Activities of the ITU Secretary-General
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Visit to South-East Asia29 April-05 May 2013, South-East Asia : ITU Secretary-General visited Cambodia and Thailand to take part in a number of high-level activities and meet with top politicians, including Thailand’s Prime Minister H.E. Yingluck Shinawatra... Presidential meeting in Moldova16-17 April 2013, Chisinau, Moldova : ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Toure visited the Republic Moldova at the invitation of the Minister of Information Technology and Communications, H. E. Pavel Filip, to meet with national leaders and participate in the Moldova ICT Summit 2013... ITU Secretary-General meets with Mexican Government20 March 2013, Mexico City, Mexico : ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun I. Touré met with Mexico’s Secretary of Communications and Transport, Mr Geraldo Ruiz Esparza, to discuss the telecoms sector reforms of Mexican President Peña Nieto, which have just been passed by the Mexican Parliament... 7th meeting of the Broadband Commission17 March 2013, Mexico City, Mexico : ITU Secretary-General Dr. Hamadoun I. Touré joined host Carlos Slim Helú, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova at the 7th meeting of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, held in Mexico City, where an ambitious new target that will mandate ‘gender equality in broadband access by the year 2020’ was agreed upon... Launch of new Broadband Commission report on education25 February 2013, Paris, France : ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun I. Touré attended the meeting of the Broadband Commission Working Group on Education final meeting on Sunday 24th February, where the Group, led by UNESCO’s Director-General, Irina Bokova, presented its outcome report entitled ‘Technology, Broadband and Education: Advancing the Education for All Agenda’... High-tech art show20 February, 2013, Geneva, Switzerland : ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun I. Touré joined artists and diplomats to open a special exhibition on the impact of technology on modern artistic expression. Entitled ‘Connecting the world: Art and the information society’, the exhibition, which was held at the United Nations Palais des Nations, featured the work of local artist Serge Diakonoff and was presided over by host Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, and hosted by Diva International magazine... ITU Sec-Gen emphasizes key role of technology in next-generation healthcare6-7 February, New York, United States : The two-day summit covered a diverse range of topics around global education and technology. In depth plenary sessions focused on IT infrastructure, distance learning platforms, the Millennium Development Goals, ICT4D, gender empowerment, public-private partnerships, policy development, health education and research and social media... ITU hosts key UN youth event around technology09-11 January, Geneva, Switzerland : On Wednesday 9th ITU opened its doors to some 350 students from across Europe as host of the Model UN programme run by the Lycée International of Ferney-Voltaire (FerMUN)... Dr Tourè at celebration ceremony of 40th anniversary of digital TV advancements30 October 2012, Geneva, Switzerland : ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré was pleased and honoured to attend a special ceremony commemorating ‘40 years of Digital Television Broadcasting Studies in ITU-R’ , where he recalled the achievements of Professor Mark Krivocheev, ‘the father of digital television’, who initiated work into this breakthrough technology while serving as acting Chairman of ITU-R Study Group 11 back in June 1972... Mission to Qatar08 October 2012, Doha, Qatar : The highlight of Dr Hamadoun Touré’s recent visit to Qatar was the top-level meeting with the Emir H. H. Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, where it was agreed to set up a joint fund between ITU and Qatar to support the projects proposed as a priority at the top-level ITU Connect Arab Summit in Doha, held on 6 March 2012... Mission to Caucasus18 September 2012, Yerevan, Armenia: ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun I. Touré was honoured to meet with President Serzh Sargsyan during his recent mission to Armenia...
ITU Regional Forum meets in Albania on broadband for development6-7 September 2012, Tirana, Albania: ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun I. Touré made a high-level visit to the Republic of Albania to meet with top members of the government, including Prime Minister Sali Berisha, Minister for Innovation and ICT Genc Pollo, and Mr Sejdi Qerimaj, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva...
ITU Connect Americas summit in Panama17-19 July 2012, Panama City, Panama: ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré welcomed participants at the opening of the ITU Connect Americas summit, held in Panama City. They included the host of the event, President of Panama Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal, and other Heads of State and government ministers...
Girls in ICT Day26 April 2012, New York, USA : ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré spoke at a high-level global ‘Girls in ICT Day’ panel debate in New York City on 26 April, at an event that attracted almost 200 participants onsite and was webcast to over 100 locations around the world. At the end of the event, the Secretary-General launched the ‘Tech Needs Girls’ campaign to raise awareness and encourage girls and young women to seek a career in ICT... Visit of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN Chief Executives Board meeting12-13 April 2012, Geneva, Switzerland : ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré was honoured to welcome United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on his third visit to ITU headquarters, where he presided over the UN Chief Executives Board meeting (CEB), which was co-hosted on 13 April by ITU and the World Meteorological Organization... Mission to Lebanon – meeting with President Suleiman2-3 February 2012, Beirut, Lebanon: ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré visited Lebanon to present the opening keynote address at the Arab Telecom and Internet Forum, and to meet with many high-level officials, including H.E. President Michel Suleiman, Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui, and Arab Telecommunications Ministers attending the event...
