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During the Connect CIS Summit on 23–25 November
2009 in Minsk, Belarus, a regional
meeting was held in preparation for the World
Telecommunication Development Conference, in
Hyderabad, India from 24 May to 4 June 2010
(WTDC-10). It decided what to prioritize in promoting
growth of information and communication technologies
(ICT) in the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS) region.
The meeting was attended by around 200 representatives
of countries in the region; scientific
and industry bodies, and regional and international
organizations. Ivan Rak, First Deputy Minister of
Communications and Informatization, Belarus, was
elected as Chairman. The Minister, Nikolai Pantelei,
said at the opening of the meeting that the work of
ITU is vital to implementing national ICT strategies in
the region, and thus spurring economic and social
development.
Sami Al-Basheer Al-Morshid, Director of ITU’s
Telecommunications Development Bureau (BDT),
said that ITU is ready to support Member States in
using ICT to further their development, and thanked
CIS countries for their active participation in ITU’s
Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU–D). ITU
Deputy Secretary-General Houlin Zhao thanked the
government of Belarus for hosting the meeting, and
identified key issues, such as cybersecurity and climate
change, that it needed to consider.
The meeting received reports from BDT on the
implementation of the Doha Action Plan, conceived
at WTDC-06. It also considered many contributions
on the status of ICT development in the CIS region,
and several draft resolutions for WTDC-10. These
included resolutions on strengthening cooperation
among ITU–D and the other Sectors of ITU, and on
improving access to healthcare services through the
use of ICT. Proposals were also put forward to hold
seminars on infrastructure sharing and on emergency
communications, and to further the development of
a Russian-language “centre of excellence” for training
in ICT.
Regional priorities
After considering proposals introduced by several
delegations, the meeting identified the following as
priority areas for the future work of ITU–D:
ICT infrastructure
Elimination of the standardization gap, and development
of infrastructure to ensure universal access
to affordable broadband services; effective and harmonized
use of telecommunication and ICT facilities
for emergency communications.
Cybersecurity and ICT applications
Ensuring cybersecurity, with particular attention
to the protection of children, including a pilot scheme to restrict access to inappropriate online content
in CIS schools; wide-scale implementation of ICT
applications for all activities under Action Line C7 of
the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
Plan of Action.
Enabling environment
Implementation of the WSIS outcomes by ensuring
universal access to affordable broadband services,
especially in developing countries and with
particular attention to children, women, indigenous
peoples and people with disabilities.
Capacity building and other initiatives
Training in sharing passive infrastructure and in
implementing emergency communication systems.
Regional initiatives
The CIS regional initiatives address specific ICT
priority areas through partnerships to mobilize resources.
The following initiatives were proposed:
Electronic meetings
Establishment of a digital network, based at the
ITU area office for the CIS countries, for the holding
of videoconferences among administrations in the
region.
Terrestrial digital broadcasting
Countries in the region to be helped to make the
transition from analogue to digital broadcasting in
television and radio; implementation of the GE06
Agreement for terrestrial digital broadcasting in the
region, as well as interactive multimedia applications
and single-frequency digital television broadcasting.
Virtual laboratory
Countries to be helped to train specialists in testing
and implementing broadband access technologies,
with a view to establishing a “virtual laboratory”
for training specialists from developing countries.
Power supplies in rural areas
A pilot project to be started on alternative energy
systems for telecommunication facilities in remote
and rural areas, with the added objective of reducing
greenhouse-gas emissions.
Capacity building
Countries to be helped to increase their human
resources in ICT, and the level of specialist skills.
Broadband access
Countries to be assisted to introduce broadband
networks, including mobile ones.
Changes to study Questions
The meeting in Minsk also proposed changes to
the Questions considered by the ITU–D study groups:
Revision of Question 19-1/1 “Implementation
of IP telephony in developing countries”, to become
“Economic and regulatory aspects of the
implementation of IP telephony in developing
countries”. Merging of Questions 18-1/2 “Implementation
aspects of IMT-2000 and information-sharing on
systems beyond IMT-2000 for developing countries”
and 20-2/2 “Examination of access technologies
for broadband telecommunications”. A new study group Question on the development
of national mobile payment systems based on
wireless telecommunication networks.
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