 Welcome to this Global Symposium for Regulators 2017. On behalf of ITU and all the delegates present here today, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the government and the people of the Bahamas for hosting this 17th edition of the Global Symposium for Regulators. Yes, 2017. Mr. Prime Minister, I had the opportunity to visit your beautiful country in April 2016 and was impressed like today by the warm and loud welcome I received. You know, this kind of music by this group, I don't know whether you have noted something also remarkable, not only play beautiful music, dance, not only they are young, but I also found that they are gender balanced. There are a lot of young girls inside. And another thing for the foreign visitors, let me tell you, I learned one culture I learned last year. When I started my dressing, good afternoon, I immediately received a gratifying feedback from the audience. Last year because of the full audience, look at the audience, so I get a very strong good afternoon back. But today, many of you are not national delegates, so that I do not hear that strong voice. But anyway, let me tell you, this is something I enjoyed very much last year. I learned a lot. So ladies and gentlemen, today, more people, yes, sorry, allow me also take this opportunity to offer our congratulations to the people of the Bahamas on the 44th anniversary of your independence that took place just two days ago. So ladies and gentlemen, today, more people are connected. New technologies like a broadband and a mobile are being deployed. Information and communication technologies, ICTs, are transforming people's lives around the world. We live in a world of digital opportunities. This group ICT success story is possible because of a massive investment in infrastructure and boosted consumers' demand. We note that fixed broadband adoption is rising. In early 2016, three out of four fixed broadband subscriptions had advertised speeds of 10 meg per second and above in developed countries, compared with two out of four in developing countries. National fiber backbones have been transformed from straight lines into a proliferation of connections and loops. As for mobile broadband, it is booming and promises to reach more people more rapidly than any other technology in history. In 2017, it's estimated that mobile will be the access channel for three quarters of all internet use, but there's more to this success story. Today, half of world's population is still offline, unable to benefit from the opportunities that the digital economy has to offer. The unconnected often live in poor areas or in areas that are difficult to reach. In order to bring them online, we will have to redouble our efforts, all of us together. And that is why creating an attractive environment for investment in ICT and partnerships for development must be one of our top priorities. ITU members of the Caribbean regions have a lot to contribute. I noted that in this region, you are doing quite good. Mobile tele-density levels are quite high and there are reports of an increasing level of connectivity fiber to the home and new innovations, especially by youth in clean tech, e-security, mHealth and other apps development. This is great news for the entire region. Just single delegates, as we look ahead, our work on 5G, big data, the Internet of Things, and cloud computing to name a few will be absolutely essential. All those endeavors are already on the agenda. The spectacular growth of cloud computing, social media, the widespread use of apps and the ongoing march of mobile are rapidly coming together, creating not only new technologies, but also new business models. These are indeed moving fast and breaking things. As explained in the newly released ITU Global ICT regulatory outlook report, ICT is both an enabler and a challenge to business as usual. The challenge comes with opportunities. Since ICTs affect all sectors from finance to utilities, e-commerce, e-health, e-money, and many more electronic services are reaching more and more people around the world. Technological growth has expanded the capacity of ICT youth across sectors, and it's being recognized and harnessed by businesses, policymakers, and regulators. Other sectors rely on us for providing secure and sustainable broadband connectivity. It's important that the interaction of the ICT sector for stimulating growth in the digital economy alongside other sectors be understood, and that is a particular truth in developing countries. Ladies and gentlemen, we often hear that authorities are lacking behind industries and technologies that they need to catch up with the industry and address new frontier technologies like artificial intelligence. ITU is conscientious of its reliability and capabilities to be a partner in innovation and development, and our work, particularly in the development sector, aims to reach that goal and build the basis for the next frontiers. Last month in June, ITU and a private sector partner in cooperation with 20 United Nations agencies organized the AIF for Good Global Summit in Geneva. During this successful event, which drew attention from around the world, industry and academia members expressed their appreciation to ITU and the UN system as a whole for addressing those important issues at this so-called early stage, calling for us to create a good environment that is supportive of innovation and technology development. They called for us, including called for developing countries. Innovations and technology development were an important part of the conversation at the WISIS Forum 2017, which was here in Geneva exactly a month ago. Most of your regulatory agency were represented. I know many of you were here and were there as well. Thank you for your contributing to the success of this WISIS Forum 2017. Innovation and technology development are also at the heart of ITU Telecom World 2017 in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 25th to 28th September. You are all invited to join us. ITU Telecom has been reformed with a new focus on supporting SMEs, which are important drivers of innovation and creating jobs. Many countries will bring their SMEs to Busan and I wanted to take this opportunity to express my thanks to my friends here from various regulatory agencies of our member states for making this possible, showing their support not only to their dynamic SMEs, national SMEs, but also to support ITU's initiative to create a global platform for SMEs. This innovation and technology issues will be further addressed at our WTDC, which will be held in Buenos Aires from 9th to 10th October, as just advice to you by my colleague, Director Mr. Mr. Bragimassano. So I also like to invite you to join us at WTDC 2017. Ladies and gentlemen, we are living in a world of digital opportunities. GSR 2017 is an important opportunity for regulators, policymakers, industrial leaders, and other key ICT stakeholders to unleash the potential of collaboration to create an attractive environment for innovation and investment. The interactive discussions that will take place over the next three days will create opportunities for consumers and the business in an increasingly complex and dynamic ICT ecosystem. I wish you all a very successful and productive GSR 2017, and also enjoy the street festival our host will invite us tomorrow. Thank you for your attention.