 It's a great day for the union. We are starting the elections today. We will now proceed to the elections for the post of the Secretary-General of the ITO. I will now pass the floor to the Secretary of the Plenary. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning to all. I will now ask the ushers to start ending out the ballot papers together with a pen. I now declare that the vote has begun and I'm giving back the floor to the Secretary of the Plenary. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, so that delegation can see where the five voting stations are located. I will now ask the staff at those stations to hold the ballot box in the air in consecutive order from one to five. You will see that the ballot boxes are transparent and that they are empty. So I will now start calling member states for voting station one. Thank you, Secretary of the Plenary. I now declare the casting of ballots closed. Now the tellers and the ITO staff, please proceed to the green room with the ballot boxes. I would like to thank the tellers for their great work. I have received the tellers report and I shall proceed to the announcement of the results. As you will see, Doreen Bogdan Martin from USA has obtained the required majority and I declare her elected to the post of Secretary-General of ITO. Distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, I am deeply, deeply humbled and filled with emotion. Let me start by expressing my appreciation and my gratitude. First, let me recognize my fellow candidate and all those running for elected office. The large number of candidates is a true testament to how much countries value the ITU. I also want to pay respects to Secretary-General Julien Zau and his leadership of ITU. Secretary-General Zau, Deputy Secretary-General Johnson, Director Manevich, Director Lee, thank you for the close collaboration and friendship. To the United States Administration, and we have at least, I think, nine agencies present and of course others working from the home team, I thank you. I thank you for believing in me and for putting me forward as a candidate for this immensely important position. It was a whole of government effort. I'm grateful for your support, your dedication and all that hard work. I also want to recognize the private sector for their continuous backing. It was a real team effort. I want to recognize my husband, Jesus, my daughter Cecilia Santiago Ana Alejandro. They're here with me. I thank you for being my rock, my greatest supporters, always encouraging me and always being so, so patient. To my friends and colleagues from around the world that have given me so much encouragement throughout this process, I thank you. That brings me to you, the Member States. I want to thank you for putting your trust in me to lead this great organization. It's an honor for me and for my country. I arrived at the ITU as a young 20-something with still much to learn, but I knew two things. I wanted to do good and I wanted to serve the international community. At that point, I never imagined that one day I would lead this organization. I've worked for this moment for more than three decades, pioneering impactful initiatives to advance digital inclusion for all, from giga to equals, our smart village work, the broadband commission, Generation Connect and much more. Because I fully believe in the power and potential that connectivity brings to economies, to healthcare, education, employment, women and youth empowerment. Four years ago, you elected me as your Director of Development. Our team had ambitious plans. We came together to create a BDT that was fit for purpose. It was not an easy task. Change never is. But we leveraged the commitment, the passion and the talent of the amazing BDT team, coupled of course with your cooperation, your support, and we made a difference. We delivered on our mandate with a successful World Telecommunications Development Conference. It's been a tremendous privilege to serve as your Director and I look forward to your support as we take the ITU to the next level. Ladies and gentlemen, I recognize that I take up this mantle at a very challenging time for the world. Escalating conflicts, a climate crisis, food security, gender inequalities and SDGs that are falling further and further behind. Yet for us, as ITU and its members, it provides an opportunity, an opportunity to make a transformational contribution. Our sector is one of continuous innovation that can and will be a key enabler to facilitating resolution to many of these issues. I also bring a special skill set to this work. I'm the proud mother of four. They are my drive to create a better world, to be determined, creative and to find solutions. As Secretary General, I will continue to drive this organization, this institution to be innovative, increasingly relevant for member states, and better positioned for all of us to better embrace digital development and our digital environment. What we do now affects generations to come. We are riding on a powerful wave of innovation and growth, and we must use this opportunity to improve people's lives, especially those that are excluded. Whether it's today's children or our children's children, we need to provide them with a strong and a stable foundation for growth. Our success depends on a united effort. The ITU is a union. It's a union of members, each of you representing countries, companies, universities and other institutions. And together, we are united