 It is an absolute pleasure for me to address all of you here today, as it is for Interpol to co-host with the Ministry of Interior of France, this the first international forum on technologies for a safer world. Over the next two days, we will be called together to provide collective answers to some of the most fundamental questions we could ask ourselves. How to protect our future. How to best shield our countries, our cities, and our co-citizens from criminal harm. As it often happens, some of the answers to these questions come from examining our own history. While it is natural to think of technology as a symbol of what has yet to come, we should remind ourselves the desire to innovate has been constantly embedded in our existence as human beings, by need or by intellectual curiosity. Some have traced the origin, the true origin of technology to the very birth of humankind. In the 8th century BC, Greek poet Hesiod provided in his theogeny a fascinating account of the first innovation ever embraced by humans. It is a story of trickery, deceit, and theft, but also of triumph of human progress. It is a story of Prometheus, the titan who dared to defy Zeus, by first stealing and then donating the gift of fire to humankind. For that single act, Prometheus would be condemned by Zeus to eternal suffering, because he disobeyed the rules and shared innovation. He had shown humans how to bend the boundaries nature had apparently imposed on us, so that our quality of life could improve and so that we could evolve. In other words, in Greek mythology, Prometheus taught humankind how to innovate and taught us about the breadth of technology, therefore changing our lives forever. Indeed, since then technology has accompanied us throughout our greatest achievements, curing crime-lethal diseases, unveiling the mechanics of matter, observing our own world from beyond the clouds and building bridges and paths where nature had failed to do so. The realm of crime-fighting does not escape this principle. Through the years, police have shown incredible skills in applying innovation to their daily work. France's Alphonse Bertillon is credited with suggesting the use of anthropology in studying suspects' profiles, with proposing the use of full-face photo shots to identify criminals, and with a truly scientific approach to crime-scene photography. We've seen advances in technology from the private sector quickly adopted by police and law enforcement. Think about the telegraph, radio, installation of police call boxes, cameras, and the dreaded police radar. Finally, we all know too well how blood type, fingerprint, and DNA comparisons have become key in solving challenging investigations and in bringing dangerous criminals to justice. Indeed, justice is increasingly served by technology on a daily basis. Just think of the events unfolding in Boston, the United States, last April, after a terrorist attack broadcast live across the globe had targeted the city's marathon runners and spectators. In the immediate aftermath, it was closed-circuit television technology that allowed police eyes, human beings, to comb through the 500,000 faces in the crowd and identify two suspects in record time. In many instances, CCTV technology, installed by the private sector, to protect customers and their business interests, become an important resource for police to solve an important crime. Then when facing the most terrifying scenario in Boston out of an armed terrorist on the loose in the streets, it was cutting-edge communication technology that allowed thousands of dedicated officers to act as one and to coordinate an unprecedented manhunt. Finally, with the suspect trapped, it was robotics and thermal imaging that allowed police on the ground to monitor his movements in real time and to proceed to put an end to the fear of an entire city, and I would dare say an entire nation. But at the same time, the Boston Marathon case offers a glimpse of the dark side of innovation. That of ruthless criminals able to exploit technology with impressive speed and skills. Of improvised explosive devices created from pressure cookers and blueprints shared online. And of mass and social media threatening to endanger innocent individuals falsely identified as suspects or even officers in the field whose images and movements were being shared publicly on a real-time basis. Similarly, as we saw in the Mumbai terrorist attacks, terrorists used television to monitor the activity of police trying to apprehend them. This reminds us of the proverbial two sides of the coin that Minister Malmstrom referred to. We must always think of technology not only as an opportunity and a service of those who uphold the law, but also as a potential weapon in the hands of criminals. Yet we cannot and must not stand at the mercy of the flip of a coin. This first international forum on technologies for a safer world will provide us with the opportunity to identify ways that technology can help keep our countries and citizens safe from crime. With us here in the audience and on this stage, we have leading representatives from government, from law enforcement, academia, the scientific community, and industry with a precise and shared goal to think, discuss, decide how we should best design our strategy and act individually and collectively so that innovation becomes our best ally in the fight against criminal threats while protecting the rights of individuals worldwide. And Mr. Mayor, no, I can't think of a better city than Lyon for Nepal to co-host this event with France's Ministry of Interior. For almost a quarter of a