Regional Development Forum and Regional Preparatory Meeting for WTDC-17 for the CIS, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic

RDF Summary of discussions

Report by the Chairman

The Regional Preparatory Meeting for WTDC-17 for the Commonwealth of Independent States (RPM-CIS) took place in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic at Kyrgyz State Technical University named after Iskhak Razzakov (KSTU) from 9 to 11 November 2016, preceded by the Regional Development Forum for the CIS (RDF-CIS) on 8 November 2016. Both events were organized at the kind invitation of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Kyrgyz Republic.

In line with Resolution 31 (Rev. Hyderabad, 2010), the Regional Preparatory Meeting (RPM) aims at engaging the membership in the preparations of the World Telecommunication Development Conference 2017 (WTDC-17) in order to achieve regional coordination before the conference itself. It also seeks to identify issues at the regional level that need to be addressed to foster the development of telecommunications and ICTs, taking into account the most pressing needs faced by the Member States and Sector Members of the region.

Regional Development Forums provide an opportunity for high-level dialogue, cooperation and partnerships among telecommunication and ICT policy-makers, regulators, industry, academia, regional and international development agencies and organizations on specific regional telecommunication and ICT issues.    

The meeting assessed the ongoing implementations of the Dubai Action Plan, which was adopted at the 2014 World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-14) and identified priority areas for information and communication technology (ICT) development strategies in the CIS region. The RPM was the first of a series of regional preparatory meetings that will take place across the world to help identifiy priorities in each region in preparation for the next WTDC.

RPM adopted the report by the Chairman which includes the conclusion on the preliminary draft Strategic Plan, Action Plan and Declaration, the preliminary draft ITU-D Rules of Procedure and the way forward on the Streamlining WTDC resolutions and the following regional initiatives:

1. Development of e-health to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all, at all ages.
2. Use of telecommunications/ICT to ensure inclusive, equitable and quality and safe education, includinig the enhancement of women's knowledge of ICTs and e-government.
3. Development and regulation of infocommunication infrastructure to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe and resilient.
4. Monitoring of the ecological status and of the presence and rational use of natural resources.
5. Fostering innovative solutions and partnership for the implementation of Internet of Things technologies and their interaction in telecommunication networks, including 4G, IMT-2020 and next-generation networks, in the interests of sustainable development. 

Outcomes of RPMs will be consolidated at the inter-regional coordination meeting and discussed at TDAG 2017 in May. The outcomes of TDAG will be submitted to WTDC-17 as draft documents for consideration.