 Mr. President, Secretary General, Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, on behalf of the Government and people of the Republic of Ghana, I extend our sincere appreciation to the Government of Romania for hosting this conference and for the warm welcome and hospitality accorded to me and my delegation since our arrival in the beautiful city of Euporist. Your spectacular reception last night made it difficult for some delegates to be on time this morning. Mr. President, accept our heartfelt congratulations on your election, and we trust in your capabilities to steer this conference to a successful end. Ghana is fully committed to the strategic direction set by the ITU to ensure the universal connectivity that will propel the needed global digital transformation. Closing the digital divide to facilitate equitable connectivity, which is vital to support the economic transformation of Ghana is our primary objective. We believe that we can transform COVID-19 from a global crisis to an opportunity through digital technology. And in this respect, under President Okufu Agu, a firm believer in the power of digital technology to drive social economic development, we're actively implementing our digital Ghana agenda, which is intended to position Ghana as a digital gateway to the African continent. Indeed, the creation of the African continental free trade area with its headquarters in Ghana is a pointer to the African continent-wide marketing strategy which is powered by digitalization. We're therefore extending our digital infrastructure to our borders to enable seamless connection to our neighbours. We've also introduced initiatives to narrow the digital divide and empower citizens to embrace the use of ICT, and are implementing a rural telephony project to connect over three million people, and these previously unconnected people now have access to the innovations introduced by the government in our digital transformation journey, which include mobile money interoperability, which has brought over 15 million previously unbanked persons onto the financial digital platform, an EID for digital transactions to prevent identity theft and cyber fraud, skills development offered through a nationwide network of digital transformation centres, and focused interventions to reduce the gender digital divide and create opportunities for the youth through the girls and ICT programme and nurturing of new businesses at digital incubation centres to ensure a secure and resilient cyberspace for sustained transformation utilizing ITU guidelines. Ghana is actively promoting cyber security not only for our benefit, but for the sub-region as a whole, and our ranking on the 2021 ITU Global Cyber Security Index improved from 32.6% in 2017 to 86.6% in 2021. We seek partnerships and international cooperation to do even better for the entire sub-region. So President, Ghana remains an active member of the ITU, fully committed to the work of the council, and we will continue to align our goals with the strategic plan which we adopted here in Bucharest. Ghana considers the collaborative platforms initiated by the ITU and the regional and global partnerships essential to the growth of not only the Africa region, but all member states for our collective benefit. And to this end, as we seek re-election to the council, we're counting on your vote and support to retain Ghana as a council member and to vote for Mr Edmond Fianco, our candidate for the Radio Regulations Bureau, to continue serving you diligently. I wish the ITU any potential re-conference every success. Thank you.