 Welcome to ITU Telecom World 2019 from Budapest Hungary where I'm pleased to be joining the ITU studio today by Salim Avann who is the Director of Policy, Strategy and Governance Division at the UN Office of Information and Communication Technologies. Salim, welcome to the studio. Thank you so much. Now I'd like to start off by talking about this year's theme for Telecom World is Innovating Together Connectivity That Matters. What makes connectivity meaningful in your opinion? Why is it so important? Well, I think that connectivity is fundamental to who we are as people. I think that what's happening in the world is that growth and technology connectivity is unstoppable. I think that the evolution on the way that we communicate with each other, the way we connect with each other is also changing the world. Not necessarily always for the good, but it's certainly something that is a force that's shaping. Not just our lives in the workplace, our lives at home, but also the geopolitical landscape. If you look at the fastest growth in social media and connectivity in that particular arena, that's happening in Africa. We have half of the world's population now connected and that connection is it's very kind of simple to say that we are connected. There's many, many layers and nuances to that kind of connection and we need to think about those. I think that if we are to work together, particularly since we're talking about SDGs, about development, about peace and security, about human rights, those sorts of areas where we work in the UN, we have to not only take account of that, but we have to really engage and be relevant in that kind of increasingly connected world. Okay, and let's talk a little bit about the SDGs as Sustainable Development Goals. What role can technology play in the Sustainable Development Goals in your opinion? So, I'm not saying anything at all out of turn here. I don't think that we're going to achieve the SDGs without really engaging on technology, innovation and data. It simply won't happen. I think that when you look at the SDGs, they span everything. And actually the pillars of the UN are kind of embodied in the SDGs as well. Technology and innovation is going to be a fundamental force in how we achieve those goals. I think also I mentioned data and the reason I think data is important is as we evolve, as we work to implement the SDGs, we have to make sure that what we do with technology is mirrored with policy, with advocacy, with changes in the way data-driven decision making and for that the kind of whole data landscape is going to be critical. And technology in this case, I'll also mention it isn't just the kind of traditional concept of technology that we grew up with, you know, the kind of software hardware, but technology and innovation will span everything, you know, whether it be blockchain, IoT, artificial intelligence, I think is fundamental to everything. And of course cyber security in the context of technology is going to be important too. Okay, let's talk about cyber security. We're always looking at opportunities that technology can offer. What about the threats? I think the threats are significant. They're going to impact us in all sorts of ways. In fact, to be fair, they're already impacting us in all sorts of ways. We see some of them and others we don't. The Secretary General recently said that he doesn't expect a conventional war in the future not to be preceded by some sort of cyber attack. We are seeing that happening all kinds of levels. It's happening for all kinds of reasons. Attribution is extremely difficult. The activities on the dark web are extremely, by its very nature, intended to be difficult to track. You have a lot of human trafficking. You have a lot of activities that would affect peace and security, human rights, et cetera. And those are fundamentally shaping the way that we're using technology. So I think the threats are real. I mentioned earlier the whole idea of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is absolutely not solely a force of good. It depends very much on how it's being used. And it could have a significant impact in destabilizing and affecting the geopolitical landscape and changing the way people think, react, and engage with each other. Now, the Human Office for Information and Communication Technology recently launched an initiative. Perhaps you could tell us a little bit more about it. Yeah, we have really been trying to push this area of technology innovation. There's two or three kind of areas that we've been focusing on. One was this idea of trying to reach out and crowdsource. And that's really kind of predicated on the notion that we don't believe that we, the United Nations, are going to be the ones that solve all of the world's problems, that we have to work with governments, private sector, public sector, and of course individuals. The other one that is important is we started this kind of ecosystem of United Nations Technology Innovation Labs. And the idea really is there is an idea that we would build these labs, build solutions, implement them, scale them, and therefore help in the achievement of the SDGs. But as much as that, I think what's really important is the labs create this gravity to which we can build connections and partnerships with member states, private sector, public sector. And together we believe that we can work on the kind of areas where we really need to advance. What we have is, at the moment, we have four or five labs. We have Finland, Malaysia, India, and Egypt. Each has its own thematic area and interest. For example, Finland is very kind of focused on health, education, circular economy, and peace and security. Egypt is very focused on disabilities and agriculture and so on. We're just working on a partnership with the Economic Commission for Asia. And we're building a lab in Jordan as well. So that's a very important kind of initiative. As part of that, we're very kind of cognizant that we have to find an off ramp for these sorts of innovations. So we're working with the United Nations Office for Least Developed Countries and the tech bank in Turkey to find a way to take these innovations and actually implement them in real life scenarios. You've got obviously a lot of different options for your schedule and your timetable on a yearly basis. You've chosen to come here to IT or telecom. What's the value of attending events such as this for you? This kind of event is critical. It brings like-minded people together at a senior level who really want to engage. You don't have to start with this kind of polarized disparate set of ideas and views. You start very much on the same page and from there you can actually build those relationships and turn them into activities and projects. So from our perspective it's crucial. I also think that the important aspect of IT or telecom world is it isn't just one segment of the ecosystem. The governments are represented, the private sector is here, NGOs, international organizations. So you've got this whole collection of entities. So we're very glad to not just attend here but we're also working to build deeper relationships and partnerships with ITU. We're very glad that you're here too. So thank you very much for joining us in the studio and hopefully we'll catch up with you again in the very near future. Great, thank you so much. Thank you very much.