 Chairmen, your Excellencies heads of government, Excellencies ministers, Excellencies heads of delegation, ITU elected officials and staff, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. The delegation of Botswana expresses its gratitude to the government and the people of the UAE for the hospitality extended to us since our arrival in this great city of Dubai. Chairmen, we wish to congratulate you on your appointment of holding the mantle of guiding this potential re-conference of 2018. As a member of the ITU family, Botswana has always supported international cooperation endeavors. Among such is the work of the ITU in its concerted effort to ensure ubiquitas access to ICTs. In pursuit of the objectives of our national ICT policy and the ITU Connect 2020 agenda pillars of growth, inclusiveness, sustainability, innovation and partnerships, Botswana continues to pursue various policy, regulatory and developmental initiatives geared at accelerating access to communication services. In that respect, it is worth highlighting that during his inauguration on 1st of April 2018 our fifth president, his excellency Dr. Mukhezi Eric Kiyabejo Masisi pledged and wavering support for those initiatives targeted at creating and enabling environment which will facilitate the development of a digital and knowledge-based economy. His vision ties in with the strategic refocusing of the national ICT sector to provide service delivery improved oversight and efficient resource utilization as approved by government last year. To aid international connectivity, government has established a company called Botswana Fiber Networks as a wholesale provider. Bofinet in short is mandated to lease bandwidth capacity to service providers on an open access principle. The move has led to the improvement in broadcast internet speeds with corresponding reduction in internet tariffs. In addition to international connectivity, Botswana has been simultaneously investing in east national connectivity. Owing to its central location in the heart of southern Africa, Botswana's network infrastructure provides international gateway to southern and central Africa while enhancing excellent opportunities for root diversity and international backhaul redundancy. Botswana is implementing the National Broadband Strategy 2018 with the objective of ensuring access to affordable broadband services by all citizens. This in consonance with the targets established by the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development. In 2014, the government through our sector regulator, the Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority established the universal access service fund. The UASF has a responsibility to facilitate the rollout of broadband services to unsaved and undersaved communities. The fund has so far facilitated the rollout of broadband connectivity to primary schools, the creation of employment for young ICT graduates, the provision of Wi-Fi hotspots and strategic public areas, upgrading of mobile base stations capability and enhancing of mobile coverage along the Trans-Kalahari Highway which is one of the major root linking Botswana and South Africa. The National Broadband Strategy advocates for infrastructure sharing among all operators on a non-discriminatory and open access principle. In line with this ideal, government has since approved the rationalization and sharing of all government-owned ICT infrastructure with the private sector in order to accelerate growth and uptake of ICT services. These initiatives have led to significant growth in the use of ICTs and have enhanced inclusiveness and affordability of broadband services for all. Chairman, as a land loan country, we pay our neighbouring states high transit costs in the process of accessing international internet bandwidth. These high transit costs continue to undermine Botswana's efforts to us achieving growth and inclusiveness. As a country, we are looking to the ITU to guide the development of an appropriate policy and regulatory framework to ensure equitable and non-discriminatory access to international communication networks. It is worth highlighting a number of challenges. And despite our achievements, the achievements that the country has made thus far, as well as the required reliability and resilience of networks and connected systems, we continue to have challenges. To deal with this and in order to inspire user confidence, Botswana is working on the national cybersecurity strategy regarding which we will be calling on the expertise of the ITU to assist, in particular with the establishment of a computer incidence response team. As cyber spaces does no respect for national borders, international cooperation is mandatory in building confidence and integrity of networks as espoused in the world submit on information society action line C5. A further challenge relates to OTTs. OTT services are mostly unregulated, yet compete with the regulated services for market share. The state of affairs calls for a harmonized policy and regulatory framework that demands international cooperation. Chairman, distinguished delegates, I wish to conclude by making a statement pleading with the ITU membership to engage in honest debates with a view to finding mutually beneficial approaches to the issues of transit costs, cybersecurity, internet policy related issues and international telecommunication regulations. If we are to collectively achieve the objectives of sustainable development goals. On behalf of the Botswana government I would like to assure you of our support to us ensuring the success of the union. Botswana wishes you chairman all the success in guiding this conference to tangible outcomes. I thank you most sincerely.