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Abstract :
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The World Telecommunication Development Conference 2025 (WTDC-25), held in Baku, Azerbaijan, adopted outcomes that expand the operational mandate of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) in supporting digital transformation in developing countries. In particular, the revised Resolution 17 and the newly adopted Resolution COM3/1 introduce new and expanded implementation requirements related to country-owned centres in accelerating digital transformation, promoting sustainable approaches to ICT/telecommunication development, and strengthening the regional presence of ITU.
While the WTDC outcome has endorsed and approved these resolutions, no resources have been proposed to support the development and implementation of these new mechanisms, particularly on strengthening the role of ITU regional offices in accelerating digital transformation and leveraging partnerships and achieving the mandate of WTDC.
The Regional Initiatives adopted by WTDC-25 are designed primarily to facilitate the identification and co-funding of regional projects and do not cover the full range of enabling and cross-cutting activities required to implement the mandates contained in the resolutions above, especially the new mechanisms for institutional capacity development articulated in both Resolution 17 and COM3/1 (Baku, 2025).
At a time of rapid technological change, there is a growing need to strengthen assistance to developing countries so that they can bridge persistent digital gaps, harness new opportunities for development, and avoid further marginalization in the digital economy. This will only be possible and sustainable if ITU builds local enabling capacity fully integrated into its existing programmes, leveraging new models such as ITU's work in developing country-owned centres that operate in close coordination with programmatic and regional offices to scale impact and resilience of interventions.
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