Closing Ceremony WRC 23 Doreen Bogdan Martin, Secretary General, ITU, Closing Remarks
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Teleprompter
Director General
Majed Al
Mesmar.
Chair
Mohammad Al Ramzi
Director Mario Manic
Excellencies. Ladies and gentlemen,
what a great honour it is for me to address this conference. In its final moments,
WRC 23 was a marathon
and as a runner myself,
I know that there's always this sort of point
in time where you feel that you're hitting a wall
and every new step takes a lot from you.
But ladies and gentlemen, delegates, you
you kept going. In fact, I would.
I would say that you actually sprinted. You sprinted to the finish line.
So my sincerest
congratulations to all of you.
WRC 23 took place at a critical point in the digital revolution.
It's a moment where innovation
can accelerate the pace of inclusion in the global transition to digital,
when technology is racing ahead at a warp speed.
It is a moment as I urged you four weeks ago
to stand together
and to harness the potential of radio
technologies and radio services to its fullest.
And that's exactly
what you did.
So let me highlight just a few examples and
I'll start perhaps with space, the next frontier.
While our work here is focused on technical.
It's a critical enabler to every aspect of ITU's mission to leave no.
One behind in the digital revolution.
And it's a truly historic moment.
This WRC has launched an agenda item to create
the regulatory building blocks for lunar communications,
Expanding scientific discovery and space exploration
decisions taken here at WRC 23 also help to ensure
that ITU is contributing to space sustainability going forward.
For example,
a more stable and transparent regulatory framework for
space services was also agreed at this conference,
and the post
milestone procedure
for NGSO satellite systems was revised
closer to Earth.
You've also enhanced safety of life applications for all of your citizens.
For example, you've helped
make seafaring safer by supporting the modernization of the
regulatory framework around global maritime distress and safety systems.
The vital importance of these applications is clear
in your decisions to protect radio navigation, satellite service
and also allocate new frequencies to aeronautical mobile satellite services.
We also saw a well supported compromise for the amateur radio community and
of course it's always terrific to see how active that community is.
These WRC outcomes will help them to continue to experiment and
explore with new technologies as
well as supporting technical competence development
as the world gathered here in Dubai for Cop 28 that just recently concluded
they came
in search of climate solutions and we heard
calls for technology to help advance climate monitoring,
weather prediction,
disaster management and other scientific applications that our planet
and our future generations depend upon.
And you answered that call through key decisions
to protect space research and earth exploration.
You also defined space weather in the radio regulations and endorsed
the adoption and implementation of continuous UTC co ordinated
universal time as the internationally recommended time scale.
Many of your administrations have also pledged
to our partner to connect Digital Coalition,
which is aimed at reaching the hardest
to connect communities through partnership and investment.
Important agreements on terrestrial services reached at
this conference, including support further support to IMT deployment worldwide,
will help to bring us even closer to
connecting the 2.6 billion people that remain unconnected.
Additional frequencies and critical mid bands unlocking Hibs
as a new platform for mobile connectivity give a renewed push to IMT acceleration.
Ladies and gentlemen,
networks are converging, combining elements of terrestrial IMT
wi Fi
satellite and Hibs links and provide for
broadband for everyone everywhere at affordable prices.
This is
a game changer for universal meaningful connectivity and these are just,
of course, some examples of your great work. And the BR director
will, of course, further complement these examples. Examples of what you have done
here in Dubai
to really help put the world on a solid path towards a more connected,
more sustainable, more equitable and more inclusive digital future. For all
these key achievements for spectrum, for space,
for for science and for terrestrial radio services build on the momentum of
IT U's ongoing work to achieve
universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation.
But delegates
today we celebrate more
than impressive technical outcomes.
The feat
that you've accomplished here is ultimately about
people about the people that you serve
and ensuring a brighter future for all of them,
including women,
young people, older persons, refugees, rural communities,
indigenous communities and other vulnerable groups.
An inclusive digital future where everyone can benefit
from technologies that are enabled and are also
protected by the decisions of this very conference.
Take Resolution 559, for instance,
WRC marks the completion of nearly a decade of work
leading up to and during the implementation of Resolution 559
on planned bans for broadcasting satellite services.
