The Arab Working Group first Preparatory Meeting for the ITU’s World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), headed by the UAE represented by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), concluded its activities. The meeting was organized by the ICT Development Department - General Secretariat of the League of the Arab States, from 25 - 27 August 2020. The meeting discussed the topics and priorities of the region, including the strategic plan for the development sector, the final statement, and the various decisions and recommendations.
All other regions, the Asia-Pacific Group, the African Group, the American Group, the European Group, and the Commonwealth of Independent States have participated in the virtual meeting. The meeting aimed to identify the views and proposals of other regional groups and their preparations for WTDC, in addition to introducing the Arab proposals to the other regional groups.
Over the course of three days, the participants discussed the proposals of Arab countries on participation in WTDC, including the Arab interests, enhancing effective participation in the team’s meetings and submitting contributions and proposals. The meeting’s agenda also included proposals submitted by other countries, defining the Arab position in this regards, effective coordination with other regional groups, and Arab countries' support for various positions in the development sector, whether presidential positions or chairing study committees and coordination between various Arab countries regarding various positions.
In his opening speech, H.E. Eng. Majed Al Mesmar, TRA Deputy Director General for the Telecommunication Sector and head of the UAE delegation, addressed the leadership and people of Lebanon with the deepest expressions of condolences and sympathy for the victims of Beirut explosion, expressing the full support of the UAE and all Arab countries to Lebanon at this difficult time. He added: “Arab countries played a major role in establishing and supporting the Telecommunication Development Sector. Since its establishment in 1989, Arab countries have obtained the position of director of the development sector twice, and the Arab region hosted the WTDC in 2006 in Doha and 2014 in Dubai. The Arab group had an effective role in various conferences and meetings in the development sector, and I am pleased to see many young faces in the various meetings of development sector, specifically in the development sector studies.”
H.E. Al Mesmar added: “The conference agenda is full of many topics that interest the Arab region, most notably the decisions related to supporting Arab countries, Arab regional initiatives, and other decisions such as cybersecurity, statistics, bridging the standardization and digital gaps, building and developing capabilities, especially empowering youth of both genders, emerging modern technologies, and communication in situations of emergencies and disasters and other important topics. The previous preparatory meetings of the Arab Group constituted distinct model for joint Arab action, where we were united, worked as a team and achieved significant gains, which had major impact on strengthening the Arab voice and influence in the ITU and the ICT sector at the global level.”
The meeting's agenda included a review of the report and recommendations related to the participation of the Arab Group in WTDC-17, and the mechanism and methodology of the Group work. The meeting also discussed the developments of WTDC-21, and reviewed the most prominent outcomes of the meeting of Telecommunication Development Advisory Group and the Study Groups of the Development Sector.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) organizes the WTDC through the Telecommunication Development Bureau to address topics, projects and programs related to the telecommunications development. This conference seeks to define strategies and goals for the ICT development, and provides guidance and advisory to the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector regarding future work. The government of Ethiopia will host the WTDC-21 in Addis Ababa from 8 - 19 November 2021.