The Kingdom Participates in the ITU Council Meetings

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by a delegation from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Communications and Information Technology Commission, headed by His Excellency the Commission's Governor Eng. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Darrab, is participating in the meetings of the ITU Council, held in the city of Geneva, during the period 6-15 May 2014. The Union is the entity specialized in communications and information technology within the United Nations, and is concerned with the global management of the frequency spectrum, the allocation of satellite orbits, and the preparation of international standards and recommendations related to aspects of communications and information technology, such as future networks, network security and its operational aspects, and quality of service.

The Council, whose membership includes 48 countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, out of 193 member states of the Union, discusses a number of issues, including the operational plans of the Union's three sectors: the Radiocommunication Sector, the Telecommunication Standardization Sector, and the Telecommunication Development Sector, as well as the Union's strategic and financial plan for the next four years (2016-2019), in preparation for submitting it for approval to the Plenipotentiary Conference, which is the Union's highest authority. The Council also addresses a number of topics such as cybersecurity, child protection online, in addition to discussing the importance of harnessing communications and information technology to serve people with special needs.

On the sidelines of the Council's work, and as part of its preparations to run again for membership of the ITU Council, the Kingdom held a reception for the Union's member states, attended by a number of ministers, permanent representative ambassadors to the United Nations in Geneva, a number of members of the diplomatic corps, in addition to heads of delegations to the Union's Council, including His Excellency the Union's Secretary-General Dr. Hamadoun Touré. Both His Excellency the Commission's Governor and His Excellency Ambassador Faisal bin Hassan Trad, the Kingdom's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, delivered speeches welcoming the attendees, highlighting the Kingdom's role in the Union's work through its historical journey spanning more than sixty years, and affirming the Kingdom's commitment to its responsibilities toward the Union, and its continued support for it to carry out its assigned role in setting international policies and standards for the communications and information technology sector. This was followed by a speech by His Excellency the Union's Secretary-General, in which he praised the Kingdom's prominent and continuous role in supporting the Union and the success of its work through its active participation in study groups and working groups, and its holding of a number of important positions in the Union's work.

It is worth noting that the current session of the ITU Council is the last Council meeting before the Plenipotentiary Conference scheduled to be held at the end of this year.