International Telecommunication Union – Opening of Plenipotentiary Conference 2022

M. Christophe PIERRE, Directeur des Plateformes et des Ressources Numériques et Mme Mariam TAVASSOLI ZEA, Deuxième Secrétaire à la Mission Permanente de Monaco auprès de l’Office des Nations Unies à Genève.

From 26 September to 14 October 2022, a delegation led by Mr Christophe Pierre, Director of the Digital Platforms and Resources Department, is taking part in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 in Bucharest (Romania).

The work of this ITU policy-making body, which meets every four years, began with the election of the organisation’s senior management team. Ms Doreen Bogdan-Martin, from the United States, was elected as Secretary-General of the organisation, and is the first woman to occupy the post since the ITU was founded in 1865. She will take over from Mr Houlin Zhao on 1 January 2023. The main goal for Ms Bogdan-Martin’s term is to achieve effective, inclusive and low-cost universal connectivity by 2030, in a world where 2.7 billion people (a third of the global population) do not yet have access to the Internet.

The first days of the Plenipotentiary Conference were also devoted to electing the Deputy Secretary-General, Directors of the Bureaux and members of the Radio Regulations Board and ITU Council.

In parallel, the Principality of Monaco joined the 27 member states of the European Union and around 20 other countries, including Switzerland, the United States, Liechtenstein, Canada and Japan, to issue a statement highlighting the importance of supporting, within the context of the ITU, the reconstruction of the Ukrainian telecommunications sector, which has been severely impacted by the current conflict.

Further work will focus on adopting the four-year strategic and financial plans, as well as decisions that will determine the ITU’s future role in developing information and communication technology (ICT).