| Press Release |
International Telecommunication Union
For immediate release |
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ITU TELECOM WORLD
2006 to take place in Hong Kong, China
Geneva, 3 June 2004 — Following an
evaluation of the final offers received from Geneva and Hong Kong on 28 May
2004, the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Yoshio Utsumi has decided to confirm the recommendation of the ITU TELECOM
Board to hold the next ITU TELECOM WORLD
in 2006 in Hong Kong, China.
"Both Geneva and Hong Kong have made tremendous efforts to submit the most
attractive offer for hosting the next ITU T ELECOM
WORLD event" said Mr Utsumi. "I am
very grateful to both for their commitment to provide the best terms and
conditions for the organization of the next World event", he added. "Despite
significant cost reductions in both offers, the one from Hong Kong gives a clear
and distinct advantage to both the event stakeholders and ITU".
At the request of the Geneva authorities, the ITU T ELECOM
Board, at its meeting of 5 May 2004, agreed to authorize Geneva to revise their
offer. For transparency and fairplay, the Board also agreed to invite Hong Kong
to review their bid. The deadline for the submission of the final bids was set
for 28 May 2004.
The revised offers complemented the initial bids in that they were refining
the terms and conditions for the various elements already submitted. All
considered, the Hong Kong offer tops the Geneva bid with direct costs of between
30% to 50% lower1 in addition to a sizeable level of
guaranteed sales by Chinese companies and lower indirect costs such as
sub-contractor rates or hotel rates.
In view of the fact that there will be no event in Europe in 2006, ITU is
also considering the possible organization of a European event — ITU T ELECOM
EUROPA. The first TELECOM
EUROPA was held in 1992 in Budapest
but was not staged again given that the World event was also taking place in
Europe. The next world event is scheduled to take place in 2009, the venue of
which will be selected following a new call for bids.
The ITU T ELECOM Board is a body
whose role is to provide strategic advice to the Secretary-General on ITU TELECOM
events and who represent the views of all stakeholders to the events.
ITU T ELECOM events were
launched more than 30 years ago with the first World event being held in Geneva
in 1971. The most recent world event brought together 911 exhibitors
representing 51 countries were present with over 375 industry's CEOs and 148
government ministers and regulators participating in the event. Over 1 500
journalists including 300 broadcast media and more than 120 industry analysts
were also accredited for the show.
| 1 |
The cost savings depend on the number of square metres
sold. |
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