[WSIS CS-Plenary] Mali's Hamadoun Toure, new Secretary-General of the ITU

Tue Nov 14 11:04:48 GMT 2006

Thanks Francis for all th feeds that you have been providing this
forum news wise. This denotes the inclusive vision that you have all
the forumers here in.
Congratulations to Mr Hamadoun Touré.
As for the Chinese, one should not forget their Cat strategy which
comprises of letting out its claws whe,n it is certain to catch its
prey. You must have noticed like I do that the Chinese have not missed
any of their recent preys.
The message from the Chinese therefore is: retreat, empower yourself,
set your objectives and go for them. You can be unstopable.
This is why I have to tell the Americans to watch out for China.

Nyangkwe

On 11/13/06, Dr. Francis MUGUET <muguet at mdpi.org> wrote:
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> _______________________________________
>
> Dear friends
>
> ( un msg en français suit )
>
> Since this excellent piece of news has not been seemingly posted
> on the plenary list.
> Congratulatiions to first African Secretary-General of the ITU,
> who, coincidence or fate, belongs to the same country
> as Adama Samassékou to whom WSIS Civil Society owes so much.
>
> ---------------------
> http://allafrica.com/stories/200611130952.html
>
> An African, Mali's Hamadoun Toure, Friday became the new
> Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
> after polling 95 votes over Germany's Mr. Mathias Kurth, who got 60
> votes for the exalted position.
>
> Member states of the ITU elected Mr Touré of Mali as Secretary-General
> for a four-year term. The election took place in Antalya, Turkey during
> the 17th ITU Plenipotentiary Conference. Mr Touré won the position with
> 95 votes with 155 countries present and voting, and thus the required
> majority for election was 78 votes.
>
> The majority emerged in the third round of voting, with Mr Mathias Kurth
> of Germany receiving 60 votes.
>
> The election showed the deft diplomacy of Toure who had come to the ITU
> conference last year in Abuja with one message from the Malian
> government: "To support the country to run for the highest position at
> the ITU." Every country-delegate present pledged to support Mali, and by
> implication, Toure. But that development effectively killed the spirit
> of every person who would have been eyeing that position and vouchsafed
> it for Toure. Last weekend, he triumphed.
>
> Addressing the Conference after the results of the vote, Mr Touré told
> the 1500 delegates from around the world that he would work with
> transparency, objectivity and vigour to realize the two main objectives
> that were central to his campaign: to eliminate the digital divide and
> to ensure that cyberspace would become more secure. He said, "The
> Millennium Development Goals that were endorsed by all the world's
> leaders as well as the WSIS resolutions are the ingredients we need to
> get down to work."
>
> Mr Hamadoun Touré holds a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from
> the Technical Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications of
> Leningrad and Doctor of Philosophy Degree (PhD) from the University of
> Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics of Moscow. After six
> years at the Office des Postes et Télécommunications du Mali (OPT) Mali,
> he joined Intelsat as Group Director & Regional Director in 1985 until
> he became Director-General, Africa, of ICO Global Communications in
> 1996. Elected Director of ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau in
> 1998, he was elected for a second term in 2002.
>
> In the election, Houlin Zhao of China was elected Deputy
> Secretary-General in the first round with 93 votes. Carlos SÃ¡nchez of
> Spain obtained 34 votes while T. Ayhan Beydoan of Turkey received 28.
> John Ray Kwabena Tandoh of Ghana had announced the withdrawal of his
> candidature prior to the start of the election.
>
> Thanking the members and, in particular, the People's Republic of China,
> for placing their confidence in him, Houlin Zhao remarked that the post
> of Deputy Secretary-General holds a strategic importance in the Union.
> He said that he would do his best to assist the Secretary-General elect
> and the three Directors as well as the membership to make ITU a more
> dynamic organization that would contribute to the emerging global
> Information Society. As outgoing Director of TSB, he said he was
> confident that "ITU-T will meet the future challenges of ICT
> standardization this century."
>
> Graduated from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China
> in 1975, Mr Zhao received a Master degree of Science in telematics,
> University of Essex (United Kingdom) in 1985. From 1975 to 1986, he held
> various engineering positions at Ministry of Posts and
> Telecommunications, China. In 1986, he joined ITU as a staff member of
> the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) until his election as
> Director of the TSB in 1998. He was re-elected in his position at the
> 2002 Marrakesh Plenipotentiary Conference.
>
> Outgoing Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi leaves behind him a more
> efficient and effective organization, offering a wider portfolio of more
> relevant services that led to a 19 per cent increase in private sector
> membership and a recommitment of the private sector to the work of ITU.
> His tenure was characterized by efficiency measures that led to savings
> equivalent to CHF 75 million out of a total budget of CHF 335 million on
> average per biennium as well as the introduction of operational
> planning, results-based budgeting and time-tracking across the
> organization, resulting in a substantial overhaul of the organization.
> Along with cost recovery, these measures created new sources of revenue
> that led to a reduction in the contributions to be paid by members,
> despite growing demands and cost increases.
>
>  From a strategic perspective, Mr Utsumi successfully refocused ITU as a
> policy-oriented organization by introducing new issues to ensure its
> continuing relevance, with the successful organization of the World
> Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) which provides a common
> understanding and vision as well as a clear roadmap to building the
> Information Society by 2015. He also strengthened the role of ITU in the
> coordination of policy issues among Member States. Through this process,
> ITU has asserted its leading role in the broader domain of the
> Information Society.
>
>
>
> --
>
> ------------------------------------------------------
> Francis F. MUGUET Ph.D
>
> MDPI Foundation Open Access Journals
> Associate Publisher
> http://www.mdpi.org   http://www.mdpi.net
> muguet at mdpi.org       muguet at mdpi.net
>
> ENSTA   Paris, France
> KNIS lab.  Director
> "Knowledge Networks & Information Society" (KNIS)
> muguet at ensta.fr   http://www.ensta.fr/~muguet
>
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-- 
Aaron Agien Nyangkwe
Journalist/Outcome Mapper
Special Assistant To The President
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