in the council. We thank you for the support of all members of the United States. Thank you very much. Minister of Telecom and Information Technology, State of Palestine. Thank you very much. I will speak in Arabic. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Your Excellency, for this inspiring and guidance. To keep the momentum going, we will go directly to her Excellency Ms. Nellie Leosk, Ambassador of Large of Digital Affairs of Estonia, who will be joining us online directly from Estonia. Hello everybody. Thank you very much. Yes, we can hear you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for convening this event. And thank you Runda for hosting us. The United People and her again. I apologize for making it this time around. I ask you very much to look forward as I have originally done. From Estonia, I would like to make a pledge to connect topics. Of course, there is a connection of these. The first is around the good and the infrastructure. And the second, of course, is the supporting. You pay for the supporting. You bring in construction in digitalization. And also security. Around the buckles. Structure. To think of funding. These are public goods. That it has developed and made everybody else. For us. We're having some real. If you can hear me. The. Cutting off. Will be actually oblige to move on. To our next intervention. But thank you very much. Okay. Is she. I think the line. Correct. Okay. We can hardly hear you. Okay. I'm sorry for this. Can you hear us? Thank you very much, Madam Ambassador, for these interventions. After these three successful interventions, we will go back into the virtual world with the three interventions that will be online. Let's start with his Excellency, Master Athanasosis Taveris Fulikalas, Secretary General, Telecommunication of Posts, joining from Greece. Go ahead, Excellency. Thank you, Chair, for giving me the floor. Your Excellency, Secretary General, Mr. Fulizal, your Excellencies, distinguished delegates, and gentlemen, good evening. Firstly, I would like to convey my appreciation to the Rwanda government for hosting the WTDC, to Mr. Bogdan Martin, the Director of IDU Telecommunications Development Bureau, and to IDU Administration, and all IDU staff for the hard work, connections, support, and organizing this very important World Conference of Telecommunication Development. I'm deeply honoured to have the privilege of addressing this statement during this high-level panel today for digital development and representing Greece in WTDC that is hosted by Rwanda, the beautiful Kingali. Today, I will present the two pledges that my ministry, the Minister of Digital Governance of Greece, has submitted to the Power to Connect initiative in the focus area for connectivity and digital infrastructure, and these are our superfast broadband and ultrafast broadband projects. Beginning with our superfast broadband project, these concerns have been much less to measure in the former Basel scene, the aim of which is to maximize the take-up of NJ-based services by citizens on a national-wide basis. Before this measure started, Greek citizens hesitated to upgrade their interconnection view to high pricing. On the other hand, since the take-up of services of over 50 megabits was low, ESPs has no incentives for investments on very high-capacity networks, infrastructure, and the prices remain high. By covering a major part of the overhead cost that citizens have to pay in order to migrate to VHS connection, ESP vouchers seem to provide incentives to foster the demand for enhanced internet services, aiming to bridge the digital divide and the countries' digital profile. Up to now, over 160,000 vouchers have been issued in Greece for the service of 100 megabits, readily upgraded to 1 gigabits, and the beneficiaries of the measure are individuals and undertakings. The super-fast broadband voucher is designed to cover high-speed internet connections, amounting to 13 euro per month for a maximum of 24 months, and then one of connection costs amounting to 48 euro. Now, moving to the second place that please submit to the V2C, I would like to this opportunity to announce our flagship project on broadband, our ultra-fast broadband project. The ultra-fast broadband seeks to cover areas across the Greek territory, which are estimated to remain wide in JEE areas, after the implementation of private sector investment plans, and the already completed 160 million rural broadband project, as well as areas where there is no offering for freedom of connectivity of a downlink at least 100 megabits, upgradeable to 1 gigabits. The ultra-fast broadband project is a public-private partnership scheme with 700 million euro budget, of which 300 million euros concern public funds, and is presently in the contractual phase. The project will be implemented in lots, and each lot consists of grouping of administrative divisions at the level of regional units. This will cover 812,000 households. The total number of lots will be 7, so it's the maximum competition and expert economies of scale. Closing my intervention, I would like to highlight that the work of ITQ and telecommunication development is essential to the global community, especially in Greece as a founding member of ITQ, and an elected member of the Council in the region. The last technology of this period supports the initiatives of ITQ at national and international level. Thank you for your attention. Thank you very much, your excellency. Your talk is inspiring and really guides us towards digital development. Still in the virtual world, but this time we will leave Europe to go back to South America, where we are going to listen to Mr. Gosman Acosta Ilarra, national director of telecommunication, Dinatel joining us from Uruguay. Mr. Gosman will speak in English. You can use the translation to be not comfortable in Spanish like me. Diaz, quería agradecer a la OIT, a la organización de este importante evento a su moderador, a Mr. Com, y a todos los panelistas que nos han antecedido para enfrentar este tema que es muy importante. Todas las propuestas extienden a solucionar un tema que es conectar a los no conectados un desafío que es muy importante para los gobiernos y esencial en estos momentos por pandemia. Uruguay tiene el objetivo y el compromiso que la conectividad tenga un alcance lo más amplio posible y en un sentido holístico con el esfuerzo de conectar a todos. No basamos en cuatro pilares fundamentales en ese sentido. La infraestructura, la calidad del servicio, fomentar el uso productivo y el valor agregado a las telecomunicaciones a través de las TIC y promover el uso seguro y responsable de las telecomunicaciones. Respecto al pilar de la infraestructura, todos los esfuerzos de Uruguay están para disponibilizar la infraestructura de las telecomunicaciones aún en los lugares que está faltando. Si bien partimos de una situación bastante favorable porque tenemos un 92% de nuestro territorio con cobertura 4G y una penetración de banda ancha que llega al 98.8% del territorio. Lo cual eso nos da una importante ventaja, pero igual siguen quedando sectores alejados rurales que sin conectar. Por lo cual es un gran desafío para el despiegue que Uruguay piensa hacer a partir del segundo semestre en la convocatoria a un despiegue 5G, a un llamado de licitación de espectro de 5G en el cual para nosotros es muy importante para poder complementar las infraestructuras que están faltando a los efectos de lograr mediante un mapeo que viene realizando este ministerio conjuntamente con el regulador laursec a los efectos de conectar las zonas que tienen baja calidad de servicio o localidades alejadas en ese sentido. Ese es un desafío muy importante en nuestro país sumado a una trayectoria que Uruguay viene teniendo hace más de 15 años de tener una computadora por niño en las escuelas públicas. Ese desafío es muy importante para nuestro país siendo un país chico en en Sudamérica entre dos países grandes como Argentina y Brasil podamos ser un país piloto en tener el 100% del territorio conectado y de esa manera terminar con la brecha digital que para nosotros es un desafío fundamental. Uruguay tiene como desafío generar un hub tecnológico importante en América del Sur y que este sea una puerta de entrada regional para que las nuevas tecnologías se puedan expandir y de esa manera utilizar la infraestructura adecuada que tiene el país para poder desarrollarse. También estamos buscando con la tecnología 5G no solamente mejorar la experiencia de los usuarios sino también buscar nuevas unidades de negocios que puedan permitir en el sector como el comercio, el electrónico, la salud, la educación y también la inclusión tecnológica en el sector agropecuario que es un sector en el cual Uruguay tiene su principal fuente de exportación. En cuanto al pilar del uso responsable de los usuarios en el uso seguro responsable de las telecomunicaciones y las tecnologías de la información la pandemia aceleró el consumo de datos en forma exponencial y de esa manera se ha transformado este en un elemento esencial para la vida de todos los usuarios. Uruguay tiene una agenda digital que viene en su quinta generación y eso es un elemento fundamental que establece una hoja de ruta entre el gobierno, los actores privados del ecosistema y el Ministerio de Industria conjuntamente con regulador. Aprovechamos para saludar a todos los miembros en el que hay un activo participante en todas las actividades de la UDT a través también de nuestro representante el