Subject:  ITU Regional Preparatory Meeting for the Asia-Pacific region (RPM-ASP) for the World Telecommunication
               Development Conference (WTDC) 2010

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have pleasure in inviting you to participate in the Regional Preparatory Meeting for the Asia-Pacific region (RPM-ASP) for the 2010 World Telecommunication Development Conference, to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 5 to 7 May 2009 at the kind invitation of the Government of Malaysia.

Regional Preparatory Meetings are organized in response to Resolution 31 (Rev. Doha, 2006) in a bid to achieve greater regional coordination and engage members in the WTDC process early on. They also seek to identify issues, at the regional level, that need to be addressed to foster the development of telecommunications and of information technologies, taking into account the expression of pressing needs facing the Member States and Sector Members of the region.

The RPM-ASP is expected to draw up recommendations on carefully selected top priority areas identified as essential for the ICT development of the countries of the region, within which Study Group Questions, programmes, projects and regional initiatives can be identified for consideration by WTDC‑10. To this end, to facilitate effective preparations by the members, a very focused RPM-ASP agenda based on the general framework provided by the preliminary draft WTDC-10 agenda has been prepared and is found in annex I.

In order to consolidate the various proposals submitted in a way that lends itself to the elaboration of a solid, cohesive and powerful package consisting of inter-related and mutually reinforcing components, a template has been developed and can be found at www.itu.int/itu-d/cds/contributions/cnt_rpm_meeting-en.asp. In addition to providing a common approach to submit proposals, the template will also provide a fast-track to the processing of the input documents by reducing the reformatting of the contributions. Contributions not submitted on this template may therefore result in delays in their processing and posting. The working documents will be posted on the ITU-D website as they become available at the same address.

To enable advance preparations by delegations and in light of the constraints derived from the schedule of all activities of the Development Sector, a deadline has been set for the submission of proposals and contributions on the items of the draft agenda to 1 May 2009 at the latest.

Practical information relating to the meeting will shortly be available on that website.

Registration will be made exclusively online at http://www.itu.int/itu-d/conferences/rpm/2009/asp/registration/index.html

Subject to the available financial resources and in order to encourage participation, one fellowship may be granted to each administration of least developed countries (LDCs). Fellowships may be requested by completing the appropriate section of the online registration form. Pre-registration with requests for fellowship must be submitted no later than 6 April 2009. Pre-registration without fellowship requests can be done until 20 April 2009.

The ITU regional and area offices will work closely with the members, including the regional telecommunication organizations, in order to facilitate the consolidation of proposals. They stand ready to assist you in order to achieve the expected output, based on priorities and requirements while taking into account restraints and limitations, in order to arrive at workable results. With this approach, members of the region are likely to derive greater benefits through the achievements of the very objectives they have set and priorities they have identified.

I very much look forward to your inputs to this process to ensure that the Action Plan to be prepared by WTDC-10 is an effective and viable tool to guide our work in the coming years to meet the needs of countries of the Asia-Pacific region based on the top priorities you will have set. 

[Original Signed]

Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid
Director

Distribution:

—     Administrations of ITU Member States of the Asia-Pacific region
—     ITU-D Sector Members of the Asia-Pacific region
—     United Nations
—     Regional telecommunication organizations
—     Intergovernmental organizations operating satellite systems
—     Specialized agencies of the United Nations
—     International Atomic Energy Agency