 Thank you. Thank you very much and good morning Honorable Salo Sarwai Tabimasmas Prime Minister of the Republic of Vanuatu Mr. Brian winji Telecommunications radio communications and broadcasting regulator and chair of the GSR Mr. Houlin Zhao secretary-general of the ITU Mr. Gerard Metzen chief information officer Office of the government of Vanuatu Mr. Mario Manjovic director of the ITU radio communications bureau Distinguished delegates ladies and gentlemen What a great pleasure it is to join you all here in this beautiful Pacific Island of Vanuatu and to welcome you to the 2019 edition of the Global Symposium for regulators. I Would like to extend an extra special. Thank you to the government of Vanuatu for so generously Offering to host us and making us all feel so welcome. I Had the great pleasure of grabbing a few vacation days before we got started this week with my family to discover beautiful Vanuatu and We have all been marveled by the wonders of your beautiful country the untouched beauty of the underwater sea life and more importantly the sincere kindness of the people of Vanuatu Distinguished GSR 19 delegates. I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate mr. winji Who is the newly appointed regulator of Vanuatu? He took up his post just one week ago, and I am very excited to Working with him as we embark on this GSR 19 adventure together. I Would also like to thank him for accepting to be the chair of this year's GSR Since the first edition of the GSR back in the year 2000 ICTs have been driving transformational change at an ever more rapid pace In just a few short years Technology has become the fundamental cornerstone of each and every economic sector With ICTs now critical to every country's economic prosperity ITU believes that all regulators from the largest markets to the smallest markets benefit from international dialogue and exchange as Director of the telecommunications development bureau and a member of the team that pioneered the very first GSR Back in the year 2000 I'm extremely proud of the role that the ITU plays as a catalyst in promoting regulatory best practice and dialogue at The heart of ITU's global symposium for regulators is really helping countries to leverage the huge opportunity That connectivity brings GSR delegates might not be spending their week this week actually laying cables or installing base stations But make no mistake our work this week will be just as vital to efforts to achieve truly inclusive connectivity Because we all know that getting the right ICT policy framework right is what ultimately creates the essential enabling environment for the growth and development of communication services and it's those services that underpin the future of every single economy We also know what a vital role ICTs can play in helping countries implement early warning humanitarian response and disaster mitigation strategies This is an enormously important and relevant issue to Vanuatu and other small island developing states of the Pacific Rim as You may know Vanuatu has actually ranked number one as country most at risk of catastrophic weather events and we all know of the impact that such events can have and levy in terms of human and economic terms I Had the pleasure earlier this week to visit the Vanuatu disaster management office and learn how the country is actually using technologies to prepare for disasters for early warning and also for response I Believe this country is actually a great example of climate action Many of you may remember back in 2015 Vanuatu was struck by Cyclone Pam a category five Tropical storm The impact of that devastation can actually still be seen here in Vanuatu an ITU deployed equipment at that time to support the relief efforts here in Vanuatu and Since then our cooperation with Vanuatu has been strengthened as we were working with them to prepare and National emergency telecommunications plan that promotes communication and information sharing Across all levels of government With communities that are at risk and between public and private organizations. I Am particularly pleased that this year's GSR is going to have a special session tomorrow On emergency telecommunications will have a simulation exercise Where we will look at the potential of technology As well as highlighting the regulatory issues that we need to address if we're going to feel to fully leverage That potential in emergency situations Ladies and gentlemen the release of the report of the UN secretary general's high-level panel on digital cooperation last month Leaves us in no doubt whatsoever that ICTs will play a pivotal role in helping each and every country Achieve and attain the 17 sustainable development goals At the end of last year ITU announced that that the world had passed a milestone We hit the 50% global connectivity It gave us great cause to celebrate But it must also give us pause Half the world connected Means half the world is not connected And we all know that connecting the remaining 50% isn't going to be quite so simple For tomorrow's digital opportunities to fully materialize Innovative approaches to policy and regulation are more urgently required than ever Achieving our goal of connectivity for all means finding new ways of reaching out to remote and isolated communities It means reaching places where other basic infrastructure may be lacking like reliable electricity It also means reaching out to people who may struggle with literacy With numeracy They may be surviving on very low incomes They may also be living with a range of disabilities sometimes caused by lack of basic health care It means finding new ways of connecting people who right now lack the digital skills That could help them to fully leverage ICTs in a way that could actually improve their lives The theme of this year's GSR is inclusive connectivity the future of regulation The focus is on fifth generation regulation So what does that mean to sum up that concept in one word? It means collaboration collaboration Regulation has entered a new age Mobile phones have become the portals to an ever-growing array of online services and you You the regulators are having to grapple with a host of new challenges from digital ID to data protection To privacy to blockchain internet of things artificial intelligence and much much more Distinguished colleagues Business as usual we're stable Transparent regulatory frameworks were almost all that was required to ensure that the market actually did the work of Connecting the unconnected that's not going to work in this new era But with ICTs being so critical to economic growth We know that getting the right regulatory framework in place is vitally important to every country's future ICTs are no longer just about communicating today's regulators have a crucial role to play in sustainable and inclusive Social and economic development in short in creating a fairer more equitable world Where everybody gets his or her chance to shine? Things have changed a lot since we launched the first GSR in the year 2000 in the year 2000 there were 398 million internet users 6.6% of the world was connected There were 738 million mobile Subscribers today we have 50% of the world online and we have 8.2 billion Mobile cellular subscribers Tremendous growth. Yes But we must ensure that that growth continues How many of you were with us in the year 2000 for the first GSR raise your hand Okay, I see a few good good good When we look back at the agenda of the very first GSR We see that we were very much focused on helping countries set up regulatory frameworks We were looking at helping regulators on a regional perspective and a sub regional perspective set up regulatory associations We were looking at convergence and at that time it was telecom and broadcasting We also had a side event on gender an issue that still plagues this sector even today and Since then the number of regulators has continued to increase today. We have 168 separate regulators and We're pleased to have so many of them with us here today The newest regulator comes from Ethiopia We also have the regulator of Somalia who will be joining us. I believe later this afternoon and From this region we have the regulators of no roux and Micronesia that have just been created and are joining us for the first time Since the year 2000 the evolution of our industry has never ceased to accelerate and Every year brings new developments, but with that new challenges We live in exciting times and I firmly believe that digital platforms and digital connectivity Represent the best opportunity ever the best opportunity ever to close the development gap and to really drive global prosperity Let us use this week here in Vanuatu to be bold To think outside the box and to dare to dream of new ways of doing business That create win-win-win scenarios to deliver rapid benefits to governments To industry and most importantly to people. It's all about people The global spotlight is on us Let's step up to the challenge. I thank you very much