 Chairman of WTDC 2017, Mr. Oscar Martin Gonzales, Honorable Ministers here present, heads of delegation, the Secretary General of ITU, Mr. Hulindzao, ITU elected officials, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, a very good morning to you. The Republic of Zimbabwe commands the ITU and our gracious host, the government of Argentina for their stailing efforts in putting together such excellent facilities and creating the ambience for what has so far been an engaging, progressive, and interactive world telecommunication development conference. We appreciate the warmth with which the people of Buenos Aires have welcomed us. Ladies and gentlemen, we meet once again under the umbrella of the ITU to share experiences, reminisce of a progress of the ITC sector for the four years gone, consider programs and strategies, and ultimately set a trajectory for ICT growth, development, and integration in the next four year cycle for the betterment of mankind. This is indeed a noble task for a very good cause. Zimbabwe cherishes WTDC 2017 as a landmark global conference, as it is the first such forum to take place after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is therefore, without doubt, that ICTs for Sustainable Development Goals, ICT for SDGs is a befitting theme for this WTDC. Zimbabwe will work with fellow delegates in crafting strategies and action plans that can push the global community towards the attainment of the SDGs by 2030 in the process to deliver a better connected world over the next four years. Mr. Chairman, as we look towards the next developmental cycle, we need to cast our eyes into the rear view mirror and take note of what was achieved under the Dubai Action Plan of 2014. Our assessment is that much has been done and milestones achieved, particularly in the areas of capacity building, ICTs for disaster management and climate adoption, digital inclusion, telemedicine, and spectrum management to name just a few. To this end, I'd like to sincerely thank the ITU for the assistance we received for the implementation of a telemedicine project involving the connection to each other of clinics in remote rural areas, district hospitals, provincial hospitals, and referral medical centers. The project is crucial to Zimbabwe as it improves access and delivery of medical services to undersaved remote and rural areas and moves Zimbabwe closer to attaining universal health coverage and indeed the SDG goal on good health and well-being. Ladies and gentlemen, apart from the telemedicine project, we have registered a great success in the area of access and accessibility. We have installed over 200 community information centers, 80 of them in 2017 alone at post offices across the country. These CICs, as we call them, provide local communities with access to high-speed internet, printing and other related services at sub-commercial and affordable rates. The CICs have brought access to all genders in Zimbabwe, particularly in rural areas, thereby making progress in bridging the digital divide and ensuring gender equality in terms of access, in line with the SDG on gender equality and the goal on reducing inequalities. We are also continuously implementing the school's digitalization program. Currently, we are connecting 1,300 schools to the internet. We have noted with delight that we are on cost to achieving the goal on quality education. The high literacy levels in Zimbabwe are evidence of all robust education policies aided by ICTs. These efforts have seen increased use of ICTs in undersaved areas by all genders of our people and our people are becoming digital natives. The groundwork has been completed for a major ICT infrastructure project involving the construction of over 500 units of towers and the extension of the national backbone fiber network across the country. This will result in a massive rollout of broadband to all corners of the country. With regards to the SDG on elimination of hunger, the ICT sector is partnered with the agricultural sector by conveying information on farming inputs, weather, transport details, and offering insurance related applications for the success of Zimbabwe's command agriculture and presidential input programs. This has seen grain reserves for the staple grain hit the 1 million ton mark and are expected to exceed the usual requirements for the country. No one will go hungry in Zimbabwe. We are living no stone and tent in ensuring that together with the rest of the ITU community we achieve the sustainable goals. With regards to the agenda of this conference, Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased to note that WTDC17 will consider matters and challenges that are crucial to all regions of the world, Africa included, as emerging technologies that applications and trends including cloud services, big data, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, IMT 2020 Broaden. It is rather tempting to run with the mill for getting to carry along with us that which we could not accomplish in the last developmental cycle. A case in point is the need to do more on bridging the gender divide. Indeed, Mr. Chairman, it is true that much effort has been exerted in this area and considerable success has been achieved but the numbers are not yet good enough. We have to scale up our efforts to connect the remaining unconnected. We believe that there is a greater scope for closer cooperation between those with developed economies and those with developing economies in addressing this undesirable phenomenon. My message, ladies and gentlemen, is that in this global village, let us join hands in connecting the unconnected. It is our responsibility, it is our obligation. Finally, honorable ministers, excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, the Republic of Zimbabwe is committed to work with the ITU and will continue to do so today and in the future by rendering support in the form of human resources and other forms of support where we have competences. Allow me at this point, Mr. Chairman, to wish you and distinguished delegates to WT DC 2017 great success. And if you may, Mr. Chairman, allow me this opportunity to invite all of you delegates to a luncheon that Zimbabwe will be hosting this afternoon at 12.30 at Kalima eventos just outside this Hiton hotel. I have outlined some nice things that we are doing in Zimbabwe. There are some nice things at this luncheon this afternoon, including the celebration of the Argentinian's qualification to the World Cup. I thank you.