 Dear colleagues, today is an important day in the life of our ITU family, and for the state of information and communication technology, PP18, the 20th Plenary Potential Conference of ITU. It's an opportunity to take stock of our journey and chart our next steps. Earlier this morning in Japan, the United Arab Emirates launched its ninth Caliphate set into orbit, so let me once again take this opportunity to congratulate the UAE Space Agency, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center, and the UAE TIA on this successful satellite launch. As I mentioned this morning, it really makes our day-to-day double happiness. The world of technology is changing very rapidly, and ITU is changing with it. In 2015, we are together to celebrate ITU's 150th anniversary over 150 years of ICT technologies and services in the service of human development today. I'm very pleased to share with you that we have many new sector members who joined us over the last four years. We welcome new private sector members that reflect the changed nature of our digital economy – Google, Alibaba, Facebook, Tenzing, Netflix, but also Six Folks, China Tower, Yongdae, and many others. ITU has also welcomed new members of academy. I'd like to share another good news with you that we are working with one state, Palo, which is a member of United Nations, but not yet a member of ITU. So I met with President Palo in September in New York, and he promised me that he will speed up his application process so that we are very confident. Very soon, ITU will become a family of 194 members. What brings all these members to ITU? It is what brings us all together here today, namely how to provide better ICT services to the people and deliver on the promise of the fourth industrial revolution. Over the last four years, ITU has been at the forefront of this revolution. We have been working on issues ranging from artificial intelligence, smart cities, digital currency to the Internet of Things, new televisions, and 5G standards. We have facilitated ICT infrastructure development. One place to start is with radio communications. The World Radio Communication Conference 2015 successfully responded to the increasing demand for the use of radio spectrum and orbit resources. WRC 19 will further address these demands by considering new allocations and identification for IMT, high attitude platforms, and known geostationary satellite systems. Consensus is being built in its preparation to make it a new success for our Union. Innovation and standardization are part of the fabric of ITU, the Radio Communication Assembly 2015, and the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly 2016 set the agenda for the vital standards work over the coming years. Yet all these new technologies put regulatory paradigms to the test, as regulators everywhere are trying to keep up with the fast pace of the industry. On the development side, the World Telecommunication Development Conference 2017 strengthened the connection between technology and development, reaffirming the central role of ITU in leveraging ICT for the sustainable development goals. In this context, events like the Global Symposium for Regulators and tools like the Measuring the Information Society and the ICT Development Index help policy makers, industry leaders, and ICT stakeholders worldwide promote growth and development, while coping with new regulatory frontiers and new skills, development, and innovation. Other events like International Girls in ICT Day, ITU Telecom World events, and the AI for Good Global Summit have helped foster an open environment for partnership in critical areas such as gender, small and medium-sized enterprises, and artificial intelligence. From the WSIS Forum to World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, all major annual ITU events, since our last plenipatial conferences, have helped advance the objectives and strategic goals of the Union. Growth, inclusiveness, sustainability, innovation, and partnership. More and more, ITU is affirming its role as a key partner in development. We collaborate with sister UN agencies and others on important common projects, leveraging the power of ICT to accelerate progress towards the SDGs. I'm very pleased to have my brother Hosein, Director General of UPU, present to our plenipatial conference. And he's here with us today and the next few days. In this effort, ITU has tackled issues ranging from digital literacy to health to financial inclusion. We can be proud of what we are doing with organizations like the Broadbinder Commission to promote infrastructure development, IRO to train tomorrow's workforce and UN women to bridge the digit gender divide with initiatives such as EQUALS. ITU's efforts have gained more international recognition. ITU is grateful to have participated in the first ICT ministerial meetings of BRICS in 2015, the first one of G7 in 2016, and the first one in G20 in 2017. I'm very pleased to note that all these groups will continue their ICT ministerial annual meetings in the future. We will continue to deepen our cooperation with all our partners. Dear delegates, Secretary-General, transparency, openness and efficiency have been high on my agenda and high on my priority list. And that includes ensuring the most effective use of ITU's limited resources, including human resources, financial resources. Across the organization, we are modernizing how we work to better serve the need of our members. Management is making every effort to improve staff engagement and performance through the introduction of modern processes and policies. Efforts are being made to streamline the digitized internal processes. I want to take a moment to acknowledge our members' steadfast commitment to the UNI. Thank you for your continued trust and support. Thank you to the countries that have increased their class of contributory units and to those who have hosted and contributed a sponsorship to ITU events and meetings. Thank you all for your decision and give ITU a new headquarters building, a new home, and a new image that will embody ITU's identity and our commitment to connecting people. I would like to thank Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for their sponsorship to the new building, the Czech Republic for its donation for the new building, and encourage others to join them. I wish to congratulate my fellow elected officials on their outstanding team spirit and ITU staff on their hard work and dedication to the mission of the UNI. I want to express my thanks on behalf of ITU to all those who took part in the regional preparatory meetings leading up to this day and to the United Arab Emirates to hosting ITU's highest level meeting. Finally, it is important to pay tribute to the delegates who have left us in the last few years. I think that we have some names here. It's very painful to know those names. Someone died very young, like Mr. Manu Barwesh from US Secretary of State Department. And we have some very famous professors like Professor Mark Kriveshev from Russia Federation who had worked in ITU for many, many years, more than 60 years, no. And he even showed up early this year to us, but unfortunately he died in the middle of October at the age of 96. And I was informed Mr. Molina Nikru of Spain just died a few days ago. And he was very dishing the figures, individuals during our early history, in particular 1970s, 1980s. So I would very much like to invite you to remember our past delegates. If I may, I could invite you stand up for one minute of silence for all these colleagues passed away. Thank you very much. Of course, the list is not exhausted, you know, that we just collect those names through different channels and call to them. And so we listed here. So ladies and gentlemen, we are at the crossroads as we approach the 50-50 milestone moment for internet connectivity. 50 connected, 50 unfortunately not connected yet. Far too many people around the world are still waiting to reap the benefit of the digital economy. Most targets of our connected 2020 agenda are on track to be achieved. Now is the time to redouble our efforts. Now is the time to turn today's digital revolution into a development revolution. Let us continue our efforts to leverage the power of ICT to advance ICT's strategic plan with its action lines Connect 2020 and the SDGs. And let us ensure that the activities of our union continue to serve the people you represent, the mission we share, and the values we defend. To this end, I urge you to focus our efforts on four eyes. Infrastructure, investment, innovation, and inclusiveness. Four eyes. Let me repeat. Infrastructure, investment, innovation, and inclusiveness. Four areas where we can have the most impact. I'm calling on you to work together over the next three weeks and beyond to upgrade existing ICT infrastructure and to extend it to reach those in poorly connected and unconnected areas. Encouraging more investment from the public and private sectors and to create good environment to attract investments and to support technology and business innovation so that the digital revolution leaves no one behind. Ladies and gentlemen, PP18, we are set to the course of our union for the next four years. With the adoption of the ITU strategic and financial plans, many important topics have been submitted for discussion, and we should arrive at decisions by the conference's end. We have a heavy agenda and many tasks ahead of us. I would highly appreciate if this conference could guide ITU in strengthening its work on SMEs. Similarly, I'm calling on you to help us reinforce the message that if ITU is a technical agency responsible for ICT services and technologies, it is also a development agency committed to reaching all those who are not connected yet. I thank you for your attention and wish you great success in your endeavors at PP18. Thank you.