ITU Briefs Geneva Ambassadors20 January 2012, Geneva, Switzerland : ITU began the year with a comprehensive Ambassadors Briefing designed to bring Geneva Mission staff up-to-speed with ITU’s very busy 2012 calendar... Dr Touré at M-Enabling Summit on ICT accessibility5-6 December 2011, Washington DC, United States: The ITU Secretary-General, Dr Hamadoun Toure, delivered keynote remarks and chaired an international panel on policies and programmes for ICT accessibility at the M-Enabling Summit held in Washington DC on 5 December...
ITU and Azerbaijan Strive to Drive Broadband Deployment23-24 November 2011, Azerbaijan: Highlights of Dr Hamadoun Touré's recent visit to the Central Asian republic of Azerbaijan included top-level meetings with President H.E. Mr Ilham Aliev and H.E. Prof. Dr. Ali Abbasov, Minister of Communications and Information Technologies, where they discussed the country’s ICT development plans, particularly in the area of broadband deployment...
Dr Touré at Techonomy 2011November 2011, United States: Interviewed before an audience of 300 invited guests by Randall Lane, Editor of Forbes magazine, Dr Touré spoke eloquently on a wide range of topics, from the role of social media in the Arab Spring to his championing of global broadband connectivity for all and the need for more effective international cybersecurity strategies...
Dr Touré honoured in Kyrgyzstan30 August 2011, Kyrgyzstan: Dr Touré was widely recognized for his achievements in the field of ICTs during a recent visit to Bishkek in the Kyrgyz Republic...
Courtesy visit to ITU by Honduras Vice President21 July 2011, Geneva, Switzerland: Dr Touré received a visit from the Vice President of Honduras Víctor Hugo Barnica, on behalf of President Lobo. He used the opportunity to praise President Lobo’s vision for development and to advocate ICT as catalyst...
Mission to Viet Nam18-20 July 2011, Viet Nam: A fascinating visit to Viet Nam, one of south-east Asia’s fastest developing markets for ICTs, where I had the honour of meeting with both Prime Minister H.E. Nguyen Tan Dzung, and Minister of Information and Communications H.E. Le Doan Hop, as well as leading industry figures...
Third Meeting of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development6 June 2011, Paris, France: The third meeting of the Broadband Commission for Digital Developmentwas held at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris on 6 June, and it was a great pleasure to bring together our Commissioners to continue the work we embarked on last year...
WSIS Forum 201116-20 May 2011, Geneva, Switzerland: A very busy week in Geneva, with the WSIS Forum 2011 including numerous opportunities to pursue the global ICT development agenda. It was the largest and best-attended WSIS Forum to date, bringing together all stakeholders in the WSIS process...
Australia shows broadband leadership19 April 2011, Australia: I was delighted to have the chance to visit Australia and get a first-hand update on progress on the country’s National Broadband Network from Senator Stephen Conroy, Australia’s Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. A champion of the transformational power of broadband for many years, Senator Conroy’s efforts have helped put Australia at the very forefront of the broadband vision.
Official visit to New Caledonia10-11 April 2011, Nouméa, New Caledonia: While in Nouméa, Dr Jimmie Rodgers, Director General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and I signed an agreement to further strengthen and enhance cooperation between ITU and the SPC, to facilitate telecommunication/ICT development programmes in the Pacific...
Mobile World Congress21 February 2011, Barcelona, Spain: I was pleased to be able to participate in the Government Mobile Forum at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week, as well as at the first meeting of the Broadband Commission Working Group on Climate Change..
New UN Commission on Women's and Children's Health27 January 2011, Geneva, Switzerland: It was a great honour to stand alongside UN Secretary-General Mr Ban Ki-moon, Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, and WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan to launch the new Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health yesterday...
First academic institutions to participate in ITU activities17 January 2011, Geneva, Switzerland: I was delighted to welcome the first eight academic institutions officially admitted to participate in ITU Sector activities, at a special ceremony held last Friday. Our new participants include three institutions from Tunisia; two from China; and one each from Algeria, Denmark and Japan...
Inauguration of ITU Elected Officials14 January 2010, Geneva, Switzerland: This morning saw the inauguration of the five officials who were elected at the ITU's Plenipotentiary Conference in Guadalajara, Mexico, last October. It was a great personal honour to be re-elected to a second four-year term as Secretary-General, and a great pleasure to be present this morning with my fellow elected officials...
Signature of a Memorandum of Understanding with Serbia17 December 2010, Geneva, Switzerland: I was very pleased today to be able to sign an important new Memorandum of Understanding with the Serbian Minister of Telecommunications and Information Society, H.E. Ms Jasna Matić, to create a new Global Network of Women ICT Decision Makers...
