Minister of State for Security Policy and International Cooperation Dr. István Mikola attended the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Telecom World 2017 conference in Busan, South Korea, where he gave a speech.

As one of the highlighted speakers at the event’s opening ceremony, the Minister of State confirmed that as a founding member of the ITU, Hungary is committed to cooperation within the field of digitalisation. “The currently ongoing 4th generation industrial revolution (industry 4.0) is creating unequalled opportunities through the proliferation of digital technology”, he said, adding that the widespread proliferation of new, innovative solutions, 5G and big data systems, as well as electromobility and artificial intelligence, are of key importance to realising UN Sustainable Development Gaols.

In his speech, the Minister of State called on developed European countries to contribute more to the work of the ITU. In this spirit, Hungary is in negotiation regarding the establishment of an ITU office in Budapest, in addition to which Hungary would also like to host the ITU conference again in 2019, building on the experiences of the successful conference it hosted in 2015, he said.

At the conference, the Minister of State held bilateral talks with ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao and the upper leadership of the organisation. In addition, he also took part in a ministerial roundtable discussion on the social effects of digitalisation, within the framework of which he highlighted the unavoidable role played by innovative small and medium-sized enterprises in laying the foundations of the digital economy, and the importance of knowledge capital in linking it to transforming value chains.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)