PP-18 Concludes in the UAE with ITU Telecom strategy for the next four years

Mobilk - Organised by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) and held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the first time, International Telecommunications Unions (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-18) concluded, with a number of landmark decisions that contributed in drafting the future roadmap for global information and communications technology (ICT) sector.

Members, delegates and guest from over 180 countries convened at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) for a period of three weeks, wherein they discussed a total of 274 working papers, moved various resolutions, decided on proposal and elected the management of the ITU, with an overarching aim of making efforts to bridge the global digital divide.

As the 20th edition of the conference officially concluded, the member states reaffirmed their commitment to the collective vision of a connected world, where information and communication technology (ICT) is a source of good and upliftment for everyone, everywhere and the mandate of ITU to realize this vision.

The conference has come out with a number of important resolutions,of which are:

Big strides towards gender parity

PP-18 saw a number of breakthrough records towards gender parity including the election of the first woman to one of the five top management positions in the 153-year history of the organisation. Also, nearly 30 percent of the PP-18 participants were women, up from 20 percent at PP-14.

In addition to aforementioned, for the first time in the history of ITUs Plenipotentiary Conferences, ITU Member States elected more women than men to Committee Chairs (four out of seven). They also elected three women to the Radio Regulations Board. It is notable that for the past four years, only two women served on the board, which approves the Rules of Procedure in the application of the Radio Regulations, the international treaty on the allocation and use of radio frequencies and the use of satellite orbits.