 It's a pleasure for me to welcome you here to Geneva for this celebration of the hundred and ten years of the ITU radio regulations. As you know last year we celebrated 150 years of the establishment of the ITU created in 1865 to deal with the problem of interconnection and interoperability of the international telegraph service in Europe the fixed telegraph service and some years later the same problems occurred with the radio telegraph service and when Prince Henry of Prussia was returning across the Atlantic from a visit to the US and wanted to send a message to President Roosevelt the message was refused by the US co-station because it was coming from a ship station with different equipment and different nationality so he decided ITU should do something about it and in 1906 the German government hosted the first international radio telegraph conference in Berlin. It was attended by 30 countries and it adopted the international radio telegraph convention. The treaty which through many revisions and expansion became today's radio regulations and over the lifetime of this treaty we've moved from telegraph to telephone from radio to television to satellite from fixed to mobile analog to digital internet to internet of things and during all this time the radio regulations has played its part in bringing the benefits of this technology to all the world's citizens. It ensures interest-free operations of radio communication systems and provides all countries equitable access to spectrum a scarce and natural resource which of course doesn't respect national boundaries. Frequency allocations need to be made and harmonize on a global level to ensure interoperability and international interconnection and the cost of wireless products and services would be much higher if they didn't comply with these global standards and therefore benefit from the economies of scale. In an increasingly wireless world the radio regulations enables all radio services to share the spectrum satisfying their evolving requirements and protecting incumbents and provide high quality services to the rapidly increasing numbers of people and users of these applications. Since 1906 there have been 38 world radio conferences WRC's that have revised the radio regulations in order to ensure that the technological and social developments are kept within the context of the radio regulations and the most recent one of course was adopted by WRC in 2015 and is available online. WRC's are really unique conferences. What other international conference is there where such a significant treaty is adopted and signed at the end of the conference on the final day the final act signed by all participants of all member states it really is quite unique and the growing complexity of our interconnected world and the ubiquity of wireless communication systems the ITU radio regulations is now more important than ever before. The last decade has witnessed an extraordinary growth in the use of new wireless communication systems made possible through more efficient use of the spectrum and the satellite orbit. Today the radio regulations applies to some 40 different radio services around the world and covers the frequency range from 9 kHz to 3000 GHz. They now include over 2,000 pages specifying the governing principles and the rights and obligations of the 193 member states of the ITU in using the spectrum and the satellite orbit efficiently and in a coordinated manner that ensures that there is no harmful interference to each other. The radio regulations now includes allocations for global flight tracking for civil aviation, automotive anti-collision radar to improve road safety, spectrum for broadband satellites on board moving platforms such as ships and aircraft and improved coordination procedures to make more efficient use of the spectrum and satellite orbits. Enhanced maritime communication systems facilitate enhanced maritime communication systems facilitate the use of onboard digital transmissions and automatic identification systems to improve navigation safety. Advanced public protection and disaster relief is performed through new allocations for Earth exploration satellite with high resolution radar imagery for improved global environmental monitoring and the development of IMT mobile broadband systems has revolutionized the way people around the world communicate. Most people now connect to the internet through smartphones 2.2 billion around the world. The increasing demand for mobile broadband capacity is one of the main drivers of the development of 5G. The framework and overall objectives of the future development of IMT for 2020 and beyond are enhanced mobile broadband, ultra reliable and low latency communications and extensive machine type communications. 5G connectivity will play an important role in the Internet of Things and last year the United Nations adopted a very ambitious agenda for sustainable development to be achieved by 2030. 17 sustainable development goals address a wide range of challenges including eradicating poverty and hunger, bringing quality education to all and bringing clean water and sanitation to everyone. Clearly the wireless services and products facilitated by the ITU radio regulations will play a major role in achieving these sustainable development goals. So I wish everyone a very enjoyable, happy, 110th anniversary to the ITU radio regulations may it continue to serve the world and to bring the benefits of wireless communications to all its citizens. Thank you very much for your attention and enjoy the day.