The 19th Meeting of TDAG was held from 29 September to 1 October 2014 at the ITU Headquarters in Geneva, with the participation of more than 100 delegates from the ITU Member States, ITU-D Sector Members and other international organizations. It was the last ITU/BDT meeting before the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference which will be held in Busan (Republic of Korea) from 20 October to 7 November 2014.
The meeting of TDAG addressed the outcomes of the recently held World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-14) and their implications on the work of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D). TDAG also reviewed the main components of the Dubai Action Plan with a view to providing a strategic input for its effective implementation in the next 4 years. A special focus was placed on the results based management, the new ecosystem and the strengthening of ITU/BDT regional presence. It was reiterated that in order to achieve a greater impact BDT must continue to strengthen its regional presence by ensuring that the Headquarters provide the necessary guidance and support to help expand the outreach of regional offices and their work in the field. In this context, it was announced that ITU launched a feature story series, called “ITU-D projects: stories from the field”. All ITU-D Members are invited to check the ITU-D projects website every month.
On behalf of ICPE the Meeting was attended by Mr. Nenad Stankovic, ICPE Representative in Vienna. Mr. Stankovic also paid official visits to ITU (International Telecommunication Union) and UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development).
During his visit to ITU, Mr. Stankovic met Mr. Malcolm Johnson, Director of ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau and candidate for the post of Deputy Secretary-General of ITU, Mr. Brahima Sanou, Director of ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau, Mr. Bilel Jamoussi, Chief of the Study Groups Department of the TSB and candidate for the post of Director of ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, Ms. Eun-Ju Kim, Chief of the Innovation and Partnership Department of the BDT, Mr. Cosmas Zavazava, Chief of Department for Project Support and Knowledge Management of BDT and Mr. Jaroslaw Ponder, Coordinator for Europe Region. During the talks with the ITU officials Mr. Stankovic presented the ICPE Programs/activities and projects. He underlined that ICPE as a ITU-D Sector Member is interested in the cooperation with all ITU Sectors which could be achieved in different technical-economic fields, including through different kind of trainings, knowledge management, transfer of technology and human capacity building. After active and very successful discussions the ITU officials expressed their interest for co-operation with ICPE. Some concrete activities and modalities for co-operation will be discussed after the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan.
During his visit to UNCTAD, Mr. Stankovic met Mr. Guillermo Valles, Director of Division on Internal Trade in Goods and Services and Commodities, Mr. Ralf Peters, Chief of the Trade Information Section of the Trade Analysis Branch and Mr. Santiago Fernandez de Cordoba, Economic Affairs Officer in the Trade Analysis Branch. During the very efficient and fruitful meetings the preparations of forthcoming special Non-Tariff Measures Workshop, which is to take place on 8 to 9 October 2014 at the ICPE Headquarters in Ljubljana, Slovenia, have been discussed. The satisfaction with the ongoing preparations has been expressed together with the readiness that the workshop should be followed by other activities related to the NTMs as a very important issue and “hot topic” for both the ICPE and UNCTAD Member States.