ingeniero Manuel Ivániewicz que encabeza el burro de radios en el cual pedimos su apoyo con su reelección. Saludamos a todos en Rwanda y, bueno, lamentamos no poderlos acompañar en esta instancia. Muchas gracias, señor Guzmán, por esas geniales intervenciones. En el mundo virtual, we go back to Asia more precisely to Singapore to listen to Mr. Ted Shen, CEO of Evercom Singapore Limited Singapore. Please go ahead, sir. Thank you, moderator, your excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. It is my honor and pleasure to participate in the Partner to Connect Digital Development Roundtable and share Evercom pledges today. Data is important to any digital ecosystem and we need accurate and reliable data directly from the local community in order to understand the situation on the ground, as well as to support decision making and better resource allocations to maximize the impact with limited resources available. By joining Partner to Connect Digital Coalations, we aim to get more youth and grassroots organization involved and collectively contribute accurate and valuable data to the local and global digital ecosystem in which then can shape and advance Asia sustainability development progress. The first pledges focus on developing and training 50,000 youth data agents with education institutions across Asia. The youth knows their community best and have a strong incentive to fix issues in their community. They are the best candidate for data agent and can contribute accurate information at the local level to the digital ecosystem in which act as effective information for the feedback loop to policy maker. Complimentary to the youth data agent initiative, the second pledge focuses on empowering 10,000 grassroots organizations to take meaningful sustainability-related actions backed by reliable data. The Partner to Connect Digital Coalations provide a platform to connect these local ecosystem while enabling collective actions towards the sustainable development goals. Closing my interventions, I look forward to advance together the digital transformations for all. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Ted, for the insightful interventions. Now we'll take off again to the Americas this time through the Pacific. We give the floor to Mr. Jennifer Manor, Senior Vice President of Regulator Affairs, Equistar, the United States of America. Please go ahead, Ma'am. Thank you so much, and we're honored to be part of the Partnership to Connect. Together, working through programs like this, I know we can solve the digital divide as quickly as possible. I'm going to talk about the Internet. I'm going to talk about the Internet. 2,500 Hughes Express Wi-Fi sites are deployed throughout Latin America bringing affordable connectivity to approximately 750,000 consumers who now have access to the Internet through Wi-Fi-enabled devices much closer to their homes. This solution provides the community an affordable alternative to receive Internet access. But it also benefits the retailer who provides this access, whose revenue increases not only due to selling prepaid Internet access to the community, but also by growing their customer base and expanding footfall for traffic in their stores. Today, I'm pleased to announce that we commit an additional $2.2 million to connect 2,000 additional Latin American communities with Community Connect Wi-Fi. Also in coordination with the expertise of the ITU America's office, we will prepare a series of white papers on regulatory best practices for addressing digital divide issues through the use of satellite communications. These will include in a minimum the following topics. First, Community Wi-Fi is a tool to address the digital divide. Two, licensing devices to solve the digital divide. Three, market access for satellite systems, which will ease connectivity. Four, spectrum management in new space, and equally important, not last, is a technology inclusive approach to universal service funds. Together with the ITU, we will then host regulatory seminars for interested regulators and governments who will want to explore these issues in greater depth. It is an honor to be a part of the partnership to connect and to join with many others at ensuring that the world has connectivity. I would like to thank Rwanda for hosting such a meaningful event and thank you. Thank you very much, Ms. Jennifer, for your thoughts. We will now close our series of interventions with a virtual presentation that will take us to Spain, where we are going to listen to Mr. George Martinez, partner Axon, partner group from Spain. Go ahead, sir. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is George Martinez, and I am partner Axon, partner group, global management consultant firm, specialized in the ICT sector and ITU sector member. For me, it is a real pleasure to participate in this extraordinary panel to announce our pledge. No one could deny that nowadays scientists are globally interconnected and increasingly dependent on ICTs and the Italian infrastructures. However, this interconnectivity is essential to the security and economic well-being of every nation. Cybersecurity is a complex challenge that encompasses multiple different governance, policy, operational, technical and legal aspects. Cybersecurity is therefore a self-responsibility that requires coordinated action among governmental authorities, the private sector, and civil society. In 2021, the ITU sector will have the opportunity to develop a national cybersecurity strategy in which Axon's partner group has been one of the co-signatures. The purpose of this guide is to support national leaders and policy makers in the development of defensive and proactive responses to cyber risks in the form of a national cybersecurity strategy. Over the past few years, we have seen how countries are progressing differently. Unfortunately, with regard to national cybersecurity, we have seen that unfortunately, with regard to national cybersecurity strategies, many countries are still in a very immature phase. This is particularly the case for most less developed countries. As ITU sector member, our firm is fully committed to providing support to the ITU in ensuring that these countries are not left behind. Through our pledge, our firm will undertake a comprehensive assessment of the existing cybersecurity frameworks in a selection of five least developed countries based on ITU's definition. To undertake this assessment, we will work hand-in-hand with national representatives of these countries to help them understand the state's cybersecurity needs and define actionable recommendations and lines of work which will aim to improve the cybersecurity ecosystem of these countries. These recommendations will be aligned with the latest version of the ITU's guide. The ultimate objective of our pledge is therefore to provide strategic support to national leaders and policy makers in the ongoing development, establishment and implementation of national cybersecurity strategies and policies. We are confident that our pledge will serve as a useful tool for all stakeholders with cybersecurity responsibilities in these countries. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. George, for your insight and contributions. At Smart Africa, we are committed to the transformations of Africa into single digital market by 2030. This transformation requires the implication of all the players from government institutions to the non-network operator passing through the regulators, operators and users. The current market reality cannot provide the impetus to close the coverage. To close the coverage, adoptions and usage gap in all area. We are confident that the impact that the large-scale industry change is bringing in the digital ecosystem. To develop a sustainable ecosystem comprising up-to-date infrastructure, relevant content and services and an environment with the skill sets and opportunities needed to maintain, thriving digital economy is extremely costly. It is a commonplace industry that connecting the next billion will not be as easy as it was connecting the last billion because the need and usage are totally different and in constant motion. That's why Smart Africa created the pledge which focuses on strategic recommendation one of the 21st century financing model for bridging broadband connectivity gap which is broadening base contributions. This pledge is also rooted in the recommendations and guidelines that resulted from Smart Africa 2020 study on the impact of OTT applications in the African telecommunications sector. The various recommendations run from that report align with the guidance to broaden the contributor base to support infrastructure investments and maintenance bridging the coverage gap, harmonizing regulations, bridging the adoption gap, and built user capacity bridging basically user gap. Smart Africa pledge is on broadening the base of contributors in the financing of digital infrastructure to buy, encouraging the mobile network operator to adopt a data-driven business model, facilitating the collaborations between the mobile network operator and the non-network operator in the investment related to the digital infrastructure, improving the taxation models of the government to adopt with the current trends of digital economy. Alleviating burdens of the operators with some incentive like the spectrum allocations, encouraging the implementation of blended financing model where all players can contribute to