 Welcome to the ITU studio here at the World's Telecommunications Development Conference here in Kigali, Rwanda, where I'm very pleased to be joined in the studio today by Mohammed Ibrahim, who is a former telecommunications minister for Somalia, and is now at Swinburne University doing excellent research there. Mohammed, welcome to the studio. Welcome, thank you. I'd like to start off by asking you a little bit about the significance of this being the first ITU WTDC event in Africa since the formation of the Telecommunications Development Bureau at ITU. Why is this significant? I think this is very important. It's almost a historical moment. I remember last time perhaps you were in Buenos Aires 2017. I always wanted one day the ITU WTCD to come to Africa, so finally to be here. So I decided to fly all the way from Melbourne to come here and be part of that historical moment. So I hope from now onwards we will see more ITU activities in the continent. Can you tell us a little bit about what you've been doing at Swinburne University in Melbourne? After my stint in politics I went back to academia, and I'm now looking into mobile money and its impact on financial inclusion in developing countries, specifically Somalia. That was an area that I always liked. I'm more interested in digital currencies and anything digital for that matter. So there's a hype in the world about how mobile money can solve the financial inclusion in developing countries. So I'm a contrarian. I'm trying to say, well maybe it will. On the other hand there's a lot more work to be done before we can get into financial inclusion for all. So that's really my area of interest today and I'm looking into this very closely. So cash is still king in Somalia? Not anymore. In fact Somalia is way way ahead. But the issue though, and all along what I was always arguing and I was trying to point out, it's also something that we need to be very very careful. There is a role for government. The idea is yes mobile money can work like what it did in Mbessa and so on, but without regulation and making sure that those who are using are protected, the citizens, it can have its own problems. So that's really the area I'm looking at. How do you make sure that the technology works but it's also safe and secure for all who are using it? Let's talk about the African continent. How do you think that Africa can catch up in the technology sector, financial inclusion and what role does ITU have to play in this area? Interesting question. The thing is there are a lot of countries in Africa that are now leading. They are moving very fast and developing their ICT sector. But the trouble is, and I was trying to talk to my politicians here and other African politicians, if you're competing, the idea is to win you have to go faster than your competitor. But even if you're moving 5% fast and your competitor is moving 15% more, it's still behind. So yes we're doing well, we're moving fast, but our competitors are also moving a lot faster. So we really need to catch up. But having said that, I'm very happy to see a place like Gali that I can use technology just as I am in Melbourne or anywhere else in the world for that matter. So yes, we're moving very fast, but we have to move just a little bit more so that we can catch up and move ahead. When I say Africa, obviously this is a very, very huge land mass here and obviously with all sorts of different contrasts. But I wanted to ask you, digital inclusion perhaps is a difficult question, but digital inclusion, will Africa be there soon? Well, that is the tough question. The issues as you said, Africa is 54 countries and there are some that are way ahead. But on the other hand, really we need the tide to lift all the boats. We need everyone to move up. So by having few way ahead and the rest far behind, that's not good enough. And that's the whole idea. The theme here is we're trying to say connectivity to all. In other words, no one is left behind. And that's the challenge. Having said that, I think we're almost there. We're not there, but we will. And I'm very, very optimistic. I always was, if you remember all those years we were talking. And even more so now, I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel that we will get there. Excellent. Mahaboddirprachemi, it's been a pleasure seeing you again here in your academic.