Geneva Lecture Series with Mr. Carlos Slim Helú

Dear Mr. Slim,
Dear Mr. Lopes,
Distinguished Ambassadors,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you all. The Geneva Lecture Series offers a special platform for the large international presence, world-class academic institutions, and actively engaged public in Geneva to reflect together on our global challenges.

The Series is designed to encourage discussion with a wide range of stakeholders. Through open and frank discussion with major personalities that influence our world, we aim to contribute to a constructive dialogue. Different approaches and opinions, even on controversial topics, must be openly discussed if we are to find broad-based solutions which will stand the test of time.

Today, we have a unique opportunity for both the United Nations and the broader Geneva community to engage a major voice in the business community.

As a person whose businesses provide telecommunication services to almost 300 million subscribers in more than 18 countries in Latin America, Mr. Carlos Slim Helú clearly has some important insights on the impact of new technologies. He has also demonstrated his commitment to the promotion of technologies for development as co-chair of the joint ITU-UNESCO Broadband Commission for Digital Development. We appreciate this important engagement with the United Nations.

Our event today is being webcast live. We have a video-conference link with UN Headquarters in New York. We have collected questions on Facebook, and I have personally Tweeted about this event. I think that this alone is clear evidence of the impact of modern technologies on our lives.

The world is home to 7 billion people, 35% of which are using the Internet. This represents great progress in just a short period of time. However we must not forget that more than 1.3 billion people globally are still without access to electricity today, let alone the modern technologies that many of us take for granted. Modern technologies must be harnessed to help these people, or even more importantly, to allow them to help themselves.

Whether it is through enabling refugees to access their benefits by using ATM cards or using space-based information for disaster management and emergency response, technology is a crucial enabler to all of our work in the UN. At the same time, we recognize that abuse of technology presents a real and growing threat. Cybercrime has become a business which is estimated to exceed a trillion dollars a year, affecting millions of people around the world.

Making effective use of modern tools to fulfill our goals will require collective, dedicated work. Earlier this year Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon laid out an action plan which includes scaling up UN capacity to engage with the private sector, civil society, academia and philanthropists. I believe that today’s discussion on the impact of modern technologies will be an important contribution to these efforts.

Mr. Slim is of course an important contributor in several of these categories, as a well-known philanthropist, particularly in the field of art and culture. Standing in this magnificent hall, we can all appreciate the great role that art has to play in promoting dialogue, cooperation, and the fundamental values that underpin the United Nations. I am very pleased that Mr. Slim can join us today, and continue this dialogue.

I would also invite all those interested in joining the online conversation to Tweet at: “Hashtag GenevaLectureSeries”.

And now I am pleased to invite Mr. Carlos Slim to take the floor.