century, this city has been witnessing the incredible evolution in how Interpol and our member countries work together to prevent, investigate, and prosecute crime worldwide. It was here that we saw radio antennas disappear from Interpol's roof as Interpol became the first police organization in the world to use internet to create a secure police communication network that we call I-247. That same network now connects more than 20,000 users worldwide and manages more than 17.5 million messages a year by law enforcement. It was here, right here in Lyon, that saw the lights of Interpol never go out again as our Command and Coordination Center went live in 2002 to assist police worldwide around the clock 24-7. And it was here that Interpol devised the technical solutions that brought millions of police records at the fingertips of frontline officers worldwide, now able to perform more than 2.7 million searches a day, on average, in our global databases, and a screen almost 740 million travelers in 2012 alone. Indeed, each of the more than 9,000 arrests conducted yearly via Interpol has seen technology or innovation play an important role. Every day, Interpol witnesses to the global, universal power of innovation through the eyes of our 190 member countries, police and law enforcement services. Constant police innovation has been at the core of Interpol's history, from the time police would be alerted if fugitives wanted internationally by our paper-based magazine to this day where the same can be achieved within seconds via the internet. In other words, technology and innovation have been and will remain the engine of Interpol's evolution as we pursue our vision of a safer world. Yet in parallel, there is also a hard lesson to be learned from almost a century of Interpol history that in order to be able to protect the future, law enforcement must first catch up with the present, a present that sees new technologies emerge and reshape at astonishing speed the world we operate in. At present, where the developing world is leaping towards connectivity, with mobile technology spreading four times faster than in developed countries, where 15 billion devices are connected to the internet and are therefore vulnerable to attacks, where unmanned vehicles are not just in the battlefields but entering our streets, and where dangerous items aren't just smuggled in containers across oceans, but can also be printed in three dimensions in the comfort of our homes. Against this backdrop, we are also witnessing extraordinary financial challenges for governments, for police, and private entities alike. In today's world, we must work together as no other option, forging alliances to pool our resources and reach our shared goals. This conviction comes from what Interpol experiences in our daily work and from the support we receive from our partners. Partners like France, its Minister of Interior, Emmanuel Valls, and hundreds of thousands of police and law enforcement officials in France's Ministry of Interior. Partners like we have in Girard Collomb, the senator mayor for the city of Lyon, and the entire Rhone Alps region. Partners like the European Commissioner and its Commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom, with their steadfast support of Interpol and its efforts within and beyond Europe. Partners like Singapore, its entire government and Ministry of Home Affairs, that have sponsored the building of Interpol's global complex for innovation. Where from the fall of 2014, we will focus on technology-led efforts to fight cybercrime and to support police capacity building and training. Partners from so many other Interpol member countries, whose ministers and heads of police and heads of Interpol offices are with us today, and with whose support Interpol has been able to accomplish so much. Finally, partners from an increasingly long list of private sector enterprises who are now at the side of Interpol. We see you as allies in developing the police tools of tomorrow, because there is simply no way to even think about technology or innovation without working closely with a private sector. You see Interpol as an important link between helping keep the world safer for growth in our 190 member countries and for fostering innovation on international markets. Interpol has recently proudly entered in as strategic partnerships with several such entities to support and fund some of our priorities while maintaining always our independence, our neutrality and our fine reputation. We are currently examining ways to allow airlines, hotels, banks, cruise ships and travel agencies to work with Interpol to share information with us to determine if passports presented by their potential clients have become invalidated by issuing countries after having been reported lost or stolen. This is just one example of the great opportunities awaiting us in the future. Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, the conclusion to be drawn from the remarks that you have heard and will hear during this forum is straight forward. The public and private sectors can achieve a lot when working closely together in the name of innovation and security and in compliance with our respective mandates and rules. Interpol's firm belief is that technology-led innovation and private public alliances will constitute the foundation for increased global cooperation against international crime. In other words, we believe that technology will once again trace the path towards what all of us hope to find in future. A better life, a better world, a safer world for us all. Thank you very much.