Thank you very much, Chair, for the opportunity as Head of the delegation for the United Kingdom to make a short statement.  

We appreciate very much the work by the Secretary General in preparing his report and the ITU Secretariat in convening this Forum at such an unpredictable time. As a global forum for exchanging views and information we look forward to the discussions this week relating to the theme of policies for mobilizing new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs for sustainable development.  

I would also like to take the opportunity to commend the Informal Experts Group for all its hard work and dedication – working within the constraints of our virtual meetings. We are grateful to Mr. Fabio Bigi for chairing the IEG and his continued support. It was an honour to work alongside such a wide variety of policy experts from around the world, as the UK government’s representative in the IEG.  

The group has done great work to enable this Forum to consider five significant texts. We hope that, in due course, the Forum will adopt them. 

We are doubtlessly all only too aware that virtual working methods add an extra level of complexity. However, it is also important to acknowledge that virtual working has offered an opportunity for many member states and other stakeholders to participate more meaningfully in the process, and that the WTPF IEG meetings would likely have been less accessible in another format. It is this multi-stakeholder and inclusive dialogue that gives strength to the work we have done.   

The range of topics in these Opinions, and the ITU Secretary General’s Report, reflect the variety of discussions going on within the ITU, international organisations and other fora. The Opinions put forward by the IEG reflect many hours of collaboration and effort to understand the opportunities and challenges before us.  

It is up to governments, as policy makers, to ensure we do our best to create an enabling policy environment while also working to include other stakeholders in that process so that we have a better chance at achieving our goals. To ensure the benefits of sustainable development are inclusive, affordable connectivity is crucial as it encourages innovation and entrepreneurship. Education, skills and training are critically important in order to mobilize new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs, and we can work together to share best practices and promote the availability of materials to help bridge that divide.  

I will close by saying that, we cannot achieve this on our own, and there is great value in bringing together governments, international organisations and other experts to work towards a common goal of mobilizing new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs for sustainable development. We thank the ITU for providing us the opportunity to discuss these issues and more at the World Telecommunication Policy Forum,    

Thank you very much.