Committed to connecting the world

Official visit to Burkina Faso and conferring of special national honour

H.E. Mr. Blaise Compaoré, President of Burkina Faso and  Dr Hamadoun I. Touré, ITU Secretary-General

H.E. Mr Blaise Compaoré (right), President of Burkina Faso and  Dr Hamadoun I. Touré, ITU Secretary-General.

 

 

 

 

8-9 December 2010, Burkina Faso

I was very happy to visit Burkina Faso this week on the occasion of the 8th annual meeting of FRATEL, the francophone ICT regulators conference.

President Blaise Compaoré and I took the opportunity to discuss his planned new initiatives in the area of broadband; we also discussed how ICTs can play a key role in accelerating progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

One of ITU’s strongest supporters, President Compaoré has worked closely with the Union for many years and is a patron of our Global Cybersercurity Agenda. To complement that, he will next year take over the Chairmanship of IMPACT, the Malaysian-based International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats.

I was also deeply honoured to accept the decoration of Officier de l’Ordre nationale from the President on the evening of 8 December, as part of a national ceremony to commemorate Burkina Faso’s 50th anniversary of independence.