the investments of the digital infrastructure. And finally, facilitating the new contributions model that can go beyond the traditional model with more impact in the ecosystem. This pledge is aimed to the member state of Smart Africa Alliance. As a conclusion, we have come to the end of our 10 interventions which have actually been both physical and virtual. Long flight, we've had five interventions online and the five physical interventions. This sum up exactly the current mixed context in which we have been living for two years. The different interventions have allowed us to have opinions from several parts of the world, Africa, Europe, Asia, Latin America, North America and the Middle East. We had the privilege of listening to members of the public sector and members of the private sector. These different sector gave us more perspective in the past digital development. We say big things to all the speakers and we take a note of all the interventions that have shown us all the facets and the directions toward the digital development. So, the landing was excellent during this panel and we will spend 11 minutes in the buffer time to basically ruminate and share around a virtual intervention we just followed after this afternoon. So, any questions in the audience? No, unfortunately we don't have time for that, Lesina. Thank you. We were so happy we were right on time. All right, the flights arrive on time. I wish to thank all of you for your contributions for your time and have a wonderful afternoon for all the participants. Thank you. That was a great job. Thank you so much. So now, we have a break until 4.30 when we will hear from Under Secretary General Maria Francesca about the upcoming global digital compact. So, I urge you to be back here promptly at 4.30. I'll be moderating that spotlight and we'll have one more high level after that. You've been great and this is a fantastically rich program. So, see you again at 4.30 to continue. Ladies and gentlemen, I think it's great that you're all staying back during the coffee break. Let's get the music louder and whoever feels like taking a shake, please do so. Let's have the music louder. It's a coffee break. It's a coffee break. It's a coffee break. It's a coffee break. It's a coffee break. Welcome back. We're going to talk now about the upcoming UN global digital compact which is one of many, many quite impressive initiatives that have come out of the Secretary General's office during the period when Antonio Guterres has been Secretary General. And we're very pleased Maria Francesca Spadalizano Maria Francesca Spadalizano, who is Assistant Secretary General of UN Dessa and Acting Envoy for the Secretary General's Technology Envoy. She was going to be here. She may join us midstream, but she might not be able to make it. So we have her extremely adept deputy, Yuping Chan here. So Yuping is going to give us a little bit of background on the compact and tell us about an event that's happening tomorrow morning that will take this whole discussion further. So Yuping, start out by just telling us, what is the global digital compact? Thank you so much, David. And first, let me start off by apologizing on the Assistant Secretary General Acting Envoy's behalf about being able to be here. It was a very urgent last-minute engagement. So we're still hopeful she can join us, but if not, I'm so sorry, you'll have to deal with me as the first substitute. Let me start from where the UN is sitting on the issue of digital cooperation and digital technology. The Secretary General, through his high-level panel on digital cooperation, his roadmap for digital cooperation, and now his common agenda report, has always made digital a key priority because he sees this as one of the defining global challenges that the international community needs to come better together to face. And throughout all of this, he has consistently offered the United Nations as a platform to bring us all together. And by us all, I mean not just the governments and member states, but also civil society, the private sector, tech community, academia, and all of the stakeholders as part of this global discussion on how we address our digital future. So what has happened is that at the United Nations, as part of our common agenda report that was issued last September, and this is a report that encompasses the future of multilateralism, not just digital, but other challenges as well in the area of peace, youth, outer space, and so forth, where he also, again, prioritizes digital, one of the key proposals there is that as part of the convening ability of the United Nations of pulling up all the important work that happened throughout the last few years on digital cooperation, the global digital compact is an opportunity for us all to come together again and agree on a vision, a shared vision, for global digital cooperation. And in the common agenda report, he proposes that the global digital compact be, again, just once in a lifetime opportunity to agree on principles for an open, shared, and free digital future for all. The common agenda report also suggests areas that the global digital compact could focus on, such as, for instance, and I think very relevant to the discussions at WTTC, and ITU, and the work of the partner to connect coalition, connecting everyone to the internet everywhere, and this includes schools as well, there are other proposed areas such as misinformation, disinformation, internet fragmentation, the regulation of AI, the protection of data, and how you govern digital as a public good. So these are all areas that the Secretary General has proposed that the international community can come together to discuss through the global digital compact, and indeed forge that common understanding that will bring us all better together in such a digital future that we want. Well, thank you. That was a very good description. I've been impressed with the SG all along, as I mentioned. He is himself an engineer, and I think that informs his thinking, makes him more intelligent about these issues than most global leaders actually. And in fact, this integration of digital into thinking about literally everything is what all leaders really need to be doing, whether they're in government or business or even in our own lives. We live sort of a digitally infused existence. That's just the reality. So kudos to him and to Maria Francesca for helping him implement this. So talk about a little bit about what this might mean for WTDC, Partner to Connect, the ITU, and the member states here. How can we all participate in this? So let me start by saying that we at the United Nations in New York are in the process of preparing for the global digital compact, because this will be at the Secretary General's summit of the future, next September. And it will be, as I said, a big convening that will look at other areas, not just digital. September 2023. September 2023, that's right next year. And so as part of this inclusive preparatory process, we are reaching out to partner organizations, international processes, international convenings on digital, such as the WTDC right here, to see what inputs can we gain from your membership? What insights have you learned? What feedback have you, lessons have you learned from your processes? Your best practices? Your conclusions? That could be part of building that foundation for the global digital compact. And this is where we, the Office of the Secretary General's Envoy in Technology, working with the ITU, for instance, have actually pushed forward the digital cooperation roadmap to come up with very concrete elements that we think can be part of the global digital compact. And we are also looking to your discussions here to provide further substance to what the member states will then negotiate with other stakeholders as well in the content of the digital compact. For instance, the Office of the Tech Envoy, issued with the International Telecommunications Union, in April, universal meaningful targets, universal meaningful connectivity targets. In other words, what does it really mean to connect the unconnected in a meaningful way by 2030? And this was specifically in the areas of technology, affordability, accessibility, and what does it mean to break this down into achievable targets that we hope countries can work towards and can really provide a marker of sorts for what kind of policy interventions, what kind of investments we will need to achieve these universal meaningful connectivity target goals by 2030. We also are looking to a lot of the events here at WTDC, for instance, the youth summit that took place before WTDC and the youth call for action could be an important youth input into the UN's thinking around the global digital compact, the Kigali action plan as the Secretary General himself had said at the opening of WTDC will be fundamental in shaping our ideas at the United Nations and helping the secretariat prepare better for what we present to member states and the public and the global community as possible elements for inclusion in the global digital compact. And then the last thing I would also say is that partner to connect, which my assistant secretary general and Doreen has actually said we've been so proud to be part of from the beginning, we see as the foundation for the global digital compacts work on connectivity. I mentioned to you how this is actually the first line in the possible content of the global digital compact to connect everyone