Today is the first day of a very important week.
It is a week in which the future shape of the industry in the Asia-Pacific region will be defined. The Telecom event we are inaugurating today is a demonstration of the new technologies available today and tomorrow. It is also a world forum for exchanging wisdom and experience for telecommunications development. Between now and next Saturday, when the event closes, you will be able to see the largest Exhibition the ITU has ever organized for the Asia-Pacific region. For the first time ever at a regional Telecom event we have some 500 exhibitors who have taken over 23,000 square metres of net exhibition space.