 700 million people, 11% of the world's population live in extreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination and elimination as well as the lack of participation in decision making. 87 million people, 11% of the world's population live in extreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination and elimination as well as the lack of participation in decision making. Technology, technology opens up channels of communication, making it faster and it provides the platform upon which people can bond with one another. Signals, lost signals. Ladies and gentlemen, another round of applause please for Randa's very own Mashirika performing arts group. Thank you, thank you. For those that may be, may have missed it. This was the SDG performance where they showcase the cross cutting role of ICT or telecommunication in achieving SDG such as ending hunger and poverty. Thank you again Mashirika. And now, ladies and gentlemen, I am very, very pleased to welcome Miss Doreen Bogdan, the ITU BDT director to deliver her closing remarks. A round of applause please as she makes her way. Thank you. Thank you, Alice. The Honorable Paula Ingabiri, Minister for ICT and Innovation of Rwanda and Chair of WTDC 22. Mr. Julien Zhao, Secretary General of the ITU and fellow elected officials, ladies and gentlemen. The ITU's Eighth World Telecommunications Development Conference in Kigali is coming to a close. It's coming to a close with an agreement on a declaration and a plan of action that I think each and every one of us can be proud of. I salute this conference commitment in the Kigali declaration to spare no efforts towards the expansion and use of telecommunications and ICTs and digital infrastructures, institutions and services for building and establishing truly sustainable digital economies and societies. It's been an intensive, I think I can say, two weeks where we have welcomed more than 2,000 delegates from 150 member states along with 340 sector members and partners. We've talked, we have walked, we've deliberated, we've agreed, we've disagreed and we've compromised. We've partnered, we've even danced a little. We've sipped lots of amazing Rwandan coffee to keep us energized and we worked very hard, including a little bit over the last weekend. We've discussed and we've debated 215 proposals, which I think is just tremendous. And to the credit of each and every person in this room, we have succeeded in finding consensus and in building the solid global agreement on core principles that has been the great talent of the ITU for the past 157 years. And of course, in pursuing that agreement, we have been very ably led by our WTDC chair, Minister Paula Ingabiri, and I want to take this opportunity to personally thank her for her wisdom, for her guidance, for her incredible, incredible patience, for her friendship, and of course for her razor sharp focus in advancing our work and ensuring that we have arrived at our destination in a timely manner. I also want to take a moment to thank our amazing host country team who brought their efficiency, their skill, their dedication to deliver a world-class conference experience to all WTDC delegates. I would like to make a special thanks to Eve. Eve, if you're in the room, I think over there if you could stand up. Thank you, Eve. I think as Dr. Kim Malaliu said so well yesterday, I think Rwanda has set the gold standard. I think she described it well and you have done this in record time with less than four months of preparatory time. So I think this also deserves a big round of applause. So let me come to the core work of this conference, the thing that brings us all together from the four corners of the world, which is our shared commitment to forging a new action plan for the coming years. An action plan that builds on the strengths of our Buenos Aires action plan, yet which also is adapted to meet the new challenges of our fast evolving digital landscape. It's a plan that amplifies what's been working well and that rectifies what has not. It opens doors to new types of collaboration so that we can work more effectively together to achieve that goal of a fully connected planet by 2030. At the opening of this event, I encouraged us to be bold, to be creative and to dare to go the extra mile. I challenged us to put the interest of people and planet first. I urged us to do all in our power to make this event a landmark event in the history of global development, a conference that future delegates can look back upon in our shared journey towards universal digital inclusion. I think we've risen to that challenge and I'm immensely proud of what we have achieved here in Kigali with our 14 new study group questions are 28 regional initiatives are 45 resolutions and of course our four new resolutions. And of course I look forward to working with all of you to implement the Kigali plan of action and to use it as an ambitious blueprint to help map out a better future for all. This conference was enhanced by I'll pick up on my friend from Thailand's comment, the three rights the time place in people, but I'll add to that three key levers that have been instrumental I think in mobilizing the energy, the innovation and the commitment and the engagement that this conference has mobilized. Of course we had our first lever which would be the generation connect global use summit that providing that provided an amazing curtain opener for us as we arrived here in Kigali. That inspirational event, which was entirely co created by our youth brought together engaged energetic young people from around the globe, physically and virtually. Our youth debated and discussed important issues to them from cybersecurity digital transformation emerging technologies online protection entrepreneurship leadership and of course much much more. It was clear that young people do not want to inherit their digital future. They want