in our hope and in our conviction that we can work collectively to make a better connected world for our communities and future generations. At this plenipotentiary, we will jointly develop our vision for the next four years in our strategic plan, and that will reflect our unity of purpose. When talking about unity, we must also recognize and respect diverse views, those differences enrich us. Yet there's so much that unites us. We can all agree on the need to invest every bit of our energy in connecting the unconnected. It's no longer a want, it's a must. We can all agree on the need for partnerships like Partner2Connect that mobilize billions in commitments demonstrating our ability to collaborate. We can all agree on the need to raise ITU's performance to make us more transparent, more accountable to you, our members. We may have our differences, but the beauty of our organization is our process where together we search for unity and resolution. We have much to do, and to do it we will need you, our members. We will need you to be involved. We need your energy, we need your ideas, and we need your total commitment. And you have my total commitment. Many of you have heard me speak about my father and his many life lessons. My dad encouraged me in my studies, in my career choices, always making it clear that girls can do just as much as boys can. And I was the only girl, I have three brothers. He was my greatest supporter and he would have been so proud today. But my mom has also been a huge champion throughout this process. She's filled with more energy than me, and Hulene, you often say I have too much energy. She has more energy than me, and she gets full credit for teaching me the art of multitasking. I know she's following remotely from our hometown in New Jersey, and she's probably doing three other things at the same time. So, hi mom. Mothers, daughters, sisters, fathers, brothers, sons, today we made history. After 157 years we shattered the glass ceiling. I am so very grateful to all of you for your support, and I hope this day will be an inspiration for other women to follow, and I do look forward to that. As the UN Secretary General has said, we the leaders must deliver for we the peoples. We need to deliver affordable, trusted, and meaningful connectivity to all. The world is counting on us, and I am counting on all of you. Growing up in New Jersey, it may not surprise you to know that I'm a big Bruce Springsteen fan. In one of his songs, Bruce says, talk about a dream, try to make it real. Universal connectivity has been a dream for far too many years. Let's unite and make it real. Connect and unite. Thank you everyone. Thomas Lankas, 105 votes. Result, Thomas. So, thank you very much. As you know, in most of these speeches so far, I tried to speak and I would speak without any paper or any notes. But this moment, you might appreciate, is probably the highlight of my life, the highest point in my life now. Only one moment when I met my girlfriend when you talked with her. No, sorry guys. There are some things that are more important in life. But indeed, this is not an award I'm receiving. I also know that. This is a huge trust, huge trust from all of you. This is a huge trust in the messages that I hopefully shared with you in my campaign. And huge trust that you heard what you told me in this campaign. And thank you for that. And thank you, Member States, who voted for me, who voted for my competitors. Because I know that you chose me not for the lack of choice. And I really want to acknowledge my strong competitors. Dr. Chase Leblis, who contributed a lot to ITU. Especially over the last 80 years as Director of Sanitation. Nisa for type herself from Samoa, who also worked hard in promoting the issues of the small island developing states and other countries around the world. So I know that you chose, at least I take this mandate, to work with you in a way we discussed in our campaign. Of course, I cannot miss to congratulate Madam Secretary General Elect, Doreen Boden-Martin. It will be, I have to disclose, it will be the third time we work together. Actually, the third time she's my boss, let's be open. So, and I'm really looking forward to that. Of course, I want to acknowledge and thank the Secretary General, Hulin Zhao. For his last, I think Cristiano yesterday said 36 years in ITU, for the life time in ITU. And we really miss him, and I hope we'll find some ways to still leverage his expertise. Of course, I would like to acknowledge efforts of Deputy Secretary General Malcolm Johnson. It will be big shoes to fill, but I'm looking forward to do that. And, you know, also Mario Manevesh, director, who will, you know, I have to say Mario, will have a very easy job tomorrow. They're comments of the all candidates, you know, and so you should be. So, of course, I have to thank Mr. Chairman here of this conference. I've been for really convening this conference so well, you know, and he prepared for that nearly for as long as I was running this campaign. So really, you know, we chose and the host country with the greatest value. But of course, it's also the moment to acknowledge the people who contributed this campaign. It's also the moment to look back a little bit and to say, you know, thank you to some people who contributed. And I'm sorry if this list will seem for you long, but this list is like a very, very, very small tip of the iceberg. And these are only the people who really, really in the personal