India re-elected to ITU council; Garg elected to Radio Regulations Board

India re-elected to ITU council; Garg elected to Radio Regulations Board

telecom

MUMBAI: India has been re-elected to serve on the Council of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) during the elections held today at the 17 International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference.

The Plenipotentiary conference is the supreme organ of the ITU, which comprises of 191 member countries. 161 Countries have participated in the voting today. India secured 113 votes at this election. It may be recalled that India has been regularly serving on the ITU Council since 1952, according to an official release.

This conference is the top policy-making body of the ITU held once in every four years. The Conference sets the Union's general policies, adopts four-year strategic and financial plans and elects the senior management team of the organization, the members of council and the members of the Radio Regulations Board.

The telecommunications department secretary D S Mathur is leading the delegation from India for participation in the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) which is being held from 6 November to 24 November 2006 in Antalya, Turkey.

India has been participating in the Council and other bodies of ITU effectively to ensure that the ITU policies and their implementation serve the national interest along with the overall interests of developing countries.

Meanwhil, P K Garg wireless adviser to the government of India telecommunications department has been elected to the Radio Regulations Board (RRB) during the elections held today at the 17 International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference, from the Asia and Australasia region.

According to the release, Garg secured 103 votes. The other members elected from Asia Region are from Pakistan and Malaysia.

The Radio Regulations Board of the ITU is a part time body comprising 12 elected part time members representing the world’s five regions (Americas, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia). The Board has 3 members from the Asia and Australasia region.

It may be recalled that at the conference, India had also been earlier elected as chairman of the important Working Group of the Plenary dealing mainly with the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) issues, implementation of the Geneva (Phase 1) and of the Tunis (Phase 2) Action Plans of WSIS.