 Dear colleagues and participants of the Accessible Europe, ICT for All conference organized by ITU and the European Commission with the Government of Malta. On behalf of UNESCO and its Director General, I offer warm wishes for the success of your work over the coming three days. I believe you will make an important contribution to the global debate on digital inclusion and skills. This debate is taking place this week through activities all around the world to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, which is celebrated on the 3rd of December every year since 1992. The theme of the 2019 International Day is promoting the participation of persons with disabilities and their leadership. By highlighting this word, leadership, we, the United Nations family, aspire to increase access all fields, the number of persons living with disabilities who are decision makers. Nearly one in every seven people in the world today live with disabilities. Persons with disabilities still face barriers to achieving higher educational qualification and skills. At the same time, higher education qualifications are almost a prequisite for gaining positions of leadership in decision making, whether in the European region or elsewhere in the world. New job creation in Europe is demanding higher ICT competencies and digital skills for an educated workforce. An equal access to education for persons with disabilities is not and has never been acceptable. I believe it to be all the more unacceptable today. As we accelerate adoption of artificial intelligence solutions and assistive technologies, inclusive decision making is more than ever essential to identify and mitigate potential harms. The process of such decision making must be human rights-based, open, accessible and multi-sacred. Good models and inclusive policies, like those that you have developed and we discuss over these coming days, should be shared and mapped. They should be scaled where appropriate so that we can collectively achieve the sustainable development goals with the next decade. Model policies on inclusive ICTs must also support the further implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, mostly notably Article 9 on Accessibility, Article 21 on Access to Information and Article 24 on Inclusive Education. I wish you every success at this conference and to its organisers, the ITU, the European Commission and the Government of Malta. Your work will contribute to the building of noted societies. Thank you very much.