levels contributed that. So, of course, I want to thank the president of my country, Gedan Asnoseda, for the strong support and leadership in this campaign. It really felt that I had the whole country behind me. Also, Prime Minister Yurta Shimonide, who, you know, always continues to support, and then some of you may have seen her call to vote last week. This campaign was spearheaded by Minister of Transport and Communications, Mario Scordes, who you are with the last days, I think ought to know pretty well, and who is very easy to spot in the room if you haven't. The tallest guy in the room will be the Minister of Lithuania, you know. I have to say that easily. Also, Deputy Minister Agne Vitsuki Vichuta, who managed to make it a whole government effort. But we had a lot of further people. So this campaign engine was Communications Regulatory Authority of Lithuania. A chairperson here at the Chauvierne is here with us today. And we, of course, had Minister of Foreign Affairs supporting us at the highest level. But, you know, as the person who is going to specifically acknowledge this, Ambassador Andrew Scrivers, who from the very beginning being Ambassador Geneva to now being Chair of International Organizations and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you know, believed this and there, and pushed that. As well as, you know, our ambassadors in New York, Ambassador Yurta Polowskas and Ambassador Geneva Darius Tanulis. One moment also, I'm very proud here to stand in front of you, not only as Lithuanian candidate, an out-elect person, but also someone who had the full support of European family. And I really thank you from the bottom of my heart to all European colleagues who are really standing by me all the time and providing huge family background. To always felt I could fall and they would catch me. You know, I know also sometimes, and I need to do that because the speech will be for me for the records. So also, some people who stood and believed from the day one. And, you know, Lithuania, we have a member of parliament and big advocate of global Lithuanians, Daliastr Navechuta, who from the first call said, well, let's do it, and then she actually get a lot of people believe in this idea. So last, but not least, before my appearance, which I also have to thank, is our campaign engine. And Darin would be happy to hear that my engine of campaign was all women. So, and that's really was this strong leadership that made this campaign happen. So, of course, a lot of you know Inger Mkavis in many roles, but you should also know she was the campaign from beginning and she manages campaign all the time. And her colleagues, Gintaro Ribinskina and Rasa Karoliena, who stood by her side. But we also create great diplomats in Geneva, Vitovaliunata, in Brussels, in New York, Kristina Dikaita, who ran this campaign as a joint-up campaign as possible. And some of you may, if some of your embassies want to learn how to ensure the connection between Brussels for Europeans and Geneva and New York for everyone else, you can really learn from them. It was such a seamless campaign. And finally, in the capital, Igneverino-Skyte and Gittarino-Scheidt. What they also, of course, I cannot forget of thanking my parents, who were always with me, you know, from the day one believing in me and provided that support. You know, you always know that you can go far. If you know if you fall, you have a safety nut. And they provided me for all my life and up to today here. So, ladies and gentlemen, tonight I have to be open. We will celebrate. Tonight we will celebrate and I hope you will join us. And some of you who joined us last night know that we know how to celebrate as a thing. So I hope you will join us tonight as well. But tomorrow the real work starts. Tomorrow, you know, of course, we'll have elections. And I want to wish good luck to all the candidates for direct positions and greater regulations, both positions of the council. But we'll also, the conference, we have to remember, it feels like a highlight, but the conference is only beginning. And this conference is crucial of setting the ground for ITU for the coming years. And we need this conference to succeed. We need to have a solid and sustainable financial basis for ITU for the next four years to come. We need to ensure that the ITU is fit for the times of rationally that we can deliver to you, that we'll learn from the best managerial practices. And I look to you to provide a strong direction for the ITU to help us all to respond to the challenges of today and opportunities of tomorrow. One last point, ladies and gentlemen. When I campaign I said very clearly, I promise that if I, whatever I can, ITU will always be the place for everyone. Because small, powerful, not powerful, rich or not that rich. Today I have to add, for those who voted for me and for those who don't vote for me as well, you know, for everyone. And I will be guarantor for that. Because in these tense times, like we are, the only way we can find solutions is we come together to look for them. And we do that with open hearts and open minds. So ladies and gentlemen, your excellencies, let's work hard to bring the digital future for all. And most importantly, let's do that together. