 Welcome to PP22, the ITU Plenty Potentiary Conference being held in Bucharest, Romania, where I'm very pleased to be joined in the studio here that we've built in the wonderful parliament building here by His Excellency Sebastian Iowan Borduccia, who is the Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitalization of Romania. Minister, welcome to the studio. Thank you. It's great to be together and thank you for putting this event all over the world. It's absolutely our pleasure. Now, I wanted to ask you, Romania are kindly hosting this conference here. What's the significance for Romania of holding a global conference like this Plenty Potentiary Conference, PP22? Quite frankly, it's the largest event of its kind that we've ever hosted. We hosted the NATO summit a few years ago, but this exceeds that in magnitude in so many ways. And it's also, I think, a testimony to the country's involvement and progress in digital transformation. We have a very active sector in IT and communications, and we take a lot of pride in that. So the fact that this Plenty Potentiary Conference is coming to Bucharest is really a recognition, I think, of that and a great honor that we can contribute to writing the future, how the future of the world will look like from here in Bucharest. Now, tell us a little bit about talking about writing things. Tell us about the Bucharest Declaration, which was signed by Ministers around the table yesterday. An incredible gathering of Ministers, in this awesome palace here. The day before the conference opened. What was decided at that meeting, and what did they agree to? I mean, we're biased, but I personally think that the Bucharest Declaration will go down as one of the most significant moments of this reunion, and perhaps beyond. It essentially highlights our commitment, our joint commitment with over 50 nations around the world from all continents to an open, secure, reliable, interoperable internet, access to it, bridging the digital divide, as well as ensuring these opportunities for all. In fact, from the title of the Declaration, Building a Better Digital Future for All. You could read a lot, and I noted yesterday that first we have to be willing to build, which is a lot harder than destroy, especially these days in the world. It seems that many of the things we take for granted are falling apart. It has to be a better digital future, not just a digital future. We know based on the present that digital will be part of our lives and generations to come, more and more, but it has to be better, and it has to be for all in that especially marginalized communities, citizens who have access to harder access to education and professional opportunities have access to these new technologies and can develop without being left behind. I said yesterday in my statement that the one word missing from the title is together. This will only be accomplished in a partnership setting across nations, but also across sectors, public, private, civil society. It's kind of what we're trying to build here in Bucharest. What are the top priorities for your ministry going forward? For sure, digital transformation includes digital public services, that's number one, but also digital competencies, digital skills. They go hand in hand. Romania has some catching up to do, and there was a joke running around a few years ago that the world is coming to an end, but Romania continues for some reason. Why? Because we're behind. That is thankfully no longer true, and we're pushing through from the highest level, from the president, the prime minister, myself, the government, through a massive digital transformation effort that includes government cloud. It's a 600 million euro investment with the help of EU funds. It includes a national program for digital skills. It includes a national commitment for expanding 5G coverage at a pace that's really accelerated. We're looking at all these aspects and taking an integrated approach, and we hope that in international rankings, at least they will match the talent that the country shows in IT resources and specialists. I was going to say, because we visited the Polytechnic University here, and I see a great amount of enthusiasm, a great amount of energy being put into technological development, into ICTs, and there's a lot of importance being placed on that, which is fantastic. I wanted to ask you, looking back as well, what are the notable milestones in Romania's digital transformation up to now? In the past? Well, I think that major progress has been made in terms of digital identity. Obviously, to access digital public services, electronic services, you need to prove that you are the one requesting them. And for many years, we've been stuck on that. And finally, we've made some breakthroughs recently, and we will have, you know, within the next six months, most likely one of the most advanced and secure systems for proving our identity. It will be based on facial recognition, and it will be a standardized module for authentication in relation to any public service. So, you know, it's good that we're getting that done. We're also, you know, continuing a tradition of very strong skills in STEM and exact sciences. So, if you look around the world, really, some of the best minds out there on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, machine learning, virtual reality, et cetera, they come from Romania. And we're not always able to keep them here, but, you know, we're contributing to the progress that all these fields are registering around the world. So, I think, you know, there's very good figures on where we stand. I think about 30 percent of our graduates come from STEM, and we want to strengthen that. We want to consolidate it. It's one of the best numbers in the world, but we want to make sure that we keep that tradition. So, we're working with schools like the Polytechnic of Bucharest, the Technical University of Kuzhnapoca, there's schools in Iasi and Krajowa, and basically the major urban centers that help prepare the next generation, and we're closely listening to what the private sector is telling us here and around the world, which is we really need more specialists, we really need more IT experts, cybersecurity experts, and we're ready to contribute to that end. I'm sure you're going to be doing it absolutely fabulously. I wanted to ask you, what are the key ingredients in your opinion needed to make the world's increasingly digital future turn out better for everyone? Such a tough question. I did reference them this morning in my address to the conference, and well, first of all, it was quite a sight to address over 2,000 delegates, and it's such an honor for Romania to be the host of this. It's beyond words, but I said, you know, first of all, I think, you know, a focus on partnership and an understanding that to resolve these big challenges and to answer these questions that are very difficult. You know, what is the right balance between freedom and safety and security? You know, what are the limits of AI, of artificial intelligence? How do we prepare the next generation for the future of work, the jobs they've never that don't exist, essentially, and we don't know what to do. So, you know, the right for that are right here in the United Nations, and certainly the ITU is, you know, the best candidate to answer those questions. And so, you know, the first ingredient is partnership. I said the second one is responsibility. I looked at everybody gathered there, and I'm looking at these wonderful people from around the world coming here and told them that, you know, they have a huge say in how the world will look like decades from now, how our children, my children, will live in their everyday lives. And so, I think it takes a recognition of that burden and ownership to come up with the best solutions. And that brings me to the third ingredient. I called it altruism in that, yes, we're representing our nations here, but we have to be willing to at least put that aside for a little bit and consider the greater collective good. And that has to be something around, you know, open access, protecting people's rights, protecting rule of law, protecting democracy. And all these things, I think, can be strengthened by technology. It's not by default. It will come only if we act. And so, I ended my intervention this morning by saying, hey, you know, as a call to action, we're responsible. We need to do this. Let's do it. And you focused it with a great quote from a Romanian innovator inventor, perhaps. I don't want to be on the spot. Perhaps you could share it with our audience here. Would love to. So, I referenced a great Romanian who was born exactly 150 years ago, and we celebrated him back in August about a month ago. His name, Tranvuya. He was the first human to lift off an airplane, a self-propelled monoplane, through its own powers, essentially. And he said this, asked, you know, how come he was so successful? He said, because I work not for my own glory, but for the glory of humankind. And I think it's that kind of a perspective that we should all keep in mind and reach the tough answers that we have to provide in order to move the world forward. That's a great way to end this conversation, but I hope we will be able to catch up with you again in the not too distant future. And I wish you all the very best and thank you very much for hosting us here, as I say, in the wonderful Bucharest. It's a big honor and a privilege. And once again, thank you for publicizing what is happening here. I think it's of interest to the whole world. Minister, thank you very much indeed. Thank you.