to be part of building it. As we leave Kigali, we take with us our very own generation connect song, I hope you've all learned the song composed by our young interns and sung by local musicians, and of course lots of memories and new friends from that summit. The second lever of our conference was the ITD network of women. That program had three outstanding events, our network of women luncheon hosted by Qualcomm or network of women breakfast hosted by Australia, which Stephen was indeed not invited Stephen you are not invited to that event. And of course our network of women walk to connect walkathon that was held last Sunday morning. Many of you joined you may have suffered a little bit the next day, especially if you joined that intensive aerobic workout that took place that was a surprise for me at the end of the walkathon. I think these events as part of the network of women have really helped to strengthen the connection amongst female delegates. It has enabled us to share our experiences are solidarity and of course our commitment to gender empowerment in the digital sector. Last but not least the third lever is of course our partner to connect series and our roundtables. This innovation, I think stands out because of the extraordinary and unprecedented response from our members and our many partners. And because of what these pledges could mean to the lives of those that are still digitally excluded. This is really where we have the opportunity to put actions into words and to actually to walk the talk to ramp up our partnerships and to really move the dial on connecting the unconnected. As of this morning, and I'm really excited to announce this as of this morning and the number may go up before we conclude, we had 418 validated pledges keeps going up with an estimated financial value of over $25 billion. So I want to thank every government, every entity that committed resources to the partner to connect platform. And of course I applaud this conference for having adopted the partner to connect resolution that will instill partner to connect in the work of the BDT. Of course the pledging platform is still open so if you haven't pledged, it's not too late and we would encourage you to do so. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished delegates, let me close by thanking the many, many people that have made this conference such a great success. Of course I want to thank the secretary general who leans out my fellow elected directors are amazing interpreters. Thank you. Thank you. And of course our legislators are captioners, the technical team in the room and of course those behind the scenes are tireless organizing team our security team. And of course our extraordinary document management team who made sure we always had the text that we needed when we needed them. And of course the content team from the ITU communications team the network of women team, the partner to connect team, and of course our global use summit team. Finally, I want to give a special thanks to my deputy to Steven Buru who's been the overall coordinator of this event. He has executed that role with enormous skill, efficiency and relentless good humor. Thank you Steven. At the start of this important conference I mentioned one of my, my favorite movies. It's a wonderful life and about how that film's message is around the truly profound effect that our decisions can have on the lives of others. I urged us to remember that through our actions, each and every one of us in this room has the power to change the world. I think we've tried to do that here in Kigali over the past two weeks and it is my great hope that our work at this conference to bring the power of connectivity to all will rapidly usher in the chance to live a wonderful life for all people. Thank you very much. Doreen, I think Doreen has just done a fantastic job at narrating the video that we just saw, as well as summarizing the last 10 days that we have spent here together. Thank you very much, Doreen, another round of applause for her please. Thank you. I now take this opportunity to invite the ITU Secretary General Mr. Hulind Zao to also give his closing remarks. This is all the floor is yours. That is, Honorable Minister of ICDN Innovation of Rwanda, Madam Chair of WTDC, Paula Ingraberi, Madam Doreen Bolton, DDT Director, Mr. Mario Manovich, DR Director, Excellencies, Ministers, Ambassadors, Dear colleagues, let me begin by thanking our hosts, the government of Rwanda and the people of Kigali for their tremendous generosity. Congratulations for making this conference such a success. Rwanda had little time to prepare, but Rwanda had delivered beyond our expectations. Rwandans have made all Africans proud during this conference. We are grateful to the people of Rwanda and their beloved government for the warm hospitality they have shown and to all Luka staff for their support. So let's give them all a big round of applause. I commend President Karl Kagami for his leadership and for his dedication to ITU's mission. And for reminders at the opening that we cannot let digital inequalities go unchecked. I was humbled that the President awarded me the National Order of Honor Akasio at Yuragiru Village earlier this week. I show you the cover of the box. And I vote to continue work for all those who are still unconnected. I salute the chair of WTDC 2022, Minister Paula Ingabira, for her leadership and for her wonderful managing of this WTDC. We have heard from all of you of your presentations to her performance. And I'd just like to at one point that from a women's breakfast, I was invited. Stephen was not invited. But I was invited not as a man. I was invited as Secretary General of ITU. But however, I expressed my appreciation and the recognition of those women delegates on behalf of men. And from that breakfast, I learned that our minister is a mother of three children. She's a