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will speak in Spanish. Señor presidente, distinguidas autoridades, estimados delegados, queridos amigos, quisiera comenzar expresando mi más profundo agradecimiento a los países miembros de la UIT por la confianza que han depositado en mí y por la confianza que han depositado en mí para continuar ejerciendo el cargo de director de la Oficina de Radiocomunicaciones durante los próximos cuatro años. En la Conferencia de Plonipondenciarios de Dubai, en el 2018, ustedes me honraron al otorgarme la oportunidad de liderar la Oficina de Radiocomunicaciones. Los cuatro años que siguieron presentaron un desafío inesperado debido al advenimiento de la pandemia de COVID-19 que afectó al mundo entero. Me llena de satisfacción el constatar que, a pesar de dichas dificultades, hemos conseguido, mancomunando esfuerzos entre delegados y el equipo humano del UER, adaptar nuestra forma de trabajo para mantener las actividades del sector, así como los productos de la Oficina de Radiocomunicaciones y el sector, así como los productos y servicios tradicionalmente prestados por la Oficina. Hoy, me siento orgulloso de que los países miembros hayan renovado su apoyo para que continúe sirviendo como director del BR por un nuevo ciclo. Esta expresión de confianza redobla mi compromiso con los países para que el sector de Radiocomunicaciones de la UIT siga estando muy exigida por la evolución tecnológica y mantenga el dinamismo que demandan tanto los sectores gubernamentales como los de la industria. Mi primer mandato culmina después de haber tenido el placer de trabajar junto al secretario general Joulin Zhao, al vicesecretario general Malcolm Johnson y a los directores del TSB y del BDT, Chase Abli y Doreen Bogdan Martin respectivamente. Durante mi segundo mandato será para mí una gran satisfacción el formar parte del nuevo equipo de dirección liderado por Doreen con quien comparto plenamente la visión del rol y objetivos que debe perseguir nuestra organización. Estoy también muy contento que Tomas vaya a ser parte de este nuevo equipo con el beneficio adicional que no seré yo el único oficial electo de la Unión con un apellido difícil. Mi agradecimiento va también al equipo de dirección del BR así como al resto del personal de la oficina de radiocomunicaciones por su ardua e incansable labor y compromiso en servir a los países miembros con calidad y eficiencia. Es para mí un honor adicional el continuar estando al frente del excelente equipo técnico y humano con que cuenta la oficina. Queridos amigos quisiera expresar mi gratitud a las autoridades de mi país por haber apoyado mi candidatura sin excitación. En particular, un especial reconocimiento al ministro de Industria, Energía y Minería ingeniero Omar Paganini al director nacional de telecomunicaciones el doctor Guzmán Acosta Ilarra y a la presidenta del Organismo Regulador de las Comunicaciones doctora Mercedes Aramendía así como las demás miembros de la delegación de Uruguay aquí presentes por su incondicional apoyo. Por último en orden, aunque no en importancia quisiera agradecer a mi familia y en particular a mi esposa Patricia que me acompaña aquí hoy en Bucharest así como a mis hijos Alejandro y Sabrina por todo el apoyo que me han brindado durante mi larga trayectoria en la UIT y en particular por la gran paciencia y comprensión que han mostrado con mis frecuentes ausencias. Señor Presidente los próximos cuatro años marcarán la culminación de mi vida profesional estoy muy complacido que esta última etapa de mi carrera comience aquí en esta hermosa ciudad de Bucharest muchas gracias asociado a la mayor y a la directora de comunicación de la Tierra gracias excelencia ministras ambassadors ITU this is the delegates ladies and gentlemen to begin with I would like to thank you all for your support across regions I appreciate the value of your votes and our TSP director elect I commit to further improving the ITU sector and making it as best it can be considering my background in the private sector I believe being an outsider of ITU which I humbly admit will bring the new diversity into the ITU leadership with a strong sense of committed responsibility I look forward to working with Ms. Doreen Bogdan Martin our next secretary general and the first woman to lead the ITU in its 157 year history and Mr. Thomas Lamanoskas the youngest deputy secretary general I don't know what I would be and it will be our honor to join such dream team alongside with Mario Mr. Mario most competent real director during my campaign I was fortunate to be able to interact with other talented candidates from all corners of the world one of the people who inspired me and here we meet again with an interaction encouraging me to be the best to be my best thank you my friend Dr. Mr. Thomas Mr. I will be happy to work together to connect and connect it anywhere in the future I would also like to extend my gratitude to the Romanian government for its one hospitality and the leadership of the PPTEN2 President and Chairman Honorable Mr. Saban Salmanoskas it's not very Japanese to place one's own but I would like to thank the Japanese government led by Prime Minister and my entire campaign team for their tireless and supportive effort throughout the campaign also a big thanks to you Secretary General Mr. Deputy Secretary General Mr. and Mr. Dr. for their long dedication to the ITU all former current TSP director Secretary General started calling me the father of 5G since his address at Japan's reception during the WTDC in Kigali, Rwanda this last June I am delighted to be acknowledged as the father of 5G by the ITU Secretary General it is a humbling blessing to be called the father of LTE and father