everywhere to the internet, including schools and everything that's been built through the partner to connect coalition, the pledges, the commitments, the amazing engagement from all of you, I think will be foundational in pushing forward this element of the global digital compact. So we're looking forward to working further with all of you with the ITU with all the partners of the partner to connect coalition to figure out how to make sure that the global digital compact next year contains this clarion call for action to achieve universal meaningful connectivity by 2030. I would also be remiss if I don't mention the fact that on the website of the office of attack on voice, we've created an open inclusive public platform where anyone everywhere, regardless of where you are around the world and who you are, has the opportunity to submit to the UN your thoughts on what should be in the global digital compact. It is the equivalent of a public call for inputs and whatever you submit to the UN via our survey form would then be displayed for others to see, to explore, to be similarly inspired as well to submit your own conclusions. So this can be on behalf of an individual and I encourage all of you to have a look at our website and think about whether you want to submit something or whether you want to convene a consultation through your network, your coalition, your group, your process to then get a collective input and submit that as well to the platform that the UN has created. I think that it is that opportunity to hear from everyone everywhere as to what you expect the member states, the international community and the United Nations to do if we are to create the shared digital future for all. Ah, I forgot one last thing and I think David might have mentioned it a little bit as well. Tomorrow here in this auditorium at 8.15 we will have an informal consultation in the global digital compact where all of you here today and anybody else who might be interested in engaging will have also the opportunity to speak as up as to what you think should be part of the global digital compact especially on the area of connectivity but any of the other areas that I've mentioned as well. That's really all fantastic stuff. The fact that you have a website already up to take contributions from anyone. I know I think Doreen mentioned it at the one of the sessions yesterday and something that I've felt for a long time that you know the sustainable development goals we really would have hoped one of them was universal connectivity. So much of this work really is making up for the fact that it isn't there but in fact taking that even further and essentially wrapping the digital reality we all live in around the work to achieve all the 17 goals. That's really quite exciting. I think that enough people everywhere have said that the digital component really needs to be part and parcel of how we approach development, sustainable development and as you said the agenda 2030 and so perhaps this could be a suggestion for those who are thinking of contributing to the global digital compact. Put that in your suggestions that this should be specifically one of the outcomes of the global digital compact that we aim to enshrine a new SDG 18. I know this might be heresies to be all about the US. At one? At an 18? At an 18? No I'm kidding. Maybe I'm not. Maybe if we hear from enough of you this could be really an objective as well. But I think the underlying point is that we need to hear from you. What you think is necessary? What do you think is urgently needed? And we really need to hear from not just the governments but also civil society, the private sector as to what you think needs to be done and what you yourself are prepared to commit to to help build that shared digital future. So what it really is is the UN is getting into crowdsourcing and you're going to be able to participate in that directly yourselves tomorrow morning here in this room. So thank you so much you Ping. We're sorry that Maria Francesca was unable to join us. Give her our very good regards and we'll see you tomorrow morning here at 8.15 to further this discussion. Thank you so much David and really to all of you please be here tomorrow and we really hope to hear from all of you. I get a little mic going here. Hey so now now we're going to go right into our high level panel number eight. Are the panelists ready to go? Well maybe I will vamp for a second. Pardon me. Oh she is. Okay. Violeta, is a moderator for the high level panel number eight who is regional advisor Africa and country director for Rwanda of the Digital Opportunity Trust. Thank you so much. We will now hear from another bunch of great pledgers. So Violeta please take it away. Good afternoon. Can you hear me all? Muraho. That means hello in Kenya Rwanda. My name is Violeta Uwamutara. I'm the Africa regional advisor and country director for Digital Opportunity Trust dot Rwanda. Digital Opportunity Trust is a sector member of the ITU. Welcome this evening your excellencies our distinguished guests and those joining us virtually and in person at the WTBC. Higali is thrilled to welcome you all. Thank you very much Doreen Boglen-Martin for your leadership and being the driving force for why we are gathering at the WTBC. The partner to connect digital coalition is a game-changing opportunity to foster universal and meaningful connectivity to achieve digital transformation in the hardest to connect communities and to commit to global digital future and connect people everywhere, empowering communities, building digital ecosystems and incentivizing investments. Aligned with UN Secretary's roadmap to Digital Corporation it encouraged us to invest with intention so that no one is left behind. So to get it started I'm going to give the floor to his excellency Mr. Don Graves, Deputy Secretary of Comments, National Telecommunication and Information Administration, NTIA United States. Here with me I have Ms. Eppard McClain, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communication and Information from NITA. Your floor is yours. I'm April McClain Delaney and I'm basically the U.S. Department of Commerce delegation on the ground here at WTBC. Unfortunately Secretary Gina Romondo had an urgent conflict. I'm very pleased that our Deputy Secretary Graves will be presenting her pledge on our pledge on her behalf because we are looking to achieve sustainable development. Well thank you very much. Thank you Ms. Uwamatara. Thank you Madam Deputy Assistant Secretary. Thank you to Rwandan Minister Paula Injavira for hosting the WTDC 22 and congratulations on being the first African nation to host the conference. This year's theme is Connecting the Unconnected and that's exactly what we're doing at the Department of Commerce in the United States. As you all know connectivity is not a luxury, it's a necessity. It's essential for running a competitive business, taking online classes, finding a job and connecting with health providers. That's why we're proud to support the Partner to Connect initiative spearheaded by Dorian Bogdan-Martin, Director of the ITU's Development Bureau. Initiatives like P2C are helping form the partnerships and mobilize the resources to connect the unconnected around the world. Last month the Commerce Department launched the Administration's Internet for All initiative by announcing the availability of $45 billion in funding to ensure that everyone in the U.S. has high-speed internet access that's affordable and reliable. Along the way we're going to learn a lot about structuring modern grant programs, not only for broadband deployment, including in remote areas, but also for ensuring adoption and equitable access. On behalf of the Commerce Department, I pledge to share our lessons learned, best practices and toolkits with the ITU membership through the activities of the ITU development sector. We will offer senior experts from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration who will consult with developing countries to improve their own work products and deliverables. They will also work to improve telecom development through increased resources and training workshops, especially at the ITU, as well as through our U.S. Telecommunications Training Institute and with our private sector stakeholders. By working together and sharing information and resources we can create a greater global community through connectivity. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for your excellency connecting the unconnected and sharing information. Thank you very much. Next, we give the floor to his activity, Mr. Shaq El-Pabir Moulay-Sahar, Minister of Digital Transition, Innovation and Modernization of Administration, Mary Tanya. His excellency will be making his intervention in Arabic for those needing interpretation. