 Welcome to ITU Telecom World 2019 from Budapest, Hungary. We're very pleased to be joined in the ITU studio by John Omo, who is the Secretary General of the African Telecommunications Union. John, welcome to the studio. Thank you. Thank you very much for being with us. Now, I'd like to start off by asking you a little bit about the work of the African Telecommunications Union and what are your key priorities at the moment going forward? Well, the African Telecommunications Union is the regional union. You know, ITU is for the world. ATU is for the African region. And our mission, essentially, is to put Africa together in terms of matters ICT, in terms of ICT development. So the key priority that we have in our current strategic plan is connectivity for African countries. One, in terms of broadband infrastructure. And secondly, in terms of skills development for ICT, especially for youth and women. And lastly, content and applications development. So those are the key three priority areas that we tend to concentrate on in terms of developing ICT services and infrastructure for Africa. Now, innovating together, connectivity that matters is the theme here for this year's Telecom World 2019. I just wanted to ask you what makes connectivity meaningful in your world and why is it important? I think connectivity, essentially, making gadgets and infrastructure connect to each other and speak to each other. Without connectivity, really, there's no ICT. And more so for Africa, where you have much of our population still rural-based and so providing broadband infrastructure and indeed, in some cases, basic telephony is still an issue. And so connectivity, both from an application's point of view both and from an infrastructure point of view, is very important, especially in Africa because of the nature of our population. Fairly young population, very inquisitive, very outgoing. And so connectivity really is the thing and innovation for that matter. Do you think it's possible to single out a single technology innovation or strategy that has the greatest potential to accelerate digital development in Africa? Sure. I think the technology that will see people as the most important component of the jig in terms of technological development is the technology that cracks it. But speaking about specific areas of development, I think in Africa the technology that seems to have cracked it is one that has ensured that there's a lot more digital inclusion, one in terms of our businesses and SMEs and secondly, financial inclusion. In most parts of Africa the credit card is still unknown and so, you know, having money in a mobile wallet is something that has cracked and opened opportunities for development in a lot of our African countries. So if you ask me the single most important technology that has led to ICT development, I would resort to that which calls upon us to include our people in the financial system. You know, the M-Pesa, mobile money, mobile wallet, and all that. Now what's the value for you of attending events such as I2 Telecom World? I think the value that this brings, especially from an African perspective, is the value of networking such as we are having here and the opportunity to meet people, get partnerships in areas of our development and also business opportunities for companies that are looking to do business in countries in Africa. So the opportunity to network is the single biggest opportunity that I see here. And what's your message for delegates here at I2 Telecom World and also for our wider audience as well? I think there are indeed the ITU has organized quite a number of interesting topics in various rooms around. And so I would ask delegates to, you know, seek to participate in those discussions and gain insight into some of the opportunities that have been opened in a number of countries by certain companies. So both the private sector, you know, the ITU have very interesting discussions going on and that delegates, you know, visit those meeting rooms, seminar rooms and workshops and see that it's participating in the discussions that are going on in those particular places. And for those who didn't make it here, make sure you were here next time. Sure, sure. And so much of this is being streamed online anyway. So there's an opportunity that technology gives us to participate even from where those who are not here are. Well, from where I am here and where you are now. Thank you very much indeed. My pleasure. And I hope that we will catch up with you again at the substation in the very near future. Sure. Thank you very much. The pleasure is mine. Thank you. Thank you.