New ITU leadership

Member states of the International Telecommunications Union have elected Hamadoun I. Tourè of Mali as secretary-general for a four-year term. The election took place in Antalya, Turkey, during the 17th Plenipotentiary Conference, the ITU's top policy-making body.

Mr Tourè obtained 95 votes, with 155 countries present and voting. A number of countries lobbied aggressively to secure this position at the ITU, the UN's specialised agency for telecommunications and the world's oldest international organisation.

Germany came closest to the target, with Tunisia, Brazil, Switzerland and Jordan failing to make the final round. Outgoing secretary-general Yoshio Utsumi of Japan occupied the post for the past eight years.

In 2002 Malta had submitted the nomination of Anthony De Bono, former CEO of Telemalta and then chairman of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), as its candidate for this prestigious position but withdrew the candidature when no other country entered the fray against Japan.

Addressing the conference after the results of the vote Mr Tourè told the 1,500 delegates from around the world that he would work with transparency, objectivity and vigour to realise the two main objectives that were central to his campaign, namely to eliminate the digital divide and to ensure that cyberspace would become more secure.

He expressed determination that the Millennium Development Goals endorsed by all the world's leaders, as well as the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) resolutions would form the ingredients to be assiduously pursued.

Mr Tourè holds a masters degree in electrical engineering from the Technical Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications of Leningrad and a doctorate from the University of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics of Moscow.

After six years as director of the Mali Posts and Telephones, he joined Intelsat as group director and regional director until he became the director general, Africa, of ICO Global Communications in 1996. He was elected director of the ITU's Telecommunications Development Bureau in 1998.

Mr Tourè is a familiar face in Malta as he had started his election campaign for this position here during the World Telecommunications Development Conference (WTDC) in 1998. Mr Tourè was instrumental in the establishment in Malta of the Maltacom College.

This had served as the ITU's node in Europe for distance learning. In his last official visit in Malta to tour the college, Mr Tourè held official meetings with a number of Cabinet ministers.

The next most important position of deputy secretary-general was filled by Houlino Zhao of China, after the first round of voting, securing 93 votes in the process. Spain and Turkey were the other contestants.

Thanking the members and in particular the People's Republic of China for placing their confidence in him, Mr Zhao remarked that the post of secretary-general holds a strategic importance in the Union.

He promised that he would do his best to assist the secretary-general and the three directors as well as the membership to make the ITU a more dynamic organisation that would contribute to the emerging global information society.

As the outgoing director of Standardisation he said he was confident that the Bureau will meet the future challenges of ICT standardisation this century.

The positions of the Standardisation Bureau director and that of the Telecommunications Development Bureau director presented a great challenge to all the contestants for these posts. Malcolm Johnson of the UK and Sami Al-Basheer of Saudi Arabia, respectively, were elected to these positions after a third round of voting.

Concurrently Valeri Timofeev of Russia was re-elected uncontested for a second term as director of the Radio Communications Bureau with an almost unanimous support from the Plenipotentiary after he had fully carried out all the programmes set four years ago, which included allocation of satellite frequencies and the organisation of major radio conferences.

Mr Timofeev has extensive professional experience in frequency management, spectrum planning and the design of satellite communications, television and radio broadcasting systems. He was Deputy Minister for Communications and Information of the Russian Federation.

Commenting just after the announcement of his election as Standardisation Director Mr Johnson said that "to win an election is an emotional moment, a life-changing event, I feel very humbled by the Plenipotentiary's confidence in me and I shall be determined to meet the expectations".

Mr Johnson is well known to many of the key players in the ITU with over 20 years of experience in the Union's activities. After obtaining a Master of Science Degree, he joined the UK government, which he represented in many other international organisations, including the International Maritime Organisation, Inmarsat and the European Space Agency.

After five years at the Telecommunication Regulation Division of the European Commission, he became director of the UK's Radiocommunication Agency in 1992 with lead responsibility for the UK in ITU and the European Conference for Posts and Telephones (CEPT).

In 2003, he joined the UK Office of Communications (OFCOM), where he was the International Co-ordinator with lead responsibility for the UK in the ITU and CEPT. He is credited as having initiated many reforms in the telecommunications standardisation sector to speed up the work and increase the role of the private sector.

Mr Johnson is a close associate of Anthony De Bono, particularly within the Commonwealth ITU Group as he served as chairman of the Group during Mr De Bono's four years as deputy and chairman of the CTO. Mr Johnson has a residence in Malta and is a frequent visitor.

The other new member of the team, Mr Al-Basheer, on being elected pledged to work as a team player to achieve the goals and objectives of the ITU. He said the challenge was great and the task heavy but was confident in his ability to serve the Union and all mankind.

Mr Al-Basheer delivered the closing speech during the 1998 WTDC in Malta. After earning a Master's degree in Economics and Political Science from San Jose State University, California, Mr Al-Basheer served as director of International Relations of the Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Post and Telecommunications.

He has been leading the Saudi Arabia delegation from 1983 and was responsible for policy and investment matters at the national, regional and international level with the onus of the liberalisation, reform and privatisation of the telecommunications sector of Saudi Arabia.

Mr Utsumi, who during his tenure visited Malta on three occasions, leaves behind him a more efficient and effective organisation, offering a wider portfolio of more relevant services that led to a 19 per cent increase in private sector membership and a private sector recommitment to the ITU's work.

His tenure was characterised by efficiency measures that led to savings in expenditure as well as the introduction of operational planning, results-based budgeting and time tracking across the organisation, resulting in a substantial overhaul of the organisation.

Along with cost recovery, these measures created new sources of revenue that led to a reduction in the contribution to be paid by members, despite growing demands and cost increases. From a strategic perspective, Mr Utsumi refocused ITU as a policy-oriented organisation by introducing new issues to ensure its continuing relevance with the successful organisation of the WSIS, which provides a common understanding and vision as well as a clear roadmap to build the information society by 2015.

He also strengthened the role of the ITU in the co-ordination of policy issues among member states. Through this process, the ITU has asserted its leading role in the broader domain of the information society

The Malta delegation at the Plenipotentiary Conference was led by Communications Minister Censu Galea and included Joe Vella, director of the Minister's office, Mr De Bono, general manager International Affairs of Maltacom, and officials from the Malta Communications Authority.

Commenting on the outcome of the ITU elections, Mr De Bono was quite positive since the Commonwealth lobby must have been very decisive in the final outcome. He has worked with all the elected officials for many years and this augured well for the future of Malta and Maltacom.

He was particularly excited to report that the main lobbyist for Saudi Arabia and a key campaigner for the UK, Jose Escudero, was the same canvasser who had conducted the initial part of Mr De Bono's campaign in 2002. Mr Escudero had formed part as an adviser of Maltese delegations attending ITU events on many an occasion.

In a comment to the press Minister Galea was optimistic that the new team at the ITU should be of great benefit for Malta as well as for the local industry primarily because of their familiarity with the rapid developments that have taken place in Malta in the field of the Information Communication Technologies, in close liaison with the ITU and more importantly because of their knowledge of the resourcefulness of our workforce.

The newly elected officials are expected to take up their positions in January of 2007.