There are 54 days left until 2,000 officials from 191 countries come to Bucharest for 3 weeks at the Parliament Palace to elect the new leadership of the ITU, the UN agency that sets global rules for telecommunications. . The city hall should organize some activities to promote the economy, culture and tourism of Bucharest, but it has no money, so the government will intervene.

On the agenda of the meeting on Wednesday, the executive authority has the decision to allocate 820,000 lei from the budgetary reserve fund to the Bucharest City Hall for the purchase and expenses necessary for the organization of this event.

Why does Bucharest City Hall need money from the Reserve Fund?

• “(…) Bucharest City Hall is also entrusted with a number of tasks regarding the organization of specific events that require economic, cultural and tourist activities that create the prerequisites for positioning the capital as a place suitable for a business environment. and no more.
• The fulfillment of all these tasks also requires the implementation of public procurement procedures, which must be carried out as soon as possible, taking into account the complexity of the responsibilities and obligations assumed by the Romanian state and the local authorities involved in this process, by areas of responsibility. (…)
• Taking into account the fact that the municipality of Bucharest does not have the necessary funds to fulfill the presented goals (..), through a draft regulation it is proposed to allocate an amount of 829 thousand lei from the budget reserve fund at the disposal of the Government, provided for in the state budget for 2022 for the municipality Bucharest”, shown in the explanatory note.

Unprecedented autumn situation in Bucharest: Russia and the US are at loggerheads over the leadership of the ITU, the UN agency that sets rules in telecommunications

This autumn, 2,000 officials from 191 countries will come to Bucharest for 3 weeks, at the Parliament Palace, to elect the new leadership of the ITU, the UN agency that sets rules on a global level in the field of telecommunications. China’s Houlin Zhao’s term at the head of the ITU is coming to an end again the main candidates are from the Russian Federation and the USA.

The 21st Conference of Plenipotentiaries of the International Telecommunication Union will be held from September 26 to October 14, 2022 in the Palace of the Parliament – Bucharest.

The Conference of Plenipotentiary Representatives is the highest body of the Union and must adopt the general policy of the ITU, strategic and financial plans of the organization and elect its leadership (the Council of the ITU – representative of the Conference of Plenipotentiary Representatives, Secretary General, Deputy Secretary General, Director of the Radio Communications Bureau, Director of the Bureau of Standardization, Director Development Bureau and members of the Radio Regulatory Council).

The conference decides the future of the organization as a whole, the ability to influence specific directions related to the field of IT&C, such as the convergence of technologies, the development of the Internet and universal service, is convened once every four years.

Who are the two candidates from the USA and Russia for the head of the ITU

The current Secretary General of the ITU is Houlin Zhao (China), who was re-elected for a second term in November 2018.

Elections will now be held in Bucharest, between September 26 and October 14, 2022, and the main candidates are the American – Doreen Bohdan Martin and the Russian – Rashid Ismailov.

• Doreen Bohdan Martin he has over 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, with the last 3 years as Director of Development at ITU. Check out his resume and priorities here.
• Rashid Ismailov Currently, he is the president of PJSC VimpelCom, and in the past he was the general director of Nokia Russia, held management positions at Huawei technology and Ericsson, responsible for the territory of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He was also the Deputy Minister of Communications of the Russian Federation. Check out his resume and priorities here.

List of all candidates to be elected to leadership positions in ITU at the conference in Bucharest: HERE.