ITU partners with Waseda University, Japan
to enhance technology transfer in Asia-Pacific

Tokyo, 1 August 2001 — The International Telecommunication Union has signed an MoU with Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan to enhance the training of policy-makers, administrators, regulators and corporate directors in managing telecommunication networks and services in the Asia and Pacific region. The MoU was signed today at the Waseda campus by Mr Yoshio Utsumi, ITU Secretary-General and Dr. Takayasu Okushima, President of Waseda University. Over 100 VIPs attended the signing ceremony, including several Congressmen, top officials of the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Post and Telecommunication including Mr Kaoru Kanazawa, Vice-Minister for Policy Co-ordination (International Affairs) and Mr Koichi Uchida, Director-General of the International Affairs Department, as well as CEOs of major corporations of which Akira Shiomi, President of ANRITSU Corporation and Yutaka Hayashi, President of Communications Industry Association of Japan.

"This partnership between the ITU and an academic institution brings a new dimension towards creating an environment in which relevant information and knowledge may be more readily accessed and exchanged" said Yoshio Utsumi when signing the MoU. "In today’s global and networked economies, knowledge is a main weapon of success. To enable developing economies to compete fairly in this new environment, human resource development must be improved in quantum terms" Utsumi also said, adding "networking training institutions with the ITU in a collaborative venture is clearly a promising and concrete way to make headway".

Under the MoU, Waseda University will provide academic expertise and technical assistance and disseminate its considerable knowledge in new technologies and distance-learning, which it has implemented in several neighbouring countries. The beneficiaries of the cooperation will be primarily senior managers and executives drawn from private and public organizations in the ICT sector in the Asia and Pacific region.

"Our University’s global partnership with ITU as well as with industry and government is expected to be most beneficial to participants in meeting the challenge of education and research in ICT", said Dr Okushima.

As the first step in the cooperation, the Global Information and Telecommunication Institute (GITI) of Waseda University will organize a workshop in Tokyo in November 2001 on New Trends in ICT Technology for regulators and policy makers.

About ITU

The ITU is a worldwide organization where 189 Member States and over 655 Sector members representing public and private companies and organizations cooperate for the development of telecommunications and the harmonization of national telecommunication policies. As the development arm of the ITU, the main responsibility of the Telecommunication Development Bureau is to improve telecommunication access in developing countries through policy advice, provision of technical assistance, mobilization of resources and initiatives to bridge the Digital Divide.

About Waseda University

WASEDA University, established in 1882, is a private university with 50,000 students and has academic exchange agreements with 300 universities and research institutes in some 50 countries. It has collaborated on distance-learning projects with universities including the Post and Telecommunication Institute of Technology, Vietnam, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and University Malaysia, Sarawak.

For more information, please contact:

Arthur Morse
Project Manager
Asia-Pacific Centre of Excellence (CoE)
Phone: +66 2 574 9326/ 574 8565
Fax: +66 2 574 9328
E-mail: arthur.morse@itu.or.th

About ITU