 I'm honored that the International Telecommunications Union has chosen me for this prestigious award. Well, unfortunately I'm not able to join you in person for the 150th anniversary celebration. I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about how your work contributes to a breakthrough that will improve the lives of the world's poorest over the next 15 years and beyond. That breakthrough, which Melinda and I highlighted in our annual foundation letter this year, is the use of digital banking to give the poor more control of their assets and help them transform their lives. Historically, people at the lowest income levels have had to make difficult choices about how to use their limited financial resources. That's probably because they don't have access to banks that can help them use those resources effectively. As mobile digital technologies spread to even the poorest and most remote regions of the world, we have an opportunity to reach this underserved population and bring it into the global economy with expanded access to savings accounts, lines of credit, and other financial services. For their part, financial service providers can profit from serving these customers because the marginal cost of processing digital transactions is near zero. In other words, these technologies can make the expansion of financial access a winning proposition for everyone. Now for the world to seize this opportunity, we need the innovation and expertise of the global telecommunications industry. And that's where the ITU can play a central role by encouraging greater technical standardization in the digital financial services sector, by improving the quality, reliability, and security of services in low-income countries, by providing a better coordination between telecommunications authorities and financial service regulators, and by advocating simpler, more intuitive mobile technologies to ensure wider use by individuals who may be illiterate or unfamiliar with digital systems. For 150 years, the ITU has helped build an ever more connected global economy. By making it possible for the poor to join that economy, you're adding to the proud legacy of the organization. Thank you very much for this great honor, and congratulations on your 150th anniversary.