of 5G in my private life I am the proud father of two children both of whom are now independent I must express gratitude to my wife whose support raised good children while helping me be a better father finally I want to thank all the ITU members I strive to realize the ONOE commitment that I have made during the campaign as I said as I always say I aim to be a director who listens carefully to the voices of member countries and family this one to them with the focus intent in order to increase the value of ITUT for all thank you all very much Cosmos Zawazawa 101 I declare Mr. Dr. Cosmos Zawazawa as elected to the post of director of telecommunication development I want first of all as you can see I have no paper in my hand I want to speak from their heart first of all if you allow me I would like to thank all the other candidates I read all their profiles their visions and I promise you as I implement the programs under the development bureau I will take into account your ideas and will be in touch so I am most grateful for your efforts I am also most grateful for the permission that you received from your administrations to give you space so that we conclude this matter in a timely manner you know what I stand for I stand for development and I stand for impact human impact my vision is very simple meaningful connectivity meaningful skills development and bridging the skills gap because this is what faces most of the developing countries but also to accelerate digital transformation I spend many years and I am thankful to ITU and the entire membership for giving me an opportunity to serve I have been to every region I have been able to interact with the ordinary people and understanding exactly what their needs on the ground are the least developed countries continue to lag behind the rest of the world Africa is the largest number 28 now countries Asia Pacific follows it also quite has a number of countries that are lagging behind and they are still least developed countries despite the fact that Maldives to value they graduated in Samoa they graduated from the LDC category I know the problems of the small island developing states because I have been involved in a lot of activities in those regions climate change and other challenges earthquakes tsunami but I also understand the issue of the landlocked developing countries that do not have access to the sea and they cannot have access to submarine cables and they depend on coastal countries so their relationship with coastal countries is very important when they have access the cost is prohibitive and the bandwidth in terms of connectivity is very small and low and then therefore they remain they are connected but not connected fully and that's what we should be doing for I'm very fortunate that over the past three years I've been in charge of a department responsible for all the projects in the development sector but also strategic relationships with the private sector and the industry and I know the private sector has the capacity to go out there and make sure that they develop and invest in infrastructure which is resilient, robust and also efficient and dependable and that is what we want we want to give space to the private sector because they are the development engine we want to give space because we are able to help countries to create an enabling environment in terms of policy legal framework and regulated framework and I promise you that once I take office we are going to cement the relationship between member states the regulators and the private sector for the good of every nation state whether small or big one of the key issues that I care about is the issue of gender and you will see we will not be doing a lot of talking we will be doing a lot of doing I believe that the girls and women are an idle engine that just needs us to put our foot on the accelerator so that we move in the right direction and we cannot develop when we don't have that category because women are powerful in the sense that they are our mothers our sisters not to mention that they are mothers of our children so we have to take care of that but the youth are the future and definitely we are going to accelerate like I said in my manifesto we wanted to take the BDT to new heights those that came before me have done a lot of good work and they built the foundation and I'm there ready to build the house and we are going to do it we can't do it alone we will do it with the membership private sector member states and I commit here that we will be listening to the member states and we are not going to set our own agenda secondly I know that we are federal structure they are the elected officials we have our own lens I'm not going to be trespassing into other lens because there is so much that we can do for developing countries and also developed countries triangular arrangements partnerships with the regional organizations with development banks with member states and this money that comes to us is money from the taxpayers and we must remain transparent accountable and efficient and I commit here I'm going to save with honesty and seriousness results based management you will read a little about Tonga but you will read about the impact that we made in Tonga and with these few words I thank you so much for giving you the trust those that voted for me I thank you those that didn't vote for me I thank you we are all one and I know together we are going to achieve greater things thank you very much