 Excellencies, Distinguished Consulor, Secretary-General Mr. Yulin Zhao, Deputy Secretary-General Mr. Malcolm Johnson, Directors of the Bureaus, Mr. François Rancy, Mr. Chesou Blis and Mr. Baimassanou. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 2017 session of the ITU Council. At first, I would like to thank the 48 Consulors who elect me and Vice-Chair Mr. Ashidi Ismailov from Russian Federation. We will work to respond to your trust. We are at the eve of the 2018 Plenipotentiary Conference in an important moment of transition in which to make an assessment on the results achieved and to shape the activities for the coming years. The great spirit of collaboration between ITU memberships is the tool that can allow to meet all of our goals. Last year, with international collaboration, WTSA-16 achieved a range of targets and did show the strategic direction and structure to support the development of the trusted ICT infrastructure essential to the success of 5G systems, the Internet of Things as smart sustainable cities. We are all grateful to the government of Tunisia and the chair of WTSA-16, Mr. Mokhtar Munakri, for the success of that assembly. I hope that the same spirit will be the base for the success of the next World Telecommunication Development Conference to be held later this year in Buenos Aires for expected outcomes related to ICT for sustainable development goals and to set the priorities for the development sector. In this council meeting, we will make decisions on meaningful issues. Fundamental for the correct performing of the activities of the union will be the adoption of the draft biennial budget of the union for 2018-2019 with consequent resource allocation to the strategic goals and objectives of the union and the ITU operational plan for the next four years. We will also hear about the progress towards the Connect 2020 global telecommunication ICT targets and the status of the implementation of the agenda in view of the 2018 pre-potential conference in order to strategically analyze where connectivity efforts should be focused and prepare for the elaboration of the targets for the next strategic plan of the union.