mother of three children, young children, with his boy loving football match, but not yet with ICT. And she's considered that may not be that easy. But I think that we encourage girls in ICT in STEM. We should also encourage boys in ICT and STEM. So we hope our minister will be managing his family life by convincing his son to join ICT, to join ITAM, as she managed our WTDC so successfully. I have confidence. We have time. I'm grateful to PDT director Doreen Bogdan and to other directors, Mr. Mario Manowich and Mr. Chasabali and the entire team of ITU. And Doreen just mentioned some services. I somehow a little bit hesitated because we might miss some services. But all the ITU staff who worked here or in Geneva really make us proud of you for their tireless work and day and night and with their professional skills and their contributions. So including also the interpreters, translators, captioners and all technical staff. She mentioned the secretive staff, she mentioned the conference staff. She also mentioned our ICT staff. They all worked very hard for us. I express my gratitude to the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, to all the ministers and vice ministers who joined us at this conference and thank all delegates for the remarkable spirit of cooperation during these 10 days of in-tanks negotiations, including the last hour of depreciation. Thank you to all the heads of delegation, regional coordinators, chair and vice chair of conference committee and plenary working group and ethnic groups who demonstrated their leadership skills in facilitating the work of the conference. ITU has emerged as a key partner in development in areas as diverse and critical as education, health and the environment. We are more than a technical agency and we need to recognize it and strengthen our global development rule. With just over seven years left to achieve the United Nations sustainable development goals, we need to continue our efforts to show what ITU and ICTs can do for the SDGs. And by we, I mean all ITU members and partners, today I call on our member states, industry members, academia members, international and regional organizations and all stakeholders to join effort to promote sustainable development for all through the use of the ICTs. Cultivating and growing ITU's relationship with the public and private sector is paramount to further our technical work and advance meaningful work in development. Initiatives like the partner to connect the digital correlation show the way by mobilizing governments, the private sector and others behind ground breaking commitments. And by aligning global connectivity strategies with the SDGs. This sends a powerful message that together we can ramp up investment in ICT development to leave no one behind. Equitable access to digital technologies is not just moral responsibility, it is essential for global prosperity and sustainability. Before I close, I would like to highlight some important dates in the history of ITU's development work, where we started, where we are now and where we are heading. This journey started in the 1960s, with the inclusion of telecommunications development issues on the agenda of the ITU council. And this work intensified in the 1970s. The 1982 plenary potentially conference heard in Nairobi addressed the missing link and the challenges faced by developing countries. The first conference ITU on development was heard in Arusha, Tanzania in the spring of 1985 under the title World Telecommunication Development Conference. The development sector ITU-D was then established at the additional plenary potential conference 1992 and the first WTDC after 1992 after ITU-D established was heard in Argentina 1994. Having this conference take place in Rwanda, the first WTDC to be heard in Africa since the establishment of ITU-D 30 years ago is an important milestone. We have traveled a long way to come here. Today we have achieved a lot over the last 30 years, but there are still a lot of challenges, with 3 billion people still unconnected. We still have a long way to go. Let's build on this momentum to strengthen the image of ITU as a UN specialized agency, not just for technology development, but also for our service development. Let's work hard to march forward together in this direction and accelerate digital transformation for all here in Africa and the rest of the world. I wish you a safe journey back home and look forward to seeing you in September and October in Bangladesh, Romania for PP 2022. I would like now to invite the Honorable Paula Ingabe, Minister of ICT and Innovation of Rwanda and the Chair of WTDC 2022 to join me over there at that corner. I'm pleased to present to her the Honorable Minister with the ITU civil medal and certificate as a token of our appreciation. Thank you very much. Let me read the text. The International Telecommunication Union recognizes her excellency, Miss Paula Ingabe, Minister of ICT and Innovation of Rwanda. Chair, Chairwoman, Chairman, Chair of the WTDC 2021 and actually 2022 for her outstanding contribution and leadership to the work of the World Telecommunication Development Conference. Yeah, colleagues WTDC 21 or WTDC 22. I think we have some explanations given by Stefan earlier this conference. Thank you very much, Mr. Houlin. We appreciate your remarks and also a huge congratulations, Honorable Minister. Also, Madam Chair, and allow me please as we conclude to welcome you to also give your closing remarks. Here I asked Houlin why I'm getting the silver medal. As if it's the highest, he said it's a gold one. We've been empowered through the network of women not to settle for less. So I had to check it, but Secretary General of ITU, the director of the Development Bureau, ITE elected officials, ministers, deputy ministers present with us here, heads of delegation, ladies and gentlemen, good evening. I was looking at the