 Your Excellency, Mr. Chairman, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union, Excellencies, Distinguished delegates, the ICT industry, ladies and gentlemen, Good morning and talofa lava from beautiful Samoa. I bring you warm greetings from the government and people of the independent states of Samoa. It is indeed an honor and privilege for me as the Minister of ICT and digital transformation of the government of the independent states of Samoa to attend my first ITU Plenty Potential Reconference in this fast developing and exciting city of Dubai. I wish to thank the government and people of the UAE through your excellency, Mr. Chairman, for the warm welcome and wonderful hospitality we have received in our arrival. Being a Minister for Small Island Developing State in this fast changing sector and transforming economies through ICT innovations and digital applications, I find these big conferences very interesting and encouraging, especially we small island nations. We for sure would like to swim together with the others, sharing ideas and experiences through the importance of our attendance in these major events. International connectivity is the key to digital transformation of our economies. Samoa officially launched its new three Samoa submarine cable early this year and now enjoys unlimited capability capacity and fast speed internet. Business is booming with the demand and usage far exceeding expectations and forecasts. This has been a great public-private sector partnership, model for improving our internet connectivity with the outside world. Our new cable project has also benefitting some neighbouring countries who express interest to be connected to us and have come on board to share costs with us. In June this year, we held an Oak Road Digital Pacific 2018 Summit in a PSI Moor. This was co-organised by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and the United Nations System. We were joined by delegates from the Pacific Island Nations as well as digital transformation experts and private sector from around the world. Given the advancing state of connectivity in the Pacific and intergovernmental approach to closing digital divide, introducing national IDs and establishing e-covenant systems would significantly enhance opportunities for employment, business and improved living standards through better access to services at an accelerated pace. Taking a joint regional approach on these issues will help us harmonise our systems and significantly minimise costs. Samoa started its digital transformation journey and is ready to share its lessons. Before I conclude, I must thank the ITU Secretary General, the sector and staff for the great effort and work you are doing in assisting the developing countries, especially the LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS. I thank ITU and other developing partners for helping us with cyber security and establishing our national cert. I also pledge the ITU membership to seriously reconsider the grouping of SIDS and LDCs so that SIDS also get access to fellowship to help with capacity building. Mr Chairman, we must explore some of the key policy and regulatory issues in ICT today and to foster the collaboration and cooperation that will help us move ahead together. Government should encourage partnership and investment in local markets and at the same time offer incentives to attract investors to contribute to the development of ICTs and digital economy. I wish you a very successful conference. Thank you and God bless.