 Honourable Chair, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am honoured to address the August gathering here in Bucharest. On behalf of the Royal Government of Bhutan, I wish to express our gratitude to the Romanian Government and to the ITU for hosting this very important conference. Before I begin, please allow me to acknowledge the level of ICT development achieved by our host country Romania. Likewise, please also accept my sincere appreciations on the role played by the ITU for nurturing the development of ICT all around the world and for bringing us together today in this global ICT development in the stakeholders meet today. As ICT becomes the main enabler of socio-economic development, my government remains steadfast in our commitment to ensure all our communities have access to meaningful and safe connectivity. Since the last plenipotentiary conference in 2018, the Government of Bhutan has initiated and is implementing an ambitious digital flagship and universal connectivity programme. In alignment with the strategy vision of the ITU, our focus has been to promote growth, inclusiveness, sustainability and innovation. Under the digital flagship programme of my government, works are ongoing to develop a digital identity system to enhance public service delivery and strengthen the research and education network so that our students and researchers have access to outside knowledge and resources. We have connected over 1400 agencies to our government network to ensure safety and security. In addition, we are also working on developing an integrated citizen service system in the field of trade and finance. One of the lessons learnt from the pandemic is the importance of online education and health services. Our efforts are now focused towards digitalising our schools and our health system and our investments are being made to build a more robust and reliable infrastructure. We are also endeavouring to improve broadband connectivity by implementing fibre-to-the-home FTTH technology and we plan to connect 90% of our urban households to the fibre network. This increased coverage through the FTTH network is expected to bring down the cost of lead-light internet services. Likewise, with the mission to ensure universal connectivity, the Royal Government of Bhutan has successfully implemented five phases of the rural connectivity programme, the RCP, and we are currently implementing the sixth RCP. As of date, more than 780 remote villages have been connected through this RCP programme. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, now as the global ICT community welcomes the new management at the ITU, I would like to reiterate the importance of continuity and the efforts of the ITU in taking cognisance of the interests of developing and landlocked countries like Bhutan. For us, the role of ITU in ensuring equal access to international internet exchange points, equal access to space and satellite and acceptable global ICT and telecommunication standards are crucial. I am very hopeful that the new ITU management would be considered towards meeting these needs. The potential risks and threats of cyber security will increase with everything around us getting digitalised. Thereupon, I would like to urge the ITU to continue providing support in addressing the threats of cyber security. Before I conclude, on behalf of the Royal Government of Bhutan, I would like to offer our sincere gratitude to His Excellency, the Secretary-General and the ITU management for their hard work and exemplary commitments in successfully carrying out the vision of the ITU during the last four years. Let me also take this opportunity to congratulate and welcome in advance the Secretary-General-Elect and your new ITU lead team in the election starting from tomorrow. My sincere wishes and prayers for a successful ITU PP-22. Thank you and Tashi Dele.