CTO Moves to Coordination Role for ICTs in Commonwealth

By Bankole Orija |   09 October 2015   |   6:04 am  

ICT

FOLLOWING his meeting in Geneva with Houlin Zhao, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Shola Taylor, secretary-general of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) has pledged to ensure the Organisation plays a greater role in coordinating the views of all Commonwealth member countries at international meetings, especially at treaty meetings convened by the ITU.

Today’s meeting between the two organisations was the first of a series of meetings planned by Mr Taylor with international organisations since assuming office on 17th September 2015.

“Coordinating the views of Commonwealth countries and agreeing on common objectives in advance of key international ICT decision-making meetings is an area where the CTO can do a lot more. Deliberations at conferences convened by the ITU, such as the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), the World Telecommunications Standardisation Assembly (WTSA), the World Telecommunications Development Conference (WTDC), or the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) can be made more effective with prior consultations among Commonwealth countries.”

“Meeting with Secretary-General Zhao was an opportunity to share first-hand with the ITU my vision for the CTO. And we are starting immediately, with a Commonwealth pre-WRC-15 meeting to take place in London on 7 – 9 October 2015, and which will be honoured by the presence of Festus Daudu, Chair-designate of WRC-15,” Secretary-General Taylor explained.

Welcoming Mr Taylor’s commitment to supporting global consensus efforts on ICTs, Secretary-General Zhao said he looked forward to both organisations working even more closely in the future.

“The CTO has been a very engaged and active partner of ITU for many years, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to further strengthen this bond.

The Commonwealth is an important and very diverse global group of countries, and we welcome the opportunity of ITU helping its members realise their connectivity goals in collaboration with the CTO and the Commonwealth Secretariat, as will be reported to the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta in just a few weeks.

You may also like

4 hours ago
The World Bank Group and the African Development Bank Group are partnering on an ambitious effort to provide at least 300 million people in Africa with electricity access by 2030.
4 hours ago
Access Pensions has emphasised its commitment to offering thorough guidance and assistance to customers interested in Pension Backed Mortgages (PBMs).
4 hours ago
Trading activities on the floor of Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) halted gains to close on a downturn yesterday, causing market capitalisation to decline by N35 billion.