Official visit to Burkina Faso and conferring of special national honour8-9 December 2010, Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou: 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...
ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2010 (PP-10)4-22 October 2010, Guadalajara, Mexico: With the re-election in Guadalajara of myself as Secretary-General, Houlin Zhao as Deputy Secretary-General and Malcolm Johnson as Director of TSB, and the fresh election of François Rancy as Director of BR and Brahima Sanou as Director of BDT, we now have a powerful management team in place to carry out the Union’s work from 2011 to 2014...
Official Visit to Poland and Ceremony Awarding Honorary Doctorate13-14 September 2010, Poland: I visited Poland for an official visit on 13 and 14 September to hold a series of meetings with key officials from the Polish administration, the private sector and academia. On 14 September I was awarded with an Honorary Doctorate by the Technical University of Wroclaw...
Satellite launch in French Guiana4 August 2010, Kourou, French Guiana: In the middle of my summer vacation I went to Kourou Spaceport in French Guiana to see the launch of the Ariane 5 vehicle which carried the RASCOM-QAF1R and NILESAT 201 communications satellites into orbit...
Reconstruction of Haiti's Telecommunication Sector29-30 June 2010, St. Michael, Barbados: This week we held a series of productive meetings and a very useful and informative roundtable event in Barbados dedicated to the reconstruction of Haiti's telecomunication sector...
World Radio Switzerland Interview15 June 2010, Geneva, Switzerland: My interview with Pete Forster and François Clerc of World Radio Switzerland, which was broadcast on 15 June, is now available to listen to or download online...
WTISD and World Expo 201010-17 May 2010, Shanghai, China: It was a pleasure and an honour to participate in a number of activities relating to Expo 2010 in China, and of course to visit Expo 2010 itself...
MoU Signature with CERN10 May 2010, Geneva, Switzerland: It was a great pleasure to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, and to meet again with Professor Rolf-Dieter Hueur, CERN's Director-General...
ITU Council 201013-22 April 2010, Geneva, Switzerland: Council 2010 had a heavy agenda, and I was very pleased to see it completed in a cordial, friendly spirit. We had 16 meetings and it was a tribute to Council Members that we were able to rely on them to direct the management and functioning of the Union without the need for weekend or night sessions...
Mission to Armenia6-8 April 2010, Armenia: A very successful and illuminating mission to Armenia, which allowed me to meet many officials including Mr Serzh Sargsyan, the President...
Digital He@lth Initiative (DHI) 29-30 March 2010, Geneva, Switzerland: Dr Hamadoun Touré, ITU Secretary-General hosted the second meeting of the Advisory Board of the Digital He@lth Initiative (DHI) on 29 and 30 March at ITU...
Undersea cables come to East Africa22 March 2010, Mombasa, Kenya: ITU is delighted to mark a major step forward in advancing Africa’s connectivity to modern information and communication technologies, with the landing of the East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) in Mombasa, Kenya, this week...
On mission in the AmericasMarch 2010, Mexico, San Diego, New York - ITU staff travelled to Mexico, where we met with the Minister in Mexico City; took a first-hand look at Guadalajara, the venue for the forthcoming ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in October...
Mobile World Congress 201015 February 2010, Barcelona, Spain: Mobile is the great success story of the past decade, so it was apposite that ITU should announce its forecast that the number of mobile cellular subscriptions globally will surpass the five billion mark by the end of 2010 during the Mobile World Congress...
Launch of the 'History of ITU Portal'11 February 2010, Geneva, Switzerland - The launch of the History of ITU Portal marks an important moment in ITU's history. Not only does this ensure the long-term preservation of documents...
ITU at World Economic Forum 201030 January 2010, Davos, Switzerland - Participation in the 2010 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum was very useful and important for ITU this year, giving us an invaluable opportunity to meet ICT companies and major players from right across the spectrum...
Green Cross International: General Assembly20 January 2010 , Geneva ,Switzerland, "... We have made some significant advances in recent months. And even though COP15 failed to meet its main objective, it was good to see that – at last – there was no longer any debate in Copenhagen on the facts and the science of climate change..."
COP15: United Nations Climate Change Conference7-18 December 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark - ITU’s membership asked us to do our utmost to see ICTs mentioned in the final texts in Copenhagen, so we sent a small team to the climate change conference in Copenhagen and did a great deal...
ITU Council 200920-30 October 2009, Geneva, Switzerland - Council 2009 had a very heavy workload and returned good results for the Union. We completed our agenda in record time and this was done in a friendly atmosphere...
ITU TELECOM WORLD 20095-9 October 2009, Geneva, Switzerland - ITU Telecom World 2009 was very different from previous Telecoms - and I am proud to say that it was very successful...
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