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ITU, SPC pledge closer cooperation to spur
Pacific region development
Ministerial Forum calls for ITU to establish a
Pacific regional presence
Geneva, 13 April 2011 —
ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré has signed an agreement with the
Director General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Dr Jimmie
Rodgers, which will strengthen and enhance cooperation between the two
organizations and facilitate ICT development programmes throughout the region.
The new Arrangements between the two parties
were agreed at the Pacific ICT Ministerial Forum, which was held at SPC
headquarters in Noumea, New Caledonia, on April 11.
It will see ITU and SPC collaborate more
actively across a range of areas, including: promoting ICT infrastructure
development across the region and local industry; ICT human capacity building;
cybersecurity; emergency communications; and new strategies to connect the
unconnected. The two organizations also agreed to conduct formal annual
consultations that include review of the progress made on implementation of the
Arrangements.
“Last year’s Ministers’ Meeting in Tonga
endorsed the ‘Framework for Action on ICT for Development in the Pacific’. Since
then, ITU – and our Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in particular – has
given priority to the pressing needs of Pacific island countries, particularly
in the areas of capacity building, ICT applications, emergency communications
and cybersecurity,” said Dr Touré. “Let’s ensure that we use meetings such as
this one to make the world a better place – for everyone, wherever they live and
whatever their circumstances.”
“SPC’s work cuts across many sectors and
governments in the Pacific, which makes it easier for ITU and other development
partners to collaborate with SPC to implement actions at the national level.
Entering into Arrangements with ITU is an important step for us to progress ICT
and telecommunication work in the region” said Dr Rodgers. “Individually we
might be able to do good things, but collaboratively we might achieve even
greater things.”
Jointly convened by ITU and SPC and
supported by the Government of Australia and the European Union, the Pacific ICT
Ministerial Forum was attended by ministers and senior officials from 15 Pacific
island countries and territories, as well as France.
A Special Ministerial Forum Communiqué
adopted by delegates recognizes the key role of ITU in ICT and telecommunication
development in the Pacific and, on behalf of Pacific Member States, requests ITU
to:
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Support cybersecurity and Child Online Protection initiatives in the
region, including continuing to support the operations of the
Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (PacCERT)
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Establish an ITU presence in the Pacific
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Continue to provide projects that focus on the identified needs of the
Pacific and organize more ITU events in the Pacific.
The Forum also welcomed Mr Francois Rancy,
the Director of ITU’s Radiocommunication Bureau. It was organized in conjunction
with the PITA 15th Annual General Meeting, the ITU/ANFR joint workshop for
spectrum management in the Pacific, and the ITU/EC workshop on international
mobile roaming.
The Forum
followed directly on from the Inaugural Regional Meeting of Ministers of Energy,
Information and Communication Technology and Transport (4-8 April), which was
the first-ever cross-sectoral ministers’ meeting convened by SPC.
About SPC
SPC
is a Pacific-based international intergovernmental organisation established by
treaty under the Canberra Agreement on 6 February 1947. It has 26 members
comprising 22 Pacific Island countries and territories and four metropolitan
members, Australia, France, New Zealand and the United States of America. The
SPC vision for the region is a secure and prosperous Pacific Community, whose
people are educated and healthy and manage their resources in an economically,
environmentally and socially sustainable way. The SPC mission is to help Pacific
Island people position themselves to respond effectively to the challenges they
face and make informed decisions about their future and the future they wish to
leave for the generations that follow. SPC’s headquarters are in Noumea, New
Caledonia. It also has regional offices in Suva, Fiji Islands, and Pohnpei,
Federated States of Micronesia, and country offices in Papua New Guinea, Solomon
Islands and Vanuatu.
For more information, please contact:
Sarah Parkes,
Chief, Media Relations and Public Information,
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Wisit Atipayakoon,
Telecom/ICT Specialist
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