BTK represented our country at the first ITU Council Meeting of the 2019-2022 period.
Our country, which is among the founding members of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for telecommunications and the information society, participated in this year's meeting of the ITU Council, which serves as the Union's most important decision-making body between its two ordinary Plenipotentiary Conferences (PP). The meeting was held in Geneva from June 10-20, 2019.
In the Council, consisting of 48 members corresponding to 25% of ITU member countries and determined by elections at the last Plenipotentiary Conference PP-18 held in Dubai from October 29 to November 16, 2018, our country is among the 8 members representing Region B (Western Europe). Turkey, first elected as a member at PP-02 in Marrakech in 2002, has been carrying out this important duty for five consecutive terms.
Represented by a delegation headed by our Institution's President Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, at the 2019 ordinary ITU Council meeting—the first meeting of the 2019-2022 period Council determined at PP-18—the Union's 2020-2021 budget was discussed and approved. In addition, the relevant Council Resolutions were reviewed.
At the meeting where the necessary works regarding the tasks assigned to the Council by PP-18 were decided, reports prepared by the General Secretariat on these matters were examined, and the working procedures and managements of the Council working groups were determined.
Additionally, at the meeting, the ITU's 2020-2022 meeting calendar was determined. Accordingly, it was decided that the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly—WTSA-20—would be held in Hyderabad, India, from November 16-27, 2020; the World Telecommunication Development Conference—WTDC-21—in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, from November 8-19, 2021; and the next Plenipotentiary Conference PP-22 in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, from September 26 to November 14, 2022.
Intense discussions took place among delegates on some issues addressed at the meeting. Among these, the status of the project for the renewal of the Union's premises and the related works were discussed at length. In this regard, an additional Council meeting was scheduled for September 27, 2019, to evaluate subsequent steps. Furthermore, agenda items such as the theme of the World Telecommunication Policy Forum—WTPF—to be held in 2021, the issue to be addressed in the public consultation by the Internet Council Working Group—CWG-INT—, the working procedures of the ITR Experts Group tasked by PP-18 to be established by the Council, and the method for including SMEs in ITU activities were also discussed.
At the meeting, Information Technologies and Communication Authority President Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu and our delegation presented our country's contributions regarding the issues and discussions addressed in the Council, and meetings were held with ITU management and officials from various countries.
The 2019 ITU Council meeting concluded on June 20, 2019. The next ordinary Council meeting will take place in Geneva from June 9-19, 2020.