ICP-ANACOM holds institutional and technical co-operation to be an important aspect of its action. Such co-operation activity, whether bilateral or multilateral, has to a certain degree followed up on the policies and priorities set at government level, complementing them in the areas of ICP-ANACOM intervention.
In this context, the existence of bilateral collaboration protocols must be highlighted, signed by ICP-ANACOM and or the tutelary entity and the following bodies: the Transition Government in East Timor, the Federal Government of Brazil, the Government of Guinea-Bissau, the National Postal and Telecommunications Directorate of Angola, the Directorate General of Communications of Cape Verde and the National Communications Institute of Mozambique.
Activity pursued in 2002
Institutional co-operation
Noteworthy in 2002, in the context of institutional multilateral co-operation, was participation in the 6th Ministerial Meeting of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations from the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP), held in April in Cape Verde, at which the Assistant State Secretary of the Ministry of the Economy was also present. Also at CPLP level, ICP-ANACOM took part in the first International Workshop on Telecommunications, held in Luanda in July.
ICP-ANACOM likewise accompanied the General Assembly and Forum on ?Communications and Competition? of the Association of Postal and Telecommunications Operators from the Portuguese-speaking Countries and Territories (AICEP), held at the same time as the April CPLP Meeting in Cape Verde. Also in the AICEP context, ICP-ANACOM participated in the workshop on ?Quality and Security ? weapons of competitiveness? held in Cape Verde and in the 1st Meeting with the Postal Strategy Partners of São Tomé and Príncipe, both held in November 2002.
In the context of bilateral institutional co-operation, ICP-ANACOM met in October 2002 with a delegation from East Timor?s Ministry of Transports, Communications and Public Works, headed by the minister, with the aim of defining co-operation platforms for 2003 under terms of the ?Memorandum of Understanding in Matters of Co-operation between the Government of Portugal and the Transition Government in East Timor, in the Areas of Public works, Transports and Communications?.
The meeting of the Assistant State Secretary of the Minister of the Economy with Guinea-Bissau?s Minister of Infrastructure, held in December 2002 in Lisbon, was also accompanied.
Despite several contacts with the Brazilian telecommunications regulator Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (ANATEL) on specific issues, the usual half-yearly bilateral meetings were not held in 2002.
Technical co-operation
Technical co-operation was achieved by means of consultancy support provided at distance, and through training programmes held in Portugal and in field missions, thus aiming to carry out the bilateral co-operation protocols in effect with the respective authorities in the Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP ? Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa) and East Timor.
The actions undertaken in 2002 were based on the corresponding ICP-ANACOM co-operation plan, drawn up annually and supported in the solicitations from the regulatory bodies and/or administrations from those countries.
ICP-ANACOM organised seven training actions held in Portugal and involving 23 trainees from the Portuguese-speaking African countries and East Timor, and which focused on the following subjects: telecommunications engineering, spectrum engineering and numbering; sector regulation and public tenders; human resources, accounting and financial management, administration and finances, public attendance and documentation/archives; standardisation; radio spectrum oversight; and international relations and co-operation.
Parallel to these training actions, the donation of radio supervision equipment to the Guinea-Bissau Communications Institute (ICGB) was formalised; the participation of an ICGB official in an ITU internship was also supported.
Other actions
ICP-ANACOM hosted a technical visit from Brazil?s National Institute of Metrology, Standardisation and Industrial Quality (INMETRO), with the aim of trading experience on standardisation.
In the postal area, ICP-ANACOM received a delegation from PTT Serbia Communications, the public postal enterprise of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and a Russian delegation that included the Vice-Minister of Communications and Computers of the Russian Federation and the Director General of the International Postal Enterprise, in the context of visits to the CTT-Correios de Portugal (Portuguese postal service).
ICP-ANACOM also assured in 2002 the co-ordination and elaboration of replies to several horizontal requests, particularly those received via the Directorate General of International Economic Relations (DGREI) of the Ministry of the Economy and also the Office of European Affairs and External Relations (GAERE) of the Ministry of Social Equipment up to the date the 15th Constitutional Government took office. Such solicitations namely concerned the preparation of high level events, and especially bilateral or multilateral summits of heads of state. Such were the cases of the Luso-Spanish Summit, the Luso-Brazilian Summit, the Iberian-American Summit and the working meeting between the Assistant State Secretary of the Minister of Economy and her counterpart from the People?s Republic of China.
ICP-ANACOM also sponsored the initiatives of three private entities that supported the Portuguese-speaking countries in some way: the Father Antonio Vieira Youth Centre, an association based in East Timor involved in training programmes for East Timorese youth in the areas of new multimedia and information technologies, and the promotion of Internet content on East Timor; the Co-operation and Development Association (ACODE) based in Funchal (Madeira), which carries out solidarity actions in the Portuguese-speaking African countries; and the Social Action Group of the Catholic University, which promotes the GAS?África Project concerning humanitarian assistance to the Portuguese-speaking African countries.