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. We do pledge to improve accessibility of the people, putting in place government sector in charge of connectivity and developing restructuring infrastructure to support in services. I will now turn to his excellency, Mr. Mustafa Jobar, Minister of Force Telecommunication and ICT Bangladesh joining us virtually. Over to you. Your excellency, the floor is yours. Thank you very much, honorable moderator. Your excellencies who are present in the auditorium and also who are joined virtually. It's my great pleasure to just have a few words in this session. The government of Bangladesh places to utilize the social application fund also known as SOF to eliminate the digital divide to provide affordable internet to the people and connect the unconnected citizens in Bangladesh. SOF is a contributory funding system present in the telecom sector of Bangladesh. The telecommunication entities such as mobile operators, gate operators etc contribute to this fund. This fund was initiated by the social application fund rules 2014. The primary objective of this fund is to spread the technology to the remotest corner of Bangladesh. Projects are undertaken to expand the facilities of telecommunication, information and communication technology among the different people of those areas which are remotest in Bangladesh. The funds are also used to build social communications systems to disaster management. There are seven projects now running on for implementation. Some of these are implemented already. SOF is present of government connectivity in telecommunication disciplines area, digitization of government primary school education system, expansion project for telecommunication, mobile technology, internet-based digital postal service in the rural coastal, hour and hill areas. The connectivity projects through the satellite one network in the island areas. Establishment of high-speed mobile broadband networks in hour and islands. The telecommunication expansion project for dissententious people in hour, hour and remote areas, Bangladesh satellite one telecommunication connection projects in various towns and villages in remote. We are spending about 243.85 million US dollar for this project. We have also introduced a lowest internet rate, one country one rate. That is the lowest perhaps in the world. So that has enabled the people of the country to use internet. So, retro to you for giving me the chance for expressing my words. Thank you very much. Thank you all. Thank you very much. Your excellency and thank you for the funding that you put in place to support with the technology advancements. Next we give the floor to His Excellency Mr. Logano Tegoko, Minister of Communications, Knowledge and Technology. Botswana, Your Excellency, the floor is yours. Thank you very much and Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, let me start by congratulating the Republic of Rwanda for hosting the first WTDC in Africa. In pursuit of aspirations of developing her digital economy, the Republic of Botswana pledges to provide connectivity to all her citizens through the deployment of digital infrastructure and provision of ICT services by 2024. This pledge is in line with His Excellency the President, Mofetima Sisi's digital transformation and mindset change drive which he espoused at the recently concluded World Economic Forum in Davos. The government seeks to digitalize all sectors of the economy including those which have traditionally not embraced digital technology. Like an economist, to avail these digital technologies, to assist the marginalized citizens to enhance labour productivity and attain efficiency in business. The partner to connect pledge is anchored on the pillars of connectivity, digital infrastructure and services, skills and digital inclusion, innovation, entrepreneurship and innovative financing. Botswana commits to achieving universal broadband connectivity through the deployment of a fiber ring around the country, extending the current fiber by 11,000 kilometers to over 15,000 kilometers by 2024. The target is to connect the total of 504 population centers comprising 30 pounds villages through both mobile and fixed telephony technology. Currently, Botswana is upgrading mobile infrastructure to a minimum of 4G. The regulator has already released a radius difference spectrum to facilitate the deployment of the next generation network throughout the country. All schools which are more than 1,300 in number will be connected to a high-speed broadband internet. Currently all secondary or high schools have low-speed internet access which is limited to computer laboratories and staff longings. The current school's IT infrastructure will be upgraded to cover the entire school's premises. IT skills development is yet another area where Botswana commits to focusing her attention. To this end, internet provisioning is coupled with employment of ICT officers to facilitate the use of ICTs in schools and communities. Government through the assistance of partners such as the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund is working in integrating ICTs into the education system so that every child by 2024 will be using ICTs to learn. Government is currently procuring laptops for students in all schools. Similarly all government public institutions, health, hospitals, tribal offices in villages will be provided with internet connectivity. In providing digital technologies and services, Botswana pledges to fortify the security of these essential assets cognizant of the eminent, ever eminent cyber threats and the need for protection of children in the cyber space. Thus Botswana has put in place and is implementing an ambitious national cyber security strategy. I thank you Excellency. Thank you very much for your your accuracy. I will be applied for digitizing all sectors of the economy, cross-cutting between connectivity, digital infrastructure, innovation, entrepreneurship, safety, you name it all. Thank you very much. Next we have His Excellency, but Botswana State Secretary of State, Ministry of Post and Telecommunication, Cambodia joining us virtually. Your Excellency, over to you. The floor is yours. This Excellency, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to express my appreciation to the ITU WTDC leadership and host country Rwanda for hosting this important event unfortunately I cannot attend the event physically, but it's amazing to see how fast Rwanda has developed. Congratulations to Rwanda and I hope to find another time to visit. The COVID-19 pandemic has paralyzed the world. The recent war in Ukraine has unexpectedly made the future more uncertain and it is ever more important for all the countries to focus on shared development that will help ease the global problems that are confronting our humanity. Apparently digital transformations can be a very important part of that solution to help solve the global problems. Only if we use the right way, use it the right way. The Royal Government of Cambodia has set up a National Council of Digital Economy and Society chaired by our Prime Minister, which has three committees coordinating digital government, digital society and business and digital security. Cambodia is committed to digital transformation toward development of digital economy and society. We understand that the world is still defined, is defining the future with all of the fourth industrial revolution technology. There are still bigger questions on what the world is going to look like in the next 30 years. Whether circular economy will be the way forward, every country needs to develop strong foundation to prepare for the coming future. That means we have to develop and improve communication infrastructure, capacity building, policy and awareness of all stakeholders. Cambodia is committed to the digital transformation development as follow. Continue to develop and improve communication infrastructure, promote and support people-focused policy throughout government rectangular strategy, digital economy and society policy, digital government policy, spectrum management policy, cyber security law, among other important policy. Today, Cambodia is among the top country with one of the lowest costs of mobile broadband price, which is 2.6% of GNI, which is close to the target set by ITU of 2%. We are pushing more broadband connectivity to the communes and village to further improve quality of connection through the Universal Service Obligation Fund. We are strengthening cyber security standards and collaboration capabilities in the region and globally. And through this kind of international platform like ITU WTDC, we will make sure our development is aligned with international direction and vision and working to further improve our collaboration at all level. Once again, thank you to the organizers of this program. And thank you to the organizer and the host country to keep the momentum of this important work. Thank you. Thank you very much, your excellency. Noting, setting up a national council for digital government, society and security, strengthening cyber standards to name a few. Thank you very much. Next, we're going to have Mr. Harry Vendai, Ambassador for Digital Affairs, Ministry of Europe Foreign Affairs, France. Mr. Vendai will make his intervention in French for those needing interpretation. Over to you. Hello, Mr. Vendai for the organization of this event. We all share the same view here. The digital structure, which has been reduced in the recent period, unfortunately concerns a much too important part of humanity, which is thus deprived of access to essential services. I would add that the more we reduce this digital structure, the more the consequences for those who are excluded are important. However, connectivity at the beginning is considered as a decisive factor to achieve the objectives of sustainable development of the United Nations, not only to autonomize populations and develop innovative ecosystems, but also to accompany the trajectory of development of states in their technology autonomy research. I will not talk here about the public aid to development