The fourth World Telecommunication Policy Forum (WTPF-09) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has ended in Lisbon in consensus. This high-level international event, held from 22 to 24 April, brought together around 880 participants representing Members of the ITU, governments, industry, worldwide regulators and non-governmental organizations to discuss the future of information and communication technologies (ICT).
The Lisbon Consensus is based on the six opinions - the main outcome of the Forum - adopted at WTPF-09:
- Opinion 1 on Internet-related public policy matters;
- Opinion 2 on the implications of the advent of NGNs and advanced broadband access;
- Opinion 3 on ICT and the environment;
- Opinion 4 on strategies for creating confidence and security in the use of ICTs;
- Opinion 5 on capacity building in support of the adoption of IPV6;
- Opinion 6 on international telecommunication regulations.
The Forum agreed that the ITU should continue to play the role of facilitator in the coordination of matters pertaining to public Internet policies, the study of Internet resources, in the international interconnection of the network and in the development of a multilingual Internet. Participants in WTPF-09 also felt that the convergence and the universal access to broadband associated with NGN are complex initiatives which require a global approach.
Recognizing the role of public policies in the promotion and development of secure and accessible NGN infrastructure, Member States have been asked to consider establishing suitable regulation which encourages competition, based on open and shared access models. The members of the ITU Sectors were also encouraged to take account of ambitious plans for effective use of broadband access and NGN, whereby the industry was considered as ''intelligent intermediaries'' in the development of interoperable NGN infrastructure.
In In the closing ceremony of WTPF-09, which saw the presence and participation of the Prime Minister, José Sócrates, two new ITU initiatives in partnership with the Portuguese Government were announced: an annual prize to promote the development of a mobile information society in the areas of m-learning, m-government and m-development and an international e-schools project, in the context of the ITU initiative ''Connect The World'', which includes the distribution of portable computers to children in developing countries.
In addition, WTPF-09 was marked by the presence of the winners of the video competition directed at young people and organized by the ITU on the theme ''The Future of ICT''. Zhassoulan Bayekeyev (Kazakhstan), Carlos Andrés Gomez Ruiz (Colombia), Samuel Hector Morgan (Jamaica), Eunice Lionnelle Sana-Aniamnossou (Benin) and William Benjamin Towne (USA) all attended the event, except for the latter, and each received a Magalhães computer.
The WTPF-09 was presided over by Paulo Campos, Portuguese Secretary of State Assistant and for Public Works and Communications, with vice chairs taken by DK Agrawal (India), R. Beaird (United States), L.O. Gondjout (Gabon), W. Jensen (Norway), N. Kisrawi (Syria) and N. Marder (Russia), all elected on the first day in plenary session.
Please see:
4º Fórum Mundial de Políticas de Telecomunicações (WTPF-09) - 2009https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=813978
Further information:
- WTPF 2009 - Photolibrary http://www.itu.int/newsroom/wtpf/2009/plib/
- ITU - Youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/itutelecommunication
