 Dr. Omane Buama, due to the hesitancy of service at home, joins this conference tomorrow, and he has mandated me as councillor of Ghana to ITU to read his message. Mr. Chairman, Honorable Ministers, Secretary-General of the ITU, elected officials, your excellencies, dear colleagues. On behalf of the government of the Republic of Ghana and the delegation of Ghana, allow me to extend our appreciation to the government of the United Arab Emirates for hosting this conference, and indeed for the generous hospitality extended to us since our arrival in this beautiful city of Dubai. My delegation and I join others in congratulating the Secretary-General, the committee director, together with ITU management and staff for successfully convening this conference. Mr. Chairman, we acknowledge that this conference is taking place at a time that global attention is focusing on the positive application of ICT for development and a gradual transformation to the knowledge, society, and global peace. It is for this reason, Mr. Chairman, that we thank all delegates from the Africa region who converged in Accra, Ghana last October during the Regional Development Forum and the WTDC Regional Preparatory Meeting to take forward-looking decisions on Africa initiatives for the development sector. We acknowledge with thanks the enormous contributions made by the Director of BDT and his team, including the regional secretariat of ITU. Additionally, the presence of the Deputy Secretary-General, Mr. Zhao, helped to support the Africa region to shape the Africa initiatives, and indeed worth mentioning is also the effective coordination role of the African Telecommunication Union. Since the Africa conference, the Africa region has remained committed to work collaboratively to ensure broadband connectivity for all irrespective of geographical location and status. Mr. Chairman, we welcome the choice of team, namely broadband for sustainable development, which for us in Ghana, Africa, and the developing world remains critical for rational development as ICT provides development opportunity and also opportunity for diversification from reliance on commodity exports that continue to suffer from deteriorating external market conditions. Since the Hadrabad Conference, Ghana has made significant progress in broadband infrastructure development. In accordance with the goals of the Smart Africa Manifesto, Ghana has increased its international connectivity capacity to 12.3 terabytes from the submarine cables supported by a terrestrial network of more than 4,000 kilometers of optic fiber nationwide. Indeed, Ghana has developed its policy making broadband a universal tool for development with emphasis on provision of last mile connectivity affordable for use by unserved and underserved communities as well as vulnerable communities. The industry players in the private sector is commended for their collaborative role in this regard. In the area of mobile and wireless broadband, Ghana has exceeded 100% subscription level and has put in place an impressive universality fund management system that provides ICT infrastructure and services to schools, communities, and indeed inmates of prisons to facilitate the rehabilitation. The service sector suffered by ICT has emerged as the largest contributor of the country's GDP. It contributed up to 12.1% of the sector's 49% in 2012. Mr. Chairman, there's still a lot more to be accomplished as we assess the objectives of the OASIS, as we build on the understanding of the World Telecommunication Policy Forum 13, as we reflect on the commitment of wiki and also as we engage in multi-stakeholder discussions on the opportunities and challenges to overcome who consider the various contributions that have been submitted to the WTDC. We therefore invite this conference to give consideration to increasing access to broadband infrastructure, encouraging investment and security of networks, promoting widespread internet in government networks and issue of affordability. We reiterate the confidence of Ghana in the ITU and in the work of the BDT. We are hopeful that we will make progress in meeting the goals of promoting international development and world peace. Mr. Chairman, distinguished delegates, Ghana remains committed to continue to contribute towards the work of ITU as one of the representatives for the Africa region. Ghana has therefore presented her candidature for re-election to serve on the ITU Council, come ITU Platyport in Busan, and we count on the support of all. Finally, we convey to you, Mr. Chairman, our wishes for a very successful conference. Thank you very much. Thank you.