 Excellencies and honorable high dignitaries here present, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen. I would have been honored to be with you today, but due to a previous compelling commitment I could not make it. Please accept my sincere apologies and thank you for giving me the opportunity to address you through video. My recent visit to Lesotho, South African Zimbabwe, gave me the opportunity to witness the leading role of ICTs for sustainable development in Sadek region. It is actually in the quest of focusing on ICTs for sustainable development and giving a human face to ICTs that had recently launched three initiatives. First, the aim-powering development initiative, which aims at capitalizing on the current mobility revolution for sustainable development through aim education, aim disaster management, aim health, aim commerce, and aim governance among others. Second, the smart sustainable development model initiative that aims at linking emergency telecommunication with sustainable development by ensuring that telecommunication resources used for social services and general development are easily deployed for disaster response at the local level, particularly in rural and remote areas. Third, the ITU Academy that I launched in Cape Town on 23 October 2012 aims at creating a global platform for sharing knowledge by government, ICT training institutes, academia, and others. These three initiatives are certainly in line with the developments happening in the Sadek region. I am particularly pleased to note that this week the Sadek Secretariat will present for your approval the Sadek model laws on cyber security, electronic transaction and electronic commerce, data protection and cyber crime. The technical expertise for drafting those model laws was provided by ITU through the ITU European Commission-funded EPSA project. As the director of the ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau, I remain fully committed to provide the necessary technical assistance to transpose these model laws into your national installations. I wish you very successful deliberation. I thank you.