It is 40 years this year since my first participation in ITU - as a delegate! I must say it has been a truly wonderful experience working in ITU, firstly as a delegate, then as Director of the Telecommunication Standardisation Bureau, and finally Deputy Secretary-General.
I would like to express my hopes for ITU’s future, which as we know, will be challenging.
I believe ITU’s unique tradition of reaching decisions by consensus, based on a willingness to compromise, together with its reliance on regional preparations and regional common proposals, will see ITU through these turbulent times.
With so many organizations, including other UN bodies, now using digital technology to achieve their aims, there is an increasing risk of overlap, which makes my favourite three words ever more important: collaboration, cooperation, and coordination. I hope ITU will continue to focus on its own specific competencies, avoid duplication of effort, and pool its limited resources.
ITU has always kept in the forefront of technological advances, and this will be very important to further modernize the working methods, such as paperless working, teleworking, flexible working, and remote participation as these will all be integral to the modern ITU culture in the new HQ building. One of my regrets of course is that I will not see the new building project through to completion. The new building will be a headquarters worthy of ITU staff and delegates, well into the 21st century. My thanks again to all those administrations that have sponsored and supported the project.
Since joining ITU, I have promoted our work on climate change, accessibility, gender and bridging the standards gap, and so I am very pleased to see how these have progressed. When I produced the first ITU report on ICTs and Climate Change in 2007, it attracted a lot of scepticism: I was always being asked “what has ITU got to do with climate change, what have ICTs got to do with climate change?”. So, it is nice that no one questions that now!
It would take too long to name all the incredible people I have met and had the pleasure of working with, both inside and outside ITU. However, there are three people I must mention:
- Houlin Zhao, of course, whom I have had the pleasure of working closely with for 16 years and who has become a close friend. We always seemed to have the same view on everything!
- Sophie Guerraz, who has been an outstanding assistant to me over the years. I would have been lost without her.
- And my dear (and long suffering) wife Catherine, who has been my support throughout. Many of you know her, as she has been at my side at every Plenipotentiary conference from Minneapolis to Dubai. She sends her best wishes to you all.
But of course, I have so many friends and colleagues from so many countries and administrations from across the world. I thank you all from my heart, for your personal support, friendship, and collaboration over the years.
I am honoured and indebted to the UK government for its strong and vital support in all my elections. And I am most grateful to the hard-working members of all the campaign teams!
So, I look forward to a new era for ITU, with a new management team, a new Council (including, I am pleased to say, the UK!), and a newly invigorated ITU to face the challenges ahead. I wish you all every success for the future!
Thank you and good luck!