 Welcome to the ITU Planetary Potentiary Conference 2018 here in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where I'm very pleased to be joining the studio today, Mr Yaroslav Ponda, who is the head of the ITU regional presence in Europe. Yaroslav, welcome to the studio. Thank you very much for your invitation. Now I'd like to start off by asking the theme for this year's Planetary Potentiary Conference is connecting the world together. How has the European region been making strides to get everyone connected over the last four years, since the ITU Planetary Potentiary Conference in Busan? In Europe region, we are working very closely with the membership and remaining guided by their priorities. We have developed a set of the regional initiatives which provide us the stable platform for getting the membership together and to discuss their priorities and the most important to develop the concrete actions which are advancing their challenges and their agendas. This includes a variety of different activities including the broadband development, cyber security, digital inclusion, also the innovation. We have prioritised recently the very new trend of the development of the 5G and implementation of this next generation networks across Europe. We are working hand in hand with all countries, member states and the private sector in order to make this happen, not only in the EU countries but also in the other countries which are just in the course of developing their strategies and taking a look how those new technologies can bridge digital divides still existing in the countries. There is no doubt that Europe is leading at the global level, the broadband arrays. Nevertheless, there is a lot of things which should be done in the field of the cyber security in building trust and confidence in use of the ICTs. This is the reason why we are setting up and helping the countries to set up the proper national cyber security strategies to equip them through the project implementation with the asserts and the computer incident response teams centres. We have just launched one this year in Cyprus which is the second one which we are implementing and we are holding the cyber drills where all these European communities from the west, south, east, north are coming together to build their capacities to be responsive and to provide a safe environment to the users. Of course, we are also not forgetting about the innovation. This is a key driver of the economic growth and there is a huge potential in the European industry to make sure that the properly set up systemic ICT centric ecosystem advances and help the nations and the ICT industry to be faster, to be more innovative and to be more impactful and to improve the life of the human beings. Perhaps you could tell us a little bit about ITU's plans for the next year in the European region. As I said, we are guided by the original initiatives so we have created the platforms for different work streams and different communities. We are very much attached to the work on the 5G currently developing and providing the platforms at the sub-regional level and to a little bit boost the initiatives related to the 5G in the same time building the capacities of those who are still catching up. For the next year also we are working on the issues related to the accessibility. This is one of the issues which Member States are positioned very high on their agendas to make sure that the ICT environment is affordable and accessible to all. Also for those people with disabilities which can really benefit on a daily basis from offering proposed by the ICTs. This year we will be holding the first ever accessible Europe event which is co-organised with the European Commission and which will bring the key stakeholders and community of the key leading institutions working on this subject in order to make sure that all websites in the European Union and European region are accessible. To make sure that mobile devices, mobile applications, whatever we are using of the ICTs technologies are accessible to everyone. Finally, do you have a message for participants here at the ITP conference and also to our wider audience as well on behalf of ITU in the European region? Absolutely. We have a very broad agenda for advancing ICTs and there is space for all stakeholders active in this area. Therefore, we are calling for the strong partnerships with all relevant institutions which can join the forces and to make sure that those who need the support and those who can make the change, they are in the right place to advance our joint agenda. Therefore, we are looking forward to all those who are working already with us to continue our journey but more importantly those who are still in the process of joining the ITU community and to considering joining us as soon as possible because there is no time to be lost. Thank you. I couldn't agree more. Thank you very much indeed for joining us in the studio today and we look forward to catching up with you over the next four years let's say at least. Thank you very much. Thank you.