 shaman of plane potential conference. Mr. Holinzao, ITU Secretary General, elected officials of ITU, Honorable Ministers, Excellencies, Heads of Delegation, Ladies and Gentlemen. On behalf of the people of Kenya, I join fellow delegates in congratulating you, Mr. Chairman, on your election as a chair of this 2022 ITU plane potential conference and your able leadership of the proceedings of this event. I also wish to commend the ITU for the hard work that has gone into planning of this important quadrennual meeting and to our hosts, the Government of Romania, for the meticulous planning and warm reception accorded to us in this city of Bucharest. Excellencies, as we gather here today, we take cognizans of the work done by ITU in rallying member states to enhance strategies for positioning ICTs as key enabler of socioeconomic development. Kenya is therefore fully in support of the union's two strategic goals of attaining universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation. Since the last plane potential conference in 2018, Kenya has made significant strides on the front of enhancing universal connectivity. This has been mainly facilitated through the rollout of ICT infrastructure supported by our universal service fund. Through such dedicated interventions, we have witnessed significant growth in the 3G4G network coverage of our population, which currently stands at 96.4% up from 78% in 2017. Distinguished delegates, Kenya recently attested to the benefits of ubiquitous network connectivity enhancing democratic efforts during our just concluded 2022 general elections. This was clearly demonstrated when we enabled 100% successful online transmission of presidential election results across all corners of the country. Even more anxiety was the fact that election results could be accessed by anyone, anywhere, everywhere around the world. We are therefore happy to announce that Kenya is committed to consistently pursue the targets that were set in the WTDC partner to connect digital coalition commitment. For this reason, our national ICT strategies and plans are focused on the deployment of projects that will match or even exceed our estimated contribution or commitment of $258.8 million worth of digital transformation related projects across the country in the next five years. This is being driven through the implementation of the national ICT policy of 2019, the national digital economy blueprint of 2018 and the Kenya's national digital master plan of 2022-2032. Great care was taken to ensure that all these national strategies and policies set the focus of the attainment of our national digital transformation agenda. Our recently launched national digital master plan of 2022-2032 has committed to extend over 10,000 kilometer of fiber optic infrastructure to over 40,000 public learning institutions, 20,000 government institutions and 13,000 public health facilities as well as the establishment of well over 1,450 digital innovation hubs across the country. We therefore welcome all related collaborative efforts that can hasten the attainment of this ambitious digital transformation initiatives. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, to ensure that we continue to engender global conversations on ICT, the government of Kenya wishes to inform you of our candidature to the re-election to the ITU Council under Region D. In this regard, we seek the favorable support of our bid by all member states at this conference. Kenya remains at the forefront of lending its expertise and support to activities of ITU so that together we can ensure that no one is left behind. As I conclude, ladies and gentlemen, I have the great honor of inviting all delegates of the 2020-2022 ITU plan potential conference to a lunch reception hosted by the government of the Republic of Kenya that will take place on Wednesday, 28th September 2022 from 12.30 hours to 13.30 hours at the Branco-Venizk Salon here at the Palace of Parliament. We have great coffee from Kenya set aside for you. We look forward to seeing you all there. Thank you very much.