RDF Summary of discussions
Report by the Chairman
The Regional Preparatory Meeting for WTDC-17 for the Arab States (RPM-ARB) took place in Khartoum, Sudan from 30 January 2017 to 1 February 2017, preceded by the
Regional Development Forum for the Arab States (RDF-ARB) on 29 January 2017. Both events were organized
at the kind invitation of the National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC)
of Sudan.
In line with Resolution 31 (Rev. Hyderabad, 2010), the Regional Preparatory
Meeting (RPM) aims at engaging the membership in the preparations of the
World Telecommunication Development Conference 2017 (WTDC-17) in order to
achieve regional coordination before the conference itself. It also seeks
to identify issues at the regional level that need to be addressed to
foster the development of telecommunications and ICTs, taking into account
the most pressing needs faced by the Member States and Sector Members of
the region.
Regional Development Forums provide an opportunity for high-level dialogue,
cooperation and partnerships among telecommunication and ICT policy-makers,
regulators, industry, academia, regional and international development
agencies and organizations on specific regional telecommunication and ICT
issues.
The RPM was attended by 195 participants representing 19 Member States and 1 Observer according
to Resolution 99, 10 ITU-D Sector members, 6 international organizations and 1 ITU-D
Sector Member from other region.
RPM-ARB agreed the five draft ARB Regional Initiatives:
-
Environment, Climate Change and Emergency Telecommunications
- Confidence and Security in the Use of ICTs
- Digital Financial Inclusion
- Internet of Things, Smart Cities and Big Data
- Innovation and Entrepreneurship
RPM-ARB welcomed the preliminary draft ITU-D contribution to the
ITU Strategic Plan for 2020-2023, the preliminary draft ITU-D
Action Plan 2018-2021 (including Study Group Questions) and the
preliminary draft WTDC-17 Declaration recognizing ITU-D's
contribution to implementation of the WSIS outcomes and 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development. On the basis of the three related
contributions presented, it was agreed to continue further
improvement of these documents at the Arab WTDC-17 Preparatory
Group.
RPM-ARB took note of the work of TDAG and its various
correspondence groups.
It also examined the proposals for the revision by WTDC-17 of 17
resolutions (Resolutions 1, 2, 9, 11, 17, 20, 21, 23, 34, 37, 43,
47, 62, 66, 69, 77, and 79) and one proposal for a new Resolution
on "Combating Mobile Telecommunication Device Theft".
Besides Syria which submitted a contribution on special assistance,
Libya and Yemen informed RPM-ARB that they intend to submit
contributions for new resolutions pertaining to this topic. In
addition, Iraq and Palestine indicated that they would also submit
a contribution to revise Resolutions 51 and 18, respectively.
Regarding streamlining resolutions, the participants took note of
the available guidelines which it is proposed to use in the future
work of the Arab WTDC-17 Preparatory Group on this matter.
Outcomes of RPMs will be consolidated at the inter-regional coordination
meeting and discussed at TDAG 2017 in May. The outcomes of TDAG will be
submitted to WTDC-17 as draft documents for consideration.
