ATU Conference of Plenipotentiaries 2018
Opening Remarks on behalf of ITU
Mr. Brahima Sanou, Director of Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU
Nairobi, 17 August, 2018
Guest of Honour Excellency Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya
Honourable Joe Mucheru, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology, Kenya
Honourable Ministers, Deputy Minsters and Government High Officials here present
Mr. Abdoulkarim Soumaila, ATU Secretary General
Distinguished Delegates Ladies and Gentlemen
On behalf of the Secretary-General of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and my other colleague Elected Officials, I am delighted to deliver few remarks at the opening ceremony of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries of the African Telecommunications Union (ATU).
First and foremost, allow to me express our deepest gratitude to Your Excellency Guest of honour, to the Government and the people of Kenya for the warm welcome and the hospitality extended to all of us.
We at ITU consider ATU as a sibling, a family member. Regional organizations are, at some extent, the pillars of ITU. As such, strong regional organizations such as ATU, can only make ITU stronger.
I am happy that ITU and ATU have being working very well together. I personally enjoyed such partnership for more than 10 years in my capacity of ITU Regional Director of Africa and for the past 8 years as Director of ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau.
Together we worked on the harmonization of ICT policy in Africa, together we work on the harmonization of frequency spectrum and transition for analogue to digital broadcasting in Africa, together we carried out scores of human and institutional capacity building programmes, just to mention a few.
ATU is playing a very important role in coordinating African common positions and proposals.
Two days ago, I was pleased to participate in the 4th and last African Preparatory Meeting for the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference at which African Common Proposals were discussed and adopted.
Excellences, before I conclude, allow me to take few seconds to pay deserving homage to an extraordinary man, my friend, and younger brother Abdoulkarim Soumaila, the Secretary General of the African Telecommunications Union for the last eight years.
Dear Abdoulkarim, your visionary leadership, your commitment and your passion have made a big difference on the ground.
You will go down in our history books as someone who contributed to the digital transformation of Africa. Thank you for your outstanding contribution to the ICT sector and to Africa.
On this note, I wish you a very successful ATU Conference of Plenipotentiaries.
ASANTE SANA
