 We're here at GET 2016, the second global forum on emergency telecommunications in Kuwait. And I'm very pleased to be joined by Timothy Ellum, who is president of the International Amateur Radio Union. Tim, thanks so much for being in the studio with us today. Well, thank you for inviting me. Now, I'd like to start off by talking about this forum. I wanted to find out what's the significance of you being here. And in terms of amateur radio, what role does amateur radio play in emergency telecommunications? Well, amateur radio has had a long history in dealing with emergent situations and disasters. Quite often, amateurs are on the ground. They have their own communications devices. They have their own antennas. They have their own systems. And if an emergency strikes in the critical 24 hours after that emergency, they're there on the ground. They know how to communicate. They know what frequencies to use and can deal with passing health and welfare traffic and dealing with the first responders as necessary. And what is the International Amateur Radio Union known as the IARU? The IARU is a non-governmental organization. It's headquartered in Connecticut in the United States. It represents the over 160 amateur radio societies in various countries around the world. And we represent the interests of the amateur radio services at the international and national level, including with the ITU and other regional telecommunications organizations. And is amateur radio relevant today? Has amateur radio benefited from advancements in technology? It has. Amateur radio is probably more relevant today than it was 25 years ago. We're so dependent now on all kinds of systems of communications. Everyone has a cell phone. Everyone's used to using the internet. But they're not used to what happens when those systems go down. And amateur radio is there. It relies on some odd old-fashioned technology. But there's also advancements in technology that we rely on. Very weak signal propagation, for example. We have where you can use a computer to pass traffic information at very, very low power levels in very bad propagation conditions. And so as we've developed our communications, amateur radio has kept pace. And it's kept pace by developing new ways of being able to communicate. And in terms of challenges, what challenges does the amateur radio service face? There's a number of challenges. One, in some countries it's still very difficult to get a license. And in other countries it is not. You have this very interesting anomaly where a lot of countries where there's a very significant hurdle to get a license, people will write the United States Amateur Exam and then take that amature, the license that they get from the United States and use that to get a reciprocal license from their home country. The second challenge that we have is on the importation of equipment. Amature equipment can be taxed quite heavily in some countries, and that does affect the ability of an average amateur to have the right communications equipment. The third challenge is with antennas. A lot of amateur radio communications is on HF frequencies. And HF frequencies typically do require larger antennas, support structures, perhaps directional antennas. And there are some countries where it's very difficult or there's a lot of hurdles to put up to allow amateurs to use those antennas. So those are the three biggest challenges that the amateur services face right now. And finally, I know you're going to be speaking here at the forum. I wanted to find out what's going to be your key message. What are you going to be trying to convey to participants here? Well, I think that what I want to convey is the value of the amateur radio service today and how it is there on the ground. We talk about bringing in during times of crisis emergency communications equipment, the difficulty of getting it through customs in some countries. What people forget is that there are people on the ground who have the communication skills and the communications equipment. They don't rely on commercial networks. They know how to do things. I'm not an engineer by any means. I don't work in the communications field. But in a time of crisis, I know enough to be able to use a battery to get my radio working to put up a simple wire antenna to make communications with emergency services. So that's the value of the service. I'm speaking at two events and that's the central theme is how the amateur radio service is relevant today and very relevant and important for emergency communications. So Madam, thank you very much indeed. Thank you.