financed by the French Development Agency, because I would like to present some private initiatives. First, to mention that investments in connectivity infrastructure are, of course, a primary condition of this connectivity. Among existing technologies, we of course know the terrestrial and submarine solutions, but I would like to emphasize how much satellite components can be a privileged solution for the development of an inclusive connectivity, particularly for people living in rural or isolated areas. This is all the sense of the project carried by the French company Eutelsat, whose new generation satellite, Connect, will allow to connect to the beginning of a million people living in sub-Saharan Africa in poor areas in the next five years. The Orange Group will invest 3.7 billion euros from 2021 to 2025 to extend the coverage and connectivity for the transmission of the voice and data in 16 countries in Africa and the Middle East. But connectivity is not everything. A connectivity of quality is supposed to have a good view of the coverage and the quality of telecommunications services, especially mobile, available on a territory. It is a subject on which France is particularly mobilized alongside regulators gathered within Fratell, the francophone network of telecommunications regulation, who work together with the tool elaboration of representation of coverage and the quality of mobile services. If investment in networks is essential, it is yet not enough to reach a goal of digital equality. In order to come to digital, the people and organizations that are excluded or distant, the information and the sensitization are crucial, even if the information has digital competence. There again, on the public initiative side, Orange is committed to sensitizing 32 million people and organizations and to accompany the formation of 6.5 million people from 2021 to 2025. Finally, it is important that the countries have resilient national infrastructure, especially to facilitate access to digital public services and the implementation of effective national digital policies. The internet domains of first level play a key role, but are still too little developed in some countries. The project carried out by Laikan and the African Organization of First Level Domains, which the FNIC brings a significant contribution, aims to strengthen 10 registered African CCTLDs in the last two years before deploying a global strategy. You see, if the network has many connectivity, the solutions are also there. I would like to rejoice in the commitment of many French actors, joining in this a real international mobilization in the service of the fight against the digital fractures. Thank you very much, Mr. Verdier, and your intervention in the importance of investing in connectivity infrastructure to connect to broadband, especially for those in the very remote areas. Thank you very much. Next, we give the floor to Mr. Engineer O'Ballet, Ahmed Sheho Mataki, Executive Commissioner Technical Services of Nigerian Communication Commissioner. All right. Thank you, Madam moderator. So, yeah, I start by expressing the apologies of the Honorable Minister Professor Issa Ali Ibrahim Fentany, who could not make it here. He sends his greetings. And I will read his speech to the definition. The federal public of Nigeria, under the stewardship of Mr. President, His Excellency Mohammed Gohari, DCFR, has recorded unprecedented growth in the ICT sector of the country. Since the notion of duty of the tech-savvy horror within self-communications and digital economy, the sector has recorded a number of achievements under its leadership. For example, the sector played a pivotal role in lifting the Nigerian economy out of recession when the ICT sector recorded the highest growth rate in the port quarter of 2020 of 10.7% as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics and stated by the President. In the last two years, a significant number of national policies have been developed to create an enabling environment for sustainable growth of the communications and digital economy sector. This has led to the resolution of challenges that have lingered for close to a decade. 16 of these policies that have been developed, I mean, 16 of such policies were developed and over a dozen of these are already being implemented. And as part of the implementation of these policies, over 1,667 centers plus ICT centers have been established nationwide. An additional 455 are ongoing this week. The federal government has also developed policies and initiated programs to ensure that we build a nation where digital innovation and entrepreneurship are used to create value and prosperity for all. Amongst these is the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, unquote, on eight pillars that address all key areas that support the development of a digital economy. Nigeria addressed the need for a regulatory environment that supports rather than start development through the developmental regulatory pillar of the digital economy strategy. And we have developed a number of policies also in this regard. We've also recognized the need to empower the citizens with the requisite skills that will enable the adoption of digital technologies across industries as addressed in the pillar two of that policy. To this end, Nigeria has set up an online training academy. I guess I better go to the pledge. The only reason I have communications at the Digital Economy of the federal government of Nigeria wishes to inform you of Nigeria's pledge as a partner on focused area through adoption that's empowering communities. For that to the work done, Nigeria wishes to pledge to improve on digital skills acquisition to educate low literacy levels and digital skills as well as address access to training infrastructure and opportunities. We aim to achieve this by refining policies that will enable inclusion of digital skills in elementary academic curriculum, intensive and deliberate training, and organizing effective programs. Also, Nigeria is developing ICT centers and parks across the geopolitical zones of the country that will serve as digital centers of learning. I must also mention that we have in place a national broadband plan that is expected to run between 2020 and 2025. The key objective of which is to ensure the deployment of optical fibers, I mean about 120,000 kilometers of fiber optics. And a 70% coverage of the Nigerian population is you have a large population. So we are being realistic, we are targeting about 70% of the population to enjoy broadband services by 2025. Thank you. Thank you very much. Very important digital skills acquisition and putting in place the centers for that to be achieved. Next, we have Miss Angelas Ayala, Secretaria Junta Comisión Técnica Regional de Telecom... Honduras, Angelas is going to be presenting in Spanish. Over to you. Ocho países miembro cuyos son Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama y la República Dominicana. Les extiendo un cordial saludo a sus excelencias y a las autoridades que se encuentran compartiendo este panel. Al corpo directivo de la UIT, así como a la señora Doreen Martin, directora de la BDT, así como a todas y todos los panelistas y los representantes delegados que se encuentran tanto en línea como en Kigali compartiendo esta conferencia. Dado que los organismos internacionales y regionales especializados del sector facilitamos espacio de diálogo que permiten incentivar y generar la cooperación mutuo entre las naciones con el fin de mantener un entorno de cooperación óptimo para la prestación de los servicios de telecomunicaciones CITIC a nivel global. Agradecemos que nos permitan llegar, hacer llegar este mensaje sobre la relevancia que tienen los trabajos y actividades de dichos organismos en el logro de los objetivos de desarrollo sostenible. Viendo la rapidez con la que la revolución tecnológica y social han avanzado en estos últimos dos años a raíz de la pandemia por COVID-19 y que se ha propiciado un escenario oportuno para dar paso a la transformación digital siendo partícipes de las sociedades y de su evolución, así como de la rápida alfabetización digital de su uso y apropiación en materia de los servicios de telecomunicaciones CITIC en actividades de la vida diaria tales como el teletrabajo, la educación, la salud, las actividades financieras, en línea, el auge del comercio electrónico, entre otros, lo que ha permitido empoderar a la población de América Latina y el Caribe. Es importante que no olvidemos a los casi 250 millones de habitantes en la región de Centroamérica que aún no cuentan con conectividad ni con exceso a estos servicios de telecomunicaciones, haciendo evidente la brecha digital que aún existe. Tanto los ministerios de telecomunicaciones CITIC como los reguladores de los miembros de Contelka están conscientes y, al tanto, de la importancia de continuar con esta gran labor y de la necesidad de convertirse en entidades de última generación, por lo que han suscrito nueve compromisos que abordan diversas temáticas en el marco de Partner to Connect entre las que destacan la modernización de sus marcos regulatorios y legislativos. El empoderamiento de mujeres y niñas a través del uso de las TIC, la creación de sandbox regulatorios, la creación y adopción de agendas digitales, así como planes de banda ancha, el establecimiento de aldeas inteligentes y sostenibles, entre otros, son diversos temas. Es por ello que desde la Secretaría Ejecutiva de Contelka con el