Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Opening remarks at the
Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group meeting
at ITU Headquarters
[As prepared for delivery]
Good morning colleagues and friends,
Welcome to our 1st advisory group meeting of the year, following a two-week marathon of council working groups.
When we met last May, I noted how your work provides the critical link between technology and people.
And that the environment in which you do that work was changing rapidly — not only technologically, but geopolitically as well.
Nowhere was this clearer than at the World Economic Forum in Davos which wrapped up on Friday.
It is clear that tensions have deepened.
Trust in global institutions is under strain.
And the multilateral, international system is facing pressure.
These dynamics were evident across nearly every discussion in Davos.
In every conversation ITU was involved in on connectivity, space, digital public infrastructure, digital services, AI, quantum, and more.
What we heard was clear: Technologies are moving faster. And digital is no longer peripheral — it is shaping resilience, power, and trust around the world.
And AI, well beyond an exploratory phase — requires a growing focus on integrity and trust in information.
The stability, predictability, and disciplined cooperation that ITU offers — and that standards enable — matter now more than ever.
As we look towards PP-26 (ITU's Plenipotentiary Conference), let me highlight three priorities for the year ahead.
First: Keeping our strategy and working methods fit for purpose.
TSAG (the Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group) looks across the work of ITU-T (ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Sector) and assesses whether our strategy, structures, and working methods remain effective.
We welcome this opportunity to reflect on lessons from 2025 and to look ahead at how we might further strengthen efficiency, impact, and coordination across a vast, challenging work programme (as your agenda for this week demonstrates).
During this meeting the ITU Secretariat will have an opportunity to update you on the services we provide, and to receive your feedback, including on the revised Strategic Plan that will be presented to Council in April for endorsement, and to the Plenipotentiary Conference in November for approval.
We are also introducing a new approach to operational planning (one that takes into account growing demands and resource limitations), and we also look forward to your views on our progress.
Second: Responding to the growth and evolution of our technical work.
Nowhere is this evolution more visible than in AI.
Last year's AI for Good Global Summit underscored how quickly artificial intelligence (AI) is being deployed — across government, industry, and everyday life.
The overwhelming message from the Summit was urgency — particularly around the need for shared technical foundations that can keep pace with rapid adoption.
Standards featured prominently in that conversation — not as an afterthought, but as a prerequisite to help AI systems scale and work together, responsibly and across borders and sectors.
Without standards, we risk fragmentation — incompatible systems, uneven safeguards, and barriers to global uptake.
That's why TSAG's role in providing strategic guidance and coherence is critical, especially with AI work underway across all study groups.
We also look forward to the upcoming UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance to be held alongside the Summit.
Our message at both will be clear: ITU is a trusted, reliable, neutral convener — and we welcome broader engagement in standards work.
This brings me to my third priority: Providing stability and global cooperation.
Standards offer a universal language for cooperation.
And TSAG helps ensure that collaboration remains possible.
You help keep ITU-T practical, credible, and relevant.
And in doing so, your work supports cooperation across borders at a moment when trust is in short supply.
Mr Chair, TSAG plays a central role in ensuring that ITU-T remains well positioned to meet global priorities — with impact, and inclusiveness of all players (from governments, industry, the technical community, academia).
I want to thank you for the leadership you bring to this task, and I wish you a productive and successful Advisory Group meeting.
