 Dear Mr. Hulín Xiao, Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union, distinguished authorities and participants, in 2019 we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the World Summit on the Information Society Forum, under the theme Information and Communication Technologies for achieving the sustainable development goals. The theme could not be more timely. With only 11 years left to fulfill the 2030 agenda, it is becoming more and more evident that harnessing the great potential of digital technologies is key to opening new pathways for development and to delivering solutions for more inclusive and sustainable societies. The rapid pace of the digital revolution affects the economy and society on a cross-cutting basis. This is creating more complex ecosystems whose dynamics and socioeconomic consequences are not fully understood. With the risk of deepening inequality, if equal access to this digital economy is not guaranteed, we will be facing a turning point that requires indeed organizational, institutional and regulatory transformation. There is an urgency imposed by the speed of the digital revolution itself. The Latin American and Caribbean region has made very important advances in terms of connectivity and affordability since the creation of the ELAC Digital Agenda in 2005. Internet users increased from 17% of the population to 62% and the number of households with fixed broadband increased from 6 to 46 from 2010 to 2017. In the same period, the penetration of mobile broadband, which is the most commonly used type of access in the region, grew from 7% to 68%. Affordability levels have improved significantly. In 2010, for example, contracting a broadband service of 1 megabyte per second represented almost 18% of the average monthly income. The same service in 2018 represented only 0.6%, that is less than 1%. However, despite these advances, important portions of the population are still being excluded from the benefits of these digital technologies, more importantly in rural areas. In addition, productivity gaps between the countries of the region and more advanced technologies have deepened, in part due to the incorporation of advanced technologies in the production processes such as the Internet of Things, robotics, artificial intelligence and cloud services. In this regard, efforts must be redoubled to achieve greater adoption of digital technologies in production processes to participate in the fourth industrial revolution. It is imperative to promote productive and social innovation and make new technologies affordable, as well as developing adequate capabilities in the workforce. This requires strengthening institutional systemic complementarity to ensure effective policy coordination and resource allocation at the national level. At the same time, international governance mechanisms need to be adopted to address global emerging challenges such as data protection and cybersecurity. The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC, stresses the role of digital technologies to drive an environmental big push to achieve structural change in the countries of the region with greater production and diversification, sustainability and equality. The dynamics inherent to digital technologies and their economic and social impacts require constant updating and understanding of new technological, institutional and policy trends. If not, the countries compromise their inclusion and competitiveness in a global economy highly based on digitalization. Taking advantage of digital technologies not only requires national policies and strategies but also a regional approach. For this reason, since 2003, UN ECLAC is supporting the political dialogue process of the regional digital agenda that we name ELAC to address the emerging challenges of the digital revolution taking into consideration regional realities and needs. Its mission is to promote the development of the digital ecosystem in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean through a process of regional integration and cooperation, strengthening digital processes and policies that promote knowledge, inclusion, equity, innovation, competitiveness and environmental sustainability. We want to wish you all the best of luck in your deliberations. Thank you very much.