I think this collaborative spirit
that you have shown in making equitable access a reality in
these countries actually mirrors your efforts throughout this very WRC.
These past few weeks may not have been so easy,
Mr Chair. As you well know, there were some long
and sleepless nights involved.
But ladies and gentlemen, the result the finish line is rewarding.
It shows the IT family
at its best.
And there are so many people
that made this success possible that made it really a resounding success.
And I want to take
a a moment to recognise them personally. And, of course,
first and foremost the UAE
sixth time host
of the ITU family.
We thank you
for all that you have done for the excellent facilities, the logistics,
the amenities, everything possible to meet our needs.
It was truly an honour for us to celebrate
for the second time your National day with you on the second
of December,
and to DG Majed
al
Memar and to the entire TDR a team.
Thank you. Thank you.
for those tireless efforts over more than three years of preparations,
from the fantastic amazing conference halls to the exhibition
to the incredible receptions to the chess to the tic tac
toe to the mini soccer and the backgammon throughout the venue.
That was such a great way to help further stimulate
the dialogue and the discussions that made this event so successful
to our chair,
Mohammed al Ram Ramzi,
who has been so calm and so steadfast.
We thank you for your leadership in steering this WRC to a great success.
You led
these proceedings with candour
with compassion
and with charisma,
with your infinite patience,
your dedication
and your continued
sense of humour throughout,
I think you really helped to lighten the load in those difficult moments.
Chair. We too
express our thanks to your mother
to your wife and to your Children, for for loaning you to us
over this past year and in particular over these past four weeks
to the six conference vice chairs to the chairs and vice chairs of every committee,
the working groups, the drafting groups, the ad hoc groups,
we thank you for your outstanding efforts.
Let me also take an opportunity to recognise all
the women chairs and vice chairs and committee secretaries.
They are role models for women participating in future WRC S.
And I'm so proud that we had more women in this conference going from 18% in
2019 up to 22% this time.
And I think what's so incredible is that yes, there were more women represented,
but even better, these women were vocal and these women were leading.
So Bravo and
I look forward to seeing more women. Let's try to double the participation
for the next WRC.
Let me also join the the many delegates
that have expressed gratitude for the wisdom,
the guidance and the patience of the radio regulations board.
Thank you for all you do for this great union.
And, of course, to the Director of the Radio Communications Bureau,
my friend, my colleague Mario Manic.
And to the Deputy Director,
Joanne Wilson, Secretary of the plenary
Congratulations to both of you,
uh, for bringing
bringing a second successful WRC to bear
Congrats to both of you and of course, to the BR staff,
the ITU colleagues that have worked so hard on this conference,
both here in Dubai and back home in Geneva.
Thank you for your dedication.
Thank you for your expertise and your professionalism
over these many, many weeks.
Of course, A
special thanks to the interpreters, the captions, the IT and security staff,
the hospitality staff and everyone else who helped make this event so successful.
Ladies and gentlemen, As I said,
WRC was a marathon.
But the race continues and and nobody can run this one alone.
In the closing of Cop 28 the UN secretary general said
that multilateralism
remains humanity's greatest hope.
And I think that WRC, 23 proved that multilateralism
is alive and strong in this very room.
I thank you
for your excellent collaborative work.
We can look to our shared digital future
with renewed hope
and with faith in our ability to deliver for people and for planets.
The next study cycle promises to be groundbreaking,
giving ITR unprecedented possibilities to explore
better and more efficient ways to
use spectrum and satellite orbits for the benefit of all humanity.
Here on Earth, in space and even
around the moon.
The visionary new agenda item to study lunar communications for WRC 27 of course,
is just one example of these very exciting possibilities.
60 years after ITU first began allocating frequencies for space activities.
These are extraordinary times for technology and also for ITU.
And let's show the world
that this
not so ordinary organisation is actually,
in fact quite
an extraordinary one.
2024 is gonna be a key year
for the summit of the futures that is fast approaching.
And ladies and gentlemen,
I would encourage us all to build on the WRC
23 outcomes and put radio communications in digital front and centre
with that, Mr Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you a safe journey back home.
My warmest wishes to all of you and your families over this holiday season
in May 2024 Bring
much peace, happiness, good health and a more inclusive, safer digital world.
Thank you very much.