 Welcome to WTDC 17 here in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We're very pleased to be joined in the studio today by Philip Metzger, who is the director general of the Swiss Federal Office of Communications. Philip, great to see you in the studio today. Thanks for having me. Good morning. Good morning. Now I'd like to talk to you a little bit about the theme of WTDC 17, its ICTs or SDGs. In what concrete ways do you think that telecom regulates, can contribute to the integration of ICTs in socioeconomic development? Well, I think you can't look at the regulators in an isolated way. I think it's about decision making in general. Of course, also policy makers are very important. And there, obviously, access to broadband is a key factor. So you want to make sure you're putting in place the correct strategies and also the correct regulatory approaches and practices that don't hamper innovation, that don't hamper the investment by those who are building these networks. And you want to make sure that you have also policies in place that allow for an even spread and a general access to those broadband facilities. So that's certainly an important point. And then, of course, you have other policies that can kick in, that can alleviate or facilitate the use of ICTs or that can make it more complicated. And you certainly want to avoid those that are hampering the environment in general for those types of investments and activities that everybody can benefit from. So let me just pick you up on that. What regulatory and policy measures do you think need to be put in place in order to bring connectivity to the next billion? Well, I think we need a healthy investment climate. We need to make sure that there are not any special taxes in place that will hamper particularly the ICT and telecom sectors. We'll have to make sure that there are digital strategies because ultimately those means, those facilities are there to serve a purpose. And so I think there has to be a common will, a common drive of a society nationally and internationally to push for the use of those tools because that will facilitate and help greatly the improvement of living conditions for everyone. And certainly there are then very specific aspects to telecoms. Certainly you have to make sure you can use the spectrum better than today. So you have to have more efficient allocation practices in place and you have to make sure that those resources, which really is a kind of raw material for the ICT and telecom sectors, is actually usable. Now we're a long way from Switzerland and I wanted to ask you what's the value of attending this event for you? Well, I think you have to see this event in a context. This is not just the event. It is a culmination, a point of culmination of a long process, a cycle that is being conducted by the international community inside the ITU. And so in that sense, ultimately what we are doing in our roles, certainly from a government perspective, is we want to create democratic information societies and democratic digital societies which can use the ICTs to the best of their abilities and which will empower people, everyone to use that. And so in that context, I think this is a key moment in defining, in taking stock and defining the further course of action when it comes to the implementation, in particular of the Sustainable Development Goals, because ICTs are so key in everything that is there, really, that this is a very important juncture. And on the other hand, of course, it's also very important for us, looking at this from a perspective of our country, of Switzerland, that this is being conducted with the overall fundamental aspects and rights also in place. So we really have to put this in the context of the framework conditions for how humanity can evolve. And at the end of this conference, what do you hope will be the concrete actions? Well, I think we hope that there is going to be agreement by the community here that how the role of ITU can be leveraged also in the WISIS plus 10 process with a view to the implementation of the 2030 agenda. Certainly, we hope there would also be agreement that the digital tools can be used more going forward, because we still are partly working also with methods that I think have to be modernized. I think that holds true for all of us. And then, of course, it's very important that we have a clear action plan as was the case at the last WTDC. I think we've seen a big progress on that, the way it was implemented and the way the ITU also facilitated the concrete actions. And I think in the same spirit we want to go from here for the next four years. Philip Metzger, thank you very much indeed. It's my pleasure. Thanks, Max.