Highlights – June 2025

Digital inclusion: Asia and the Pacific

The ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific took part in the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) celebrations hosted by the Ministry of Communications and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) in Cyberjaya, Malaysia. A key moment of the celebrations was the launch of the ITU’s 160th Anniversary Commemorative Stamp by H.E. Fahmi Fadzil, Minister of Communications, highlighting the ITU’s commitment to emerging technologies, space, and mobile innovation. The Regional Office also addressed the Girls in ICT Day Malaysia 2025 event, held as part of the celebrations, engaging students and women leaders from ten universities.

Digital services and applications: Asia and the Pacific

Under the Joint SDG Fund and ITU-DITRDCA project, the ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific organised a workshop on the whole-of-government approach and Smart Islands project for national stakeholders in Vanuatu. The workshop provided capacity building on designing and implementing digital government solutions using the GovStack framework.

Digital services and applications: Asia and the Pacific

The Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific conducted an interactive online knowledge-sharing session for young entrepreneurs participating in the upcoming Youth Climate Innovation Programme, organised by the Climate Technology Centre and Network. The session focused on enhancing early warning dissemination through the integration of Cell Broadcasting, the Common Alerting Protocol, and the application of Disaster Connectivity Maps.

Emergency telecommunications: Asia and the Pacific

The Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific presented its activities under Pillar 3 of the UN’s Early Warnings for All (EW4All) initiative at a workshop organised by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). The workshop focused on anticipatory action and early warning systems in fragile, conflict, and violence-affected contexts. The two-day event brought together representatives from various UN agencies, including the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), World Food Programme (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and UN Women. International organizations such as the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES), People in Need (PIN), and the German Red Cross also participated. Additionally, Red Cross and Red Crescent societies from countries including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Thailand were in attendance. The Regional Office emphasized the importance of inclusive, people-cantered approaches to early warning dissemination, effective deployment of Cell Broadcasting, the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), and Disaster Connectivity Maps (DCM), as well as the significance of the National Emergency Telecommunications Plan (NETP).