UAE delivers its telecommunications policy statement at conference

DUBAI, 1st November, 2018 (WAM) -- The UAE has presented its Policy Statement 2018 at the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU's) 20th Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-18), which is being held at the Dubai World Trade Centre until 16th November. The inaugural day of PP18, commenced with the Policy Statement session, wherein all countries delivered their telecommunications related policy statements, beginning with the UAE, whose Policy Statement 2018 was delivered by Waleed Ali Falah Al Mansoorie, Board Member of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, during the opening ceremony of the Conference. Al Mansoorie began by congratulating Majed Sultan Al Mesmar for being elected as the Chairman for PP18, whishing him all the success. Delivering the statement, Al Mansoorie pointed out, "Future is the focus of our UAE’s development. Today, we have a national strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We also have an Artificial Intelligence National Strategy that is a cornerstone of the UAE Centennial Plan 2071. With this, we aim to achieve 100 per cent adoption of Artificial Intelligence in services and data analytics by 2031." He also mentioned that the UAE Government has adopted a Digital Transactions Strategy (Blockchain) that plans to transfer 50 percent of government transactions to Blockchain platform by 2021, which saves the UAE’s treasury about AED11 billion per year. He added, "The UAE has been ranked first in FTTH (fiber to the home) coverage index, first in mobile and broadband internet coverage and first in the ICT usage and government efficiency index in the World Economic Forum report. The UAE is also among the firsts in the region to launch the 5G services commercially." The Policy Statement also highlighted the UAE’s National Space Programme, which includes the preparation of UAE astronauts under a 100-year plan to build the first human settlement on Mars by 2117, and reaching Mars with "Hope", the UAE Spacecraft, in 2021 coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the UAE. Plenipotentiary Conference, the key event of ITU held every four years, will this year, convene representatives of Member States to set out a plan for 2020-2023 in terms of the latest developments in ICT. ITU is the United Nations’ specialised agency for ICT, which allocates global radio spectrum, develops the technical standards and strives to improve access to technology for the under-served communities worldwide.