The ITU 2017 Regional Radiocommunication Seminar for Arab Countries was jointly organized by the Arab Spectrum Management Group (ASMG) with the kind invitation of Oman Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), from 10-14 December 2017 in Muscat, Oman.

The seminar gathered more than 150 industry experts and stakeholders, including ITU Member States and Sector Members, regulators and representatives of the telecommunication industry, operators, associations and academia from 15 countries in the Arab region.

Participants convened to discuss spectrum management at the national and international levels, monitoring, national regulatory plans and regulatory and market aspects of spectrum management. The seminar ended with a renewed commitment to collaboration and capacity-building programmes among all stakeholders.

The seminar included a forum on the "World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) Agenda: challenges and opportunities for Arab Countries" in order to prepare the future key spectrum management decisions in view of the next WRC-19. The forum attracted participations from a wide range of the radiocommunication stakeholders in the region.

"The ITU Regional Radiocommunication Seminar in Muscat marks an important step in preparing key future spectrum management decisions in the Arab region in preparation for WRC-19," said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao, referring to the next quadrennial World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) to be held from 28 October to 22 November 2019.

In his opening statement, His Excellency Dr. Hamed Salim Al Rawahi, TRA Oman Chief Executive, said, "I am glad that this seminar will foster cooperation, coordination and sharing of experiences among the countries of the Arab Region to enable the development of future radiocommunications."

"RRS-17 for Arab countries significantly contributes to the dissemination of information and capacity-building in the Arab region and will assist in the development of regional positions and contributions towards WRC-19," said François Rancy, Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau.

An introductory session of Network of Women for WRC-19  was held during this seminar. The subject was to present the Network of Women for WRC-19 (NOW4WRC19) to encourage gender balance in decision-making bodies, panels, statutory committees and study groups at ITU-R events.

For further information, please visit the seminar's webpage.