aval de la Junta Directiva, nos sumamos con tres compromisos adicionales haciendo un total de dosx pledge para la región centroamericana, en la cual, nos sumamos a la excelente labor que propone Partner to Connect a través de una colaboración entre Contelka y los diversos sectores de la Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones con la intención de acompañarlos y darles la mejor capacitación en la materia para que puedan ellos hacer el logro también de sus objetivos. Por último, sin duda sabemos que este es un pilar fundamental para que la región centroamericana siga creciendo. Muchas gracias a todos. Muchas gracias. Very important empowerment of the women and girls in ICT. Next we give the floor to Victor Martinez, board member, Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones, Paraguay. Over to you, sir. Thank you. Good evening. From Paraguay, we want to congratulate the BBT for this partner to connect initiative. We also appreciate the opportunity to participate in this round table. Next, I will speak in Spanish. Permit on me exponerles sobre dos promesas que queremos aportar desde la Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones del Paraguay. La primera se refiere a la revisión de las condiciones regulatorias para proyectos para el despliegue de redes comunitarias. En mi país, la cobertura de las redes de acceso móvil no es completa, existiendo áreas con falta de acceso. Existen poblaciones sin servicio que si tuvieran un marco regulatorio adecuado podrían desplegar sus redes y conectarse al sistema comercial existente. Es necesario una revisión de la actual reglamentación del sector para identificar e implementar los elementos regulatorios necesarios conducentes a eliminar o reducir algunas barreras a la entrada al sector y al mercado. Y para evitar los costos ineficientes con los cuales encuentran muchas veces los proveedores actuales y potenciales de telecomunicaciones al momento de desplegar sus redes. El despliegue de redes comunitarias podría ser muy efectivo y eficiente como una alternativa de llevar conectividad a muchas comunidades en mi país, especialmente en las zonas rurales. La segunda promesa se refiere a los requisitos de licencia. Un importante aspecto a tener en cuenta para la entrada al mercado lo constituyen los trámites administrativos necesarios para cumplir con los requisitos generales de obtención de licencia de servicios de telecomunicaciones que no involucran el uso de recursos escasos. En este sentido, nos comprometemos a realizar un estudio sobre el mejoramiento del régimen de atorgamiento de licencias en cuanto a requisitos técnicos, jurídicos y económicos y sobre la posibilidad de contar con un plazo razonable y conocido de expedición de licencias. Asimismo, realizar estudios sobre la definición de un mínimo estrictamente necesario de la cantidad y detalle de los requisitos de tipo técnico, jurídico y económico para obtener una licencia. También aliceremos la posibilidad de implementar un régimen más simple y armonizado como un tipo de licencias generales. De eso es señalar que estas promesas hacen parte del Plan Nacional de Telecomunicaciones de la República del Paraguay recientemente aprobado. Finalmente, deseo expresar nuestro compromiso con el desarrollo de las telecomunicaciones no solo con estas promesas, sino con la continuidad de la participación del Paraguay en el Consejo de la UIT puesto para el cual nos estamos candidatando. Muchas gracias. Muchas gracias. Putting in place a study of the improvements of the licensing regime, very important. Thank you very much. Next joining us virtually, we have Mohamed Tuaore, digital and innovation advisor to the Secretary General, Organization Internationale de Frampolponi. Mr. Tuaore will present his remarks in French for those needing translation. Merci. Merci beaucoup. Bonjour. Excellence, mesdames et messieurs, nos remerciements et félicitations au Rwanda et à l'Union Internationale des Telecommunications pour cette importante conférence mondiale. L'Organisation Internationale de Frampolponi a le plaisir de participer à ce panel et de confirmer son engagement au sein de la coalition partner tout comète comme suite. Pour répondre aux défis posés par la transformation numérique, l'OIF s'engage à instituer une plateforme francophone de mobilisation et d'action afin de soutenir l'accélération de la transformation numérique au profit de l'espace francophone et de ses populations représentant au total 1,2 milliard d'habitants et 321 millions de locuteurs de la langue française dans le monde. Cette plateforme bénéficiera en priorité aux jeunes et aux femmes tout en contribuant à développer particulièrement la diversité culturelle et linguistique en faveur d'un espace numérique plus inclusif. Mesdames et messieurs, cher excellence, cet engagement s'institue dans la mise en oeuvre de la stratégie de la francophonie numérique 2020-2026 adoptée en décembre 2021 par la conférence ministérielle de la francophonie. Ainsi, à travers une intensification de la coopération dans une approche très cuivre, la transformation numérique constitue davantage un vecteur de connaissance, de développement et de solidarité au sein de l'espace francophone. En matière d'impact, des retombées positives et conséquentes sont attendues en faveur de l'acquisition des compétences, de l'emploi, en particulier des jeunes et des femmes et de l'insertion des jeunes. De l'égalité femme-homme dans le domaine du numérique, de la réalisation des objectifs de développement durable et de la valorisation de la langue française dans l'espace numérique, en particulier en ce qui concerne la décooperabilité des contenus francophones en ligne, je vous remercie pour votre aimable appréciation. Next, joining virtually is Mr Chris McLaughlin, our chief government and laboratory engagement, OneWeb, United Kingdom. The floor is yours. Over to you. Thank you very much. Excellences, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. It's a great honour for OneWeb to be part of this high-level panel with ministers and representatives from industry, intergovernmental organisations and civil society. We congratulate the ITU for the excellent initiative Partner to Connect, which invites stakeholders to work together to address the ongoing challenge of the digital divide which persists in too many places, especially in those communities that are hardest to reach. May I congratulate and thank the government of Rwanda for the great efforts put in place to host the WTDC. Such an important and essential meeting, and I'm very sorry that I cannot be there in person with you. Whilst the virtues of 5G and more recently 6G as a solution to the digital divide are emphasised, we should not forget the issues of affordability and in doing so exacerbate the digital divide between the haves and the have-nots and within countries. Least developed countries or island nations where it's impractical or mainly uneconomical to build out fibre infrastructure are particularly vulnerable to this risk, but so are the most remote areas in developed countries. We believe that OneWeb, the low earth orbit satellite solution, is an enabler of digital transformation that governments all over the world are pursuing and will bring broadband as well as 5G connectivity in places where terrestrial infrastructure is lacking due to the geographical and economic challenge. Our network will connect remote communities that have been left behind because of the challenging terrain spread out of population and lack of investment on terrestrial infrastructure. OneWeb will offer high-speed, low latency connectivity to these places. We're building a global constellation of satellites that will deliver high-speed, low latency around the world and we're supported in our mission by others equally dedicated to closing the digital divide. Our network will be comprised of 648 satellites and 70% is already complete. Our go-to-market strategy is to partner locally with local internet and telecom service providers and our partners are the ones working in-country and locally who best understand the gaps that businesses, communities, are facing to ensure our solution. Our service is already up and running in the U.S. and Canada and across the Baltic states. It is expanding and connecting communities and businesses. We are firm believers in the transformative power of connectivity and we're very proud to be working with the Partner to Connect initiative. Moving to our pledge. OneWeb would like to pledge to run capacity-building programs with all the regional organizations to provide the latest best practice in terms of regulatory and policy matters on new generation satellite networks. We look forward to continuing to work with the Partner to Connect partners and with policymakers, regulators, and space agencies globally so that they have shown keen interest in our services and mission. Again, I'm sorry not to be with you in person but we have a team present in Kigali and they look forward to meeting you all, wishing you a huge and successful, impactful event. Our very best wishes from all at one moment. Thank you very much. Affordability to look at that, very important. Capacity-building programs near your laboratory or policies of the new generation of satellites. Thank you very much. Next, we go virtually again to Ms. Jenna Stakavage, Global Executive Director of Product and Digital Infrastructure Policy Intel Corporation, United States. The floor is yours. Over to you. Thank you. Honorable