 Honourable Ministers, Secretary-General, Chairman, Excellencies, Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen. Mr. Tsia, I stand here on behalf of the Government and people of Solomon Islands, and I bring warm greetings to all Member States represented at the ITU Planetary Potenary Meeting 2022. I particularly wish to congratulate the Government and people of Romania for being a wonderful host to this auspicious event at such a magnificent venue and at such a trying time. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has become a significantly different place for all nations, and Solomon Islands is no exception. As a small island-developing state, 80 percent of our population live in the rural areas of our nine provinces scattered across 720,000 square kilometres of ocean, with very little access to essential infrastructures, including ICT services. Telecommunication is primarily by mobile with a mobile penetration rate of 66.3 percent, a mobile broadband penetration of 30 percent, and a fixed broadband penetration of less than 0.2 percent. In addition to the presence of connecting our remote and isolated islands, our challenges include implementing Solomon Islands' national ICT policy, improving regulatory and legislative frameworks, expanding and improving digital government, digital economy, and digital society. I call on ITU, our bilateral and multilateral partners, to support Solomon Islands' endeavours in our digital transformation, and in achieving the United Nations' sustainable development goals, including gender balance in ICT, people with special needs, and climate change mechanisms. ICT is by and large a critical vehicle in our overall development. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, Solomon Islands continue to implement its national ICT policy, institutional strengthening and capacity building. Mr. Chairman, I wish to make this report. In 2020, Solomon Islands deployed the first fibre optic submarine cable system connecting Sydney hub in Australia to Solomon Islands, consequently elevating international bandwidth constraints from 3 to 6 GB per second and allowing a potential capacity of 20,000 GB. In 2021, we introduced the volume pricing system on the fibre optics submarine cable, giving wholesale customers the option of volume pricing, charging from traffic instead of bandwidth, as a result a broader measure of the retail cost of data source, a 40 percent decline in prices from 2020 to 2022. In 2022, Mr. Chairman, we will be able to finalize the Solomon Islands National Broadband Infrastructure Project, with an investment of US$70 million into the construction of 161 broadband towers. These investments will increase the mobile coverage from 64 percent to 90 percent, and internet penetration from 30 percent to 80 percent in five years, increasing rural access of ICT services and products, as well as enabling service delivery in education, agriculture, health, digital finance, tourism, fisheries, and early warning response capacity in Solomon Islands. Mr. Chairman, I wish to acknowledge the support of ITU to Solomon Islands, especially in the development and implementation of the National Emergency Telecommunication Plan and the National Cybersecurity Policy, and hopefully in the future the Smart Islands program, and also we intend to increase our attendance to the ITU technical training. In closing, Mr. Chairman, I wish to submit to you that Solomon Islands is always mindful of our context as a small island developing nation and a least developing country. And as much has been said about the least the last mile and connecting the unconnected, as a region the Pacific is arguably the least connected, and certainly the last mile in so far as ITU is concerned. It is therefore my humble submission to the incoming leaders of the ITU that greater and meaningful and tangible attention and cooperation be accorded to our region. It is true we are indeed only as strong as our weakest link. Our endeavor therefore as a nation and as a region is to ensure that our link with ITU is stronger through strengthening relationship, meaningful partnership and enhancing collaborative efforts. Mr. Chairman, with these few remarks, I reiterate the sentiments echoed by my fellow Ministers and Excellencies at this plenary. And sincerely congratulate the ITU for a successful event. And I wish to thank our outgoing Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General and the official bearers, Mr. Johnson as well, and for the hard work that you have made over the four years and in the achievement over the last four years. I bid you all success in your future endeavors, and I thank you one and all.