highlights of the video and I realized that after two weeks I perhaps look much older than I was on day one of the opening. Thanks to the interactions that have been happening over the last few days. I want to thank everyone for your patience and deliberations over the course of the last two weeks. We had so much work to do, and we did indeed achieve a lot from the resolutions adopted this WTDC 2022 is definitely moving us closer to our goal of connecting the unconnected. The results of our work today are a testament of not just the work of these two weeks but the years of work that have been put into the results that we see today. Doreen, you mentioned we've worked together, we've worked, we've worked out, we've dined, and I hope you all had fun, but most importantly, we achieved consensus on many pertinent issues, and I have no doubt that our actions on these decisions will move us forward towards the way that we want. We've also built connections through to the partner to connect objectives where we build connections, we build partnerships to really push us forward. In our deliberations, we needed to remain focused on our common motivation to move further towards closing the connectivity gap and the digital divide for all our citizens, and I think we all succeeded. In my opening remarks at the beginning of the WTDC opening ceremony, I noted that the success of WTDC 2022 would be measured by the yardstick of how far our collective decisions would lead many more of humanity to be connected over the next four years, and how our decisions will help us to build back better, and I believe this is just the beginning, the next four years will prove us of whether we have delivered on that collective commitment. We've also made important decisions, the last two weeks and now we need to action all of the decisions that we've made. As a country that had the honor of hosting the Youth Summit, we're very much aware of the enormous effort that was invested not only in organizing the event itself, but in the many months of preparation for a platform that the youth would express themselves but would also contribute in a meaningful manner. I'm very grateful to all the member states that sponsored the youth and enabled the youth to participate in this youth summit. The network of women was quite exciting as well, the important and timely discussions we had, whether it was at the breakfast, the luncheon, the walkathon, a key highlights that we will all take away from our engagement. We must continue to encourage the empowerment and participation of women in the important matters of ITU as we recognize the majority of the unconnected unfortunately remain to be in the women category. Doreen mentioned the partner to connect pledges over 418 that we have today, this is absolutely amazing and we commend everyone that has really been part and parcel of making history during WTDC 2022. And I know that the pledges were made with conviction and our full attention to pursue the outcomes we jointly seek and I'm certain that we'll deliver on these pledges. Rwanda was privileged to host this very first WTDC in Africa. We are grateful for the engagement and the support that enabled us to deliver on the conference successfully. We are also grateful that for all the delegations were able to honor our invitation and be here with us. We set out to make this conference, to make sure that this conference is different and that it has to make a difference. We achieved that and we must strive to continue to achieve that. Now it's time to put action to our words and decisions as we move forward, united and strong in our efforts to connect the unconnected so that we achieve the sustainable development we know is possible. I think over the two weeks that we've been here, particularly in this room, I had a fast crash course on international negotiations and I think I'm going to be leaving with a distinction after the two weeks of being with all of you. But also I believe by hosting you here, you've gotten a taste of Africa. In fact, before you all book your tickets back home, I hope you can make a few stopovers in the different countries across the continent that have a lot more to offer you. Please do not hurry to leave Rwanda, explore the beautiful city. Santiago will make sure you do more before you leave. Explore what the country has to offer, there's much to see and enjoy beyond the walls of the Kigali Convention City. Our delegate from Saudi Arabia mentioned he had wished to wear Rwanda clothes, but I also want to recognize the Côte d'Ivoire delegate who today dressed us with Rwandan attire. Please join me in congratulating her. Congratulations to all our chairs, vice chairs of all the committees, to all the teams, the ITU secretariat team for really, you know, keeping us all together. The interpreters, we can't thank you all enough for the work that you have done with us. For those departing soon, I wish you a pleasant and safe trip. I have one ask, one ask for all the delegations that took the floor in appreciation of Rwanda's hospitality. And my one ask is to support Rwanda's candidate in the upcoming elections. Thank you. Distinguished audience, it is officially that time where you can loosen your ties and let your hair down as we have officially ended and close the 8th WTDC in Kigali. Yes, please a round of applause. As all the speakers have remarked, I hope that you have enjoyed the flavor of Africa's rich culture, the people and the hospitality, and as Honorable Minister Paula mentioned, please don't be so quick to pack your bags, stay around, just stick around, enjoy the city of Kigali or just move across to Kenya, Nairobi, Tanzania, wherever you wish. Alright, otherwise we thank you, thank you, thank you immensely for joining us for this WTDC and we wish you safe travels to those departing delegates and a lovely rest of the day for the rest of you. Thank you very much.