Bangkok, Thailand, 27 August 2014
Opening Address
Mr Toshiyuki Yamada, Secretary-General of Asia-Pacific Telecommunity
Dr Seyed Mostafa Safavi, Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity Standardization Program
Mr Kenji Tanaka, Vice-Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity Standardization Program
Distinguished colleagues
Ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to begin by thanking the Secretary-General of APT, Mr Yamada, and the Chairman of ASTAP, Dr Safavi, for inviting ITU to participate in this 24th Forum of the APT Standardization Program (ASTAP-24).
My first mission as Director of ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau was to Bangkok, to speak at the 12th Forum of the APT Standardization Program (ASTAP-12) in March of 2007. I have very fond memories of that visit and I am pleased to say that it set the tone for the excellent collaboration between APT and ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) over the past eight years.
So I am very pleased to be here at the last ASTAP meeting during my time as Director TSB to thank ASTAP for this excellent collaboration we have enjoyed.
The Asia-Pacific region is a key contributor to ITU-T's work. In terms of finance, the region accounts for 25 per cent of Member State contributions and 23 per cent of the total private-sector financial contribution to ITU-T.
Since I first spoke at this forum, we have seen the ICT sector advance at an extraordinary pace - the convergence of technologies, rise of the over-the-top services, blurring of demarcation lines between different standards development organisations and increased inter-working with the vertical sectors such as e-health, intelligent transport, mobile money and smart grid.
ITU has proved itself a resilient organization, having transformed its processes countless times as the ICT industry has evolved. This has never been more evident than in recent years, and I have been fortunate to serve as TSB Director during a period of significant innovation.
The World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) in Johannesburg in 2008 carried out a major overhaul of ITU-T's structure and standards process. At WTSA-08, it was an APT nominee, Bob Horton, former chairman of ASTAP, who successfully chaired the committee responsible for the most significant restructuring of ITU-T ever accomplished.
APT played a pivotal role at that World Assembly which many believe to be the most significant WTSA ever held, initiating academia membership, the reduced membership fee for companies from certain developing countries, the conformance and interoperability programme, and greater emphasis on bridging the standards gap.
It introduced new work areas in relation to 'ICTs and climate change' and 'ICT accessibility', where ITU has since demonstrated global leadership, both as an advocacy platform and as the venue for the required standards development.
The most recent WTSA in Dubai in 2012 refined many of Johannesburg's directives.
APT again played a crucial role at that Assembly, tabling the proposal that led to the establishment of the Review Committee to address concerns about overlap and working with vertical sectors, Chaired by Mr Maeda, and also proposing SDN standardization as a new priority, and supporting new activities related to e-health and e-waste.
Both WTSA-08 and WTSA-12 highlighted the need for improved coordination in international standards development and we have improved our relationship with many SDOs, including signing a memorandum of understanding with ARIB, CCSA, TTA and TTC.
Also since 2007, there has been a significant increase in the number of ITU-T regional study groups, including a regional ITU-T Study Group 5 in this region, in addition to the regional ITU-T Study Group 3. In recognition of the increased regional activities we have recently introduced a new webpage for each region on the ITU-T website.
I am aware that there is a need to avoid duplication between these regional groups and ASTAP, taking account also of CJK groups that are also active in the region. We should try to ensure complementarity and a pooling of resources. You will see on the ITU-T Asia Pacific webpage the recent and coming events, including Green Standards Week in Beijing next month. I hope to see many of you there.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce two new ITU-T initiatives, which I hope will benefit greatly from the participation of APT members.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has become an ITU-T member with the purpose of leading our work on 'digital financial services' (or 'mobile money', as it is often termed). The Gates Foundation is chairing a Focus Group on the subject, which will develop a standardization roadmap for interoperable mobile money services as well as a regulatory toolkit to help national policymakers and regulatory authorities encourage the adoption of these services.
We have also established a Focus Group on 'Aviation Applications of Cloud Computing for Flight Data Monitoring'. The group will study the requirements for the telecommunication standards to enable an 'aviation cloud' for real-time monitoring of flight data, including those for the protection, security and ownership of flight data and the technical mechanisms and policies to govern access to these data. The group will work in close collaboration with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), ICT solution providers, aircraft manufacturers, airlines and other standardization expert groups. It will be chaired by Malaysia with a vice-chairman from China and will hold its first meeting in Malaysia.
Both groups have scheduled their first meetings for December this year. You can already join these Focus Groups online at the ITU-T website. I am confident this region will provide many experts to further these important work areas.
Finally let me thank you all again for your cooperation and support to ITU-T over my eight years as Director TSB, especially Mr Yamada and Dr Safavi. I congratulate both of them on their achievements and wish them well for the future.
I am returning to Geneva today but my colleague Xiaoya Yang, who is the focal point in TSB for this region, will participate in the whole meeting together with my colleagues from the ITU Regional Office.
I wish you all a successful and productive forum.
Thank you.
