Geneva hosted last 17-27 April a meeting of the Council of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the body responsible for managing the organisation during the periods between Plenipotentiary Conferences (PPs).
This Council session chaired by Rashid Ismailov of Russia was attended by 48 member states with seats on the Council as well as various other member states as observers (among them Portugal).
This session was marked by preparations for the 2018 Plenipotentiary Conference, which will be held from 29 October to 16 November 2018 in Dubai. The following stand out among the matters considered:
- approval of the final reports from various Council working groups and from the expert working group on the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs);
- creation of a regional office in Moscow and respective organisational structure;
- mandate of the group that will proceed to revise ITU Council Decision 482 on application of the concept of recovery of inherent costs of notifications concerning satellite networks;
- discussion of diverse aspects concerning the preparation of PP-18.
The 2018 Council session was also marked by various parallel meetings to prepare for the PP. A highlight was the one held o 24 April, which gathered the leaders of all the regional organisations; Portugal participated as chair of Com-ITU. At that meeting several operational aspects of the upcoming PP were made clear; priority topics for debate at PP-18 were also identified.
The European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) also met on the sidelines of the ITU Council, with Portugal informing the European partners of the end of its mandate as chair of Com-ITU.
