15 March 2013
15.03.2013
As Vice-chairman of the Council of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the ANCOM president has had a series of meetings with ITU high officials this week, in view of preparing this year’s annual session of the Council.
Mr. Cătălin Marinescu thus met the ITU Secretary-General, Dr. Hamadoun Touré, the ITU Deputy Secretary-General, Mr. Houlin Zhao, as well as representatives of the three Bureaus of the Union and of the financial and legal departments. The discussions concerned the items on this year’s agenda of the ITU Council, with emphasis on those topics which are likely to bring along more intense debates between Member States. Considering that, in line altogether with Resolution 1181 of the ITU Council, with the customary law of this body and with the principle of rotation between the regions, the ANCOM president would take over the Chairmanship of the 2013 Council, the ITU officials have presented in detail the rules governing the works carried out during the Council’s session and the working methods, insisting upon the Chairman’s role, namely leading the works in a neutral and efficient way and conciliating the possible divergent views so that the outcomes both satisfy the interests of the ITU Member States and contribute to the fulfilment of the Union’s objectives.
The ITU Council is the governing body of the Union in the interval between the ITU Plenipotentiary Conferences. The ITU Council has the duty, among others, to consider broad telecommunication policy issues, facilitate the implementation of the provisions of the ITU Constitution and of the Administrative Regulations, of the decisions of the Plenipotentiary Conference and, where appropriate, of the decisions of other conferences and meetings of the Union. This year’s session of the ITU Council is to take place in Geneva, between 11 and 21 June.
The International Telecommunication Union is an intergovernmental organisation founded in 1865, the oldest of the United Nations (UN) specialized agencies. With 193 Member States, the ITU is the unique global forum for information and communication technologies, being acknowledged as the most important centre of expertise in the field. Romania is a full member of the ITU ever since 1866 and is currently at its fifth consecutive mandate within the Council. The last time Romania chaired the ITU Council was in 1981.
Further information on the ITU activity is available on its website and may be consulted here.
