[DIGITAL Business Africa] – Member States of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) today (03 October 2022) voted on the composition of the next ITU Council and the members of the Radio Regulations Board for the coming four years.
The voting started Monday morning at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-22) in Bucharest, Romania.
ITU – the United Nations agency for information and communication technologies – holds elections every four years for its five top officials and for two key elected bodies.
In the final stage of the election process, ITU’s Member States competed for places on the 48-seat Council and the 12-seat Radio Regulations Board.
Seats on both bodies are allocated among five administrative regions
ITU Council
ITU’s Council serves as the organization’s governing body between sessions of the Plenipotentiary Conference, the supreme governing body convened every four years to set ITU’s strategic direction and budget plans.
The Council oversees ITU activities, policies and strategies, manages working groups on topics specified by the Plenipotentiary or the Council, and prepares draft ITU strategic and financial plans for presentation to the next Plenipotentiary.
ITU Council Member States elected for 2023-2026:
- Region A: The Americas (9 seats) – Argentina; Brazil; Mexico; Bahamas; Canada; Cuba; United States; Paraguay; El Salvador.
- Region B: Western Europe (8 seats) – Italy; United Kingdom; Sweden; Switzerland; Spain; France; Germany; Türkiye.
- Region C: Eastern Europe & Northern Asia (5 seats) – Romania; Azerbaijan; Poland; Bulgaria; Czech Republic.
- Region D: Africa (13 seats) – Kenya; Ghana; Egypt; Tanzania; Algeria; Morocco; Senegal; Nigeria; Tunisia; Mauritius; Rwanda; Uganda; South Africa.
- Region E: Asia & Australasia (13 seats) – United Arab Emirates; India; Indonesia; Thailand; Malaysia; Japan; Kuwait; Philippines; Saudi Arabia; Australia; Korea (Rep. of); Bahrain; China.
Digital Business Africa presents you the results of the votes of the African countries in the running for this council. First observation, no country from the CEMAC zone (Economic And Monetary Community Of Central Africa) will sit on the ITU council.
Radio Regulations Board
The continuous expansion of wireless services worldwide creates competing demands for shares of the radio-frequency spectrum to support new applications.
ITU is the global authority responsible for the management of the radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbit resources in accordance with the international treaty known as the Radio Regulations. It conducts this function through its Radiocommunication Bureau and a specialized membership segment of the organization’s broad public-private membership, the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R).
The Radio Regulations Board is an independent ITU-R authority comprised of 12 elected members in regionally allocated seats spanning the globe.
The part-time body of experts approves the Rules of Procedure for applying the Radio Regulations – the sole international treaty governing the assignment and use of radio frequencies and the use of satellite orbits. It also serves as an appeal board in case of disputes and provides advice to ITU’s quadrennial World and Regional Radiocommunication Conferences.
Election results for the ITU Radio Regulations Board 2023-2026:
- Region A: The Americas – Chantal Beaumier (Canada); Agostinho Linhares de Souza Filho (Brazil).
- Region B: Western Europe – Yvon Henri (France); Mauro Di Crescenzo (Italy).
- Region C: Eastern Europe & Northern Asia – Sahiba Hasanova (Azerbaijan); Rizat Nurshabekov (Kazakhstan).
- Region D: Africa – El-Sayed Azzouz (Egypt); Hassan Talib (Morocco); Edmund Yirenkyi Fianko (Ghana).
- Region E: Asia & Australasia – Revathi Mannepalli (India); Majed Alkahtani (Saudi Arabia); Jianjun Cheng (China).
About ITU
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), driving innovation in ICTs together with 193 Member States and a membership of over 900 companies, universities, and international and regional organizations.
Established over 150 years ago, ITU is the intergovernmental body responsible for coordinating the shared global use of the radio spectrum, promoting international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, improving communication infrastructure in the developing world, and establishing the worldwide standards that foster seamless interconnection of a vast range of communications systems.
From broadband networks to cutting-edge wireless technologies, aeronautical and maritime navigation, radio astronomy, oceanographic and satellite-based earth monitoring as well as converging fixed-mobile phone, Internet and broadcasting technologies, ITU is committed to connecting the world.
Par Digital Business Africa. Source: UIT
