 Mr. Chairman, Mr. Secretary General, Mr. Deputy Secretary General, Director Subiro, Excellencies, delegates, ladies and gentlemen, warm greetings from the people and government of Nepal. I would like to thank the International Telecommunication Union and government of UAE for the invitation and warm hospitality and excellent logistic arrangements. ITU's activities over the past four years have been very important in achieving the strategic goals of ITUD, especially to bridge the digital divide within and across nations. We believe that this conference should focus on, among other things, providing provision of concentrated and special assistance to LDCs and countries in special needs. It is incumbent upon the members of that, the huge repository of information and knowledge is readily available for the members and used for the maximum benefits of people at large. Now I'd like to extend special thanks to ITU, in particular, ITU Regional Office for Asia and Pacific, for assistance to my country in preparing wireless broadband master plan, regulatory framework for making mobile phones, and ICTs for accessible for persons with disabilities, and quality of service regulations to name a few. Nepal has made significant progress in the field of telecommunication. ICTs and broadband have initiated the process of migration into a unified licensed regime, brought new spectral policy that will pave a way for the assignments of the 3Zs and 4Zs spectrum. We are also planning to build a national broadband network of optical fiber, utilizing the universal service one. The proposed broadband policy is in consultation phase now and will be ready for adoption soon. To ensure the sustainability of the broadband system, we have started implementation of e-government master plan, connect to school, connect to community project has already begun. Infrastructure sharing guidelines is being prepared to avoid duplication of infrastructure investment. ITU has been very supportive of all these initiatives. We're convening this conference at a time when Dublin Meeting of UN Broadband Commission has unequivocally asked everyone to recognize broadband as a vital development enabler in post-2015 UN Sustainable Development Framework. Let us accept the fact that broadband can solve the global development gap. It has transformational potential. I'm fully convinced that development aspirations of the peoples of LDCs and developing countries can be realized to the fullest extent only through the appropriate use of ICTs including broadband. Before I close, let me wish you all a successful conference. Thank you.