delegates, hosts, ladies, and gentlemen, I appreciate the opportunity to provide information on Intel's Partner to Connect pledge to the WTDC. Intel is a leading semiconductor manufacturer, providing semiconductor chips for a wide range of technologies. Intel's corporate purpose is to create world-changing technology that improves the lives of every person on the planet. ICT technologies play a critical role in building a digital future that is equitable, accessible, and inclusive for all. Regarding our first pledge, Intel formed an alliance with 50 partners from Fortune 500 companies, NGOs, and academia, including Dell, worldwide technology, and African mobile networks to create the N50 project, which aims to bring access to affordable digital content, applications, and services to the unconnected to provide health, social, and financial benefits to marginalized communities. For our second pledge, we are rolling out Intel Digital Readiness Programs globally. These programs empower wider, non-technical audiences, future developers, and next-generation technologies with appropriate skills, mindsets, tools, and opportunities to use technology effectively and responsibly. In partnership with 30 governments and 30,000 institutions worldwide, we are committed to scale the program to reach more than 30 million people by 2030 with artificial intelligence skills training for current and future jobs. Already in 2021, we scaled the Digital Readiness Programs by working with more than 20 countries, 50 education ministries, and other partners, impacting over 13,000 institutions and 1 million people globally. In addition to our pledges, I would like to emphasize the importance of high-speed broadband networks for our societies. To bridge digital divides, it is important to develop policy approaches which facilitate widespread, high-speed, and high-quality, affordable broadband connectivity through technologies such as 5G and Wi-Fi 6E. Policy approaches to closing the digital divide can preclude market-based spectrum policies, policies that promote competition and investment in broadband, broadband demand creation programs, such as programs for the integration of ICT in education, or affordable broadband and device programs for low-income households and expansion of the universal service or access funds to include broadband in areas where deployment can be cost-prohibited. Thank you very much, and I hope everybody enjoys the session. Congratulations from Intel. Thank you very much for your pledge, the N50 Project and the Digital Readiness Program. Thank you very much. And next, we have Kifilwe, Madigo Hani, MAP, Public Affairs Lead, Vodafone, South Africa. Joining us, the floor is yours. Thank you. Your Excellencies, Honorable Ministers, and distinguished delegates, thank you for the opportunity to participate in this high-level panel of the Patna to Connect Digital Coalition. As the papers led digital services companies with strong roots in delivering services in most countries in Africa and Europe, Vodafone's vision is driven by the development objectives as articulated in the Africa Union's Agenda 2023 and the European Union's Strategy for Partnership with Africa, which both underscored digital transformation as a fundamental and a-law for economic prosperity, inclusive growth, and sustainable development. As Vodafone, we believe in the challenges that in the meaningful, sustainable, and inclusive digital transformation can be classified in three categories. The first challenge is the coverage gap, which with approximately 250 people in African living outside the coverage of mobile broadband networks. The second challenge is the hands-on gap, which with entry-level 4G-enabled devices costing the equivalence of several months of salary in most low-income households. There is a need for intervention that enables access to affordable smartphones such as 4G and 5G phones, but also tablets, computers, and high-speed computing devices for schools, hospitals, and community centers. The third challenge is the usage gap, where over 500 million people who are covered by mobile broadband networks in Africa do not use them optimally due to the lack of digital skills. Our efforts to address these challenges have delivered credible successes in many markets where we have credit. Over the past year alone, we have invested $1 billion in capital expenditure across all our markets towards improving network resilience and enabling businesses to operate facilitate online learning and assisting governments with providing critical services. Our expenditure has also gone towards accelerating rural connectivity programs, transforming them towards later technologies such as 4G, and where appropriate budget. Coupled with connectivity, we have delivered digital platforms that transform lives in line with our social contract and peoples-led mission to impact 100 million lives in Africa by the year 2025. For example, for health, our M-vaccination e-health digital toolkit has helped administer COVID-19 vaccines in South Africa. We are hoping that it will expand the platform to cover more pandemics and more vaccination programs in the future. For education, our e-learning platforms, instant school and e-school, have provided curriculum-based education material in South Africa. So I'll go to our pledge. I apologize for that. But to further write digital inclusion in the hardest-to-connect communities in contribution to focus one of the partners to connect initiative-themed, connect people everywhere. Vodafone proudly announces its pledge to invest 190 million over the next five years to increase 4G population coverage to an additional 80 million people in South Africa. The pledge will extend 4G to 4,5400 sites in six of our markets of which four will be from the least developed countries, namely Mozambique, the Soto, Tanzania, and the DRC. The pledge excludes investments that will be making in Ethiopia and Egypt, which are funded separately. Vodafone aims to meet these objectives whilst progressively reducing its greenhouse emissions from our networks by deliberately transitioning towards cleaner end-upment and more renewable energy sources. This aligns with our public papers definition of doing good while we do business. I thank you for your attention. Thank you very much. We have recognized your pledge for 190 million for the next five years. Thank you very much. As the representative for Digital Opportunity Trust, it is my pleasure to announce our pledge to partner to connect, to contribute to building the digital divide and achieving meaningful connectivity. Digital Opportunity Trust we're digitally focused, creating opportunities and building trust at the center of it all, the youth. As an organization committed to digital inclusion, women empowerment and the potential of youth, young people as leaders of change. Digital Opportunity Trust and its network of thousands of young leaders commit to building digital ecosystem in support of one million people in marginalized communities in Africa and the Middle East and empowering these young people with digital literacy and 21st century skills by 2025. Thank you very much. Your excellencies and distinguished panelists, it is clear that connectivity, digital inclusion requires collaboration, new partnerships and resources. It is the only way to connect the 2.9 billion and keep the other 4.9 online. Partner to connect is a platform that will build synergies and a united ecosystem of leaders like yourselves who will contribute to a day in the future when we can say we have achieved universal and meaningful connectivity. Thanks everybody and have a great evening. Thank you very much. Thank you so much Violette and panel just stay seated for one second. I've been super impressed with this day. The understanding of digital connectivity, centrality to economic growth and societal health seems to be all over the world. It's really amazing. And to wrap up the day, let me bring on Celina Abdullah who has essentially been the producer of the day and is Chief of the Digital Knowledge Hub for ITU-BDT. So Celina, take us up. Thank you. Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much. You know, David has said it all. Well, Doreen actually said to me just now as she was leaving, she said she's sorry she couldn't stay till the end but she said it's been incredible and it really has. And it's amazing what we can say in three minutes or less. I think today we've seen such a variety of pledges that as a community, we should be very proud of ourselves. Please can we just give ourselves a hand of, you know, a great, yeah. We'd like to see you back tomorrow but I'd just like to let you know for this panel, high-level panel eight, that you hold the record so far with the most number of speakers. So hopefully it's also the most number of pledges. However, tomorrow we also have two panels. One is, well, high-level panel nine will have 14 speakers just like you and high-level panel 10 will have 15. So let's see what we have in store then. Hopefully they will have as exciting as, you know, the pledges as you have had today. Thank you also to those who have stayed during the coffee break. You see at P2C you get everything, not just the commitments. You have the networking. You have the camaraderie. We are a community. We also had music. So tomorrow during the coffee break, if you decide to stay back, I urge you all to stand up and dance. Thank you very much. Have a good evening. See you tomorrow at 9.30.