>> UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Mr. Chairman, as head of the U.S. Delegation, I wanted to start out and thank you for your tireless work and leadership. Your personal commitment to a successful outcome here is very impressive.

However, I do need to say that it's with a heavy heart and a sense of missed opportunities that the U.S. Must communicate that it's not able to sign the agreement in the current form.

The Internet has given the world unimaginable economic and social benefit during these past 24 years. All without UN Regulation.
We candidly cannot support an ITU Treaty that is inconsistent with the multistakeholder model of Internet governance. As the ITU has stated, this conference was never meant to focus on Internet issues. However, today, we're in a situation where we still have text and resolutions that cover issues on spam and also provisions on Internet governance. These past two weeks of course we have made good progress and shown a willingness to negotiate on a variety of telecommunications policy issue, such as roaming, and settlement rates.

But the United States continues to believe that Internet policy must be multistakeholder driven. Internet policy should not be determined by Member States, but by citizen, communities, and broader society. And such consultation from the private sector and civil society is paramount. This has not happened here.
We live in an interconnected world, which is becoming more interconnected with every passing day. We came to this conference with a hope for finding ways to advance our cooperation in the telecommunications arena, and continue to believe that is an important goal.

We are disappointed that this conference didn't fully provide that opportunity. But remain committed to finding other ways to advance on our shared common goals.

Mr. Chairman, I'd like to ask at this -- that this intervention be entered into the record of the plenary and thank you for your time.