ITU Council 2023
State of the Union Address
Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Mr. Chairman, Excellencies, Councilors, fellow Elected Officials, Delegates,
Good morning.
It's a great honour for me to address you, and to open this year's Council for the first time as ITU Secretary-General.
I would like to start by welcoming returning Council Members and a special warm welcome to our new Council Members.
Colleagues, these are no ordinary times.
Technology is moving fast.
The AI for Good Summit that we just convened last week offers a clear picture of that.
There we were, interacting with robots, and you'll meet some of them today.
Robots that look like us, that talk like us — robots that actually gave us their thoughts on becoming more efficient leaders.
We saw how amazing uses of AI in areas like agriculture, climate, health education could greatly benefit if “AI reaches its full potential," as the UN SG mentioned in his opening to the AI for Good Summit.
While I was at the Summit, I could not stop thinking of the mission I had conducted just days prior to Ethiopia with the Deputy High Commissioner of UNHCR.
That Mission that took me to the Melkadida refugee camp that borders Somalia, home to some 200,000 refugees and some 600,000 persons in the hosting community.
Talking to them directly about their hopes, their desires — and they have many — and understanding their struggle to access electricity, water, sanitation and use life-changing technologies will stay with me forever.
It was a stark contrast with the cutting-edge tech on display at AI for Good's Summit.
I think it's a tale of two worlds.
Ensuring digital technologies reach their full potential and bringing their benefits to all 8 billion people on Earth — I think that's why we're all here today.
As technologies like AI make their way into our classrooms, fields, hospitals, factories, and even outer space, millions and millions are struggling to keep up, especially in the Global South.
So here we are.
Extreme poverty and hunger are on the rise.
The world just had the hottest June on record.
2.7 billion people are still offline worldwide.
And only about 15% of the SDG targets are on track.
Yesterday, the UN Secretary-General launched the Special Edition report on the progress towards the SDGs.
In it, he said that the SDGs are disappearing.
He said they're disappearing in the rear-view mirror — and that our collective promise to leave no one behind is in peril.
Ladies and gentlemen, as the world looks for solutions, digital is taking center stage.
It's at the top of the agenda of every country I've met since taking office.
It's been central to landmark events, such as the LDC5 Conference, the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, and this year's Transform Africa Summit in Victoria Falls, where we gathered thousands of aspiring girls to celebrate Girls in ICT Day.
Digital was at the heart of the G7 meetings.
As well at the G20, where ITU is active on the digital track and for the 1st time in the development and the space tracks.
And the BR Director is just returning from the G20 Space Economy Leaders' Meeting in Bengaluru just last week — it's good to have you back, Mario.
Councilors, as digital technology races ahead, I think we're facing some of the greatest questions of our time.
Will digital help rescue the SDGs as we just heard from the UN DSG?
Will we meet the deadline to have zero unconnected by 2030?
Who is the digital revolution really for?
And will its benefits outweigh the downsides?
ITU needs to take on these challenges.
Because you, our Member States, you set two clear goals in our new strategic plan adopted at PP-22: universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation.
Not only are these goals essential to the world's future, they're bringing us together.
I speak on behalf of the entire ITU leadership team — Tomas, Mario, Seizo and Cosmas — when I say that we are fully committed to these goals and we are taking steps to that effect.
Our objective has been to move from strategy to action building on an in- depth visioning exercise.
Now, 200 days — it's been 200 days into our tenure we have laid out the key elements of a 'Transformation Roadmap' that outlines a path to building an ITU that exceeds expectations today, while becoming agile enough to also tackle tomorrow's new challenges.
That's what it means to be fit-for-purpose and that's what it means to be fit for the future.
Delegates,
At yesterday's retreat — which was a first, and I thank you for your engagement — we talked openly where we are today, where we want to be tomorrow looking forward to 2030, and we looked at the most urgent challenges faced by the Union.
And let me say I'm so grateful for your candor during those conversations, and I ask you for your continued engagement going forward.
One of these challenges is ITU's financial situation and strengthening our financial base.
We took good note of the issues raised in the external auditors' report.
We recognize that we need to take action to address a number of operational reforms.
We've laid them out in the forward-looking roadmap that I think paves the way for enhanced financial management and decision-making, efficiency, and transparency, skilled, accountable, and client-oriented staff, and for strengthened internal systems, controls, and oversight.
We are making our best efforts to move forward on all fronts, including bringing you a more results-based budget.
Another challenge of course is ITU's headquarters project.
And together with this Council, we are determined to find a workable solution, including the possibility of reevaluating the scope — to ensure that we get the best value for money.
In this effort, let's be guided by our shared aspiration for delegates and for staff to thrive in an agile, future-ready working environment and working conditions.
Internally, we've put the focus on collaboration, on communications, on service delivery starting with an empowered, agile, and capable staff.
Which of course is our main resource, the ITU staff is a core part of our transformation journey.
And that's why we launched the Change Makers programme. We had more than 100 applicants — we could only take 60 — from across ITU, and they are already working on 10 change cases linked to our roadmap.
And I'm really happy that they've volunteered — I encouraged them to volunteer — and you're going to hear from some of them this week.
We've also made improvements to our working culture.
Examples to highlight include an updated teleworking policy and a new parental leave framework.
We've improved internal communications through regular townhall gatherings, through newsletter updates, and exchanges with the ITU Staff Council.
We've also launched a series of learning labs: training for ITU staff on emerging tech issues.
We're also looking to advance diversity across the ITU.
We have an unprecedented focus on youth which I think is crucial for ITU to become the employer of choice.
We launched our first Young Professionals Programme.
I want to thank Japan in particular for stepping up, for supporting this programme and for really showing the way.
We are also strengthening our Junior Professional Officer programme. I invite you to join us in that endeavor.
And we're promoting gender parity at all levels.
We've put intersectoral coordination as a top priority — and we have started to include the Regional Directors in our Management Coordination Groups.
We implemented a Voluntary Separation Programme that will support ITU's long-term financial viability, and it will help us to better reinvest resources.
Overall, the comprehensive Roadmap we have put forward to this Council sets the foundation. It sets the foundation for an ITU that is renowned for its excellence, its expertise, and its efficiency.
But most of all for you, our Members: so that we can deliver the quality services that you've asked for.
Externally, ladies and gentlemen, we are laser-focused on engaging more closely with our Member States, with Sector Members, with Academia, and with Associates.
We're doing this by listening, by nurturing partnerships, by mobilizing resources so that we can serve you better, including through a new ITU-wide resource mobilization strategy that you will hear more about during this Council
To date, we've already engaged with numerous Member States through bilateral meetings, through country visits, Ambassador briefings here in Geneva, also in New York, and we've held a series of talks that we call 'Demystifying Digital' that we've organized together with Missions.
These efforts have better placed us to understand the needs of our constituents.
In March, we were in New Delhi to inaugurate the ITU Area Office and Innovation Centre in the presence of Prime Minister Modi.
This is our first new office since 2009 and it's also our first physical Innovation Center, expanding ITU's regional footprint in one of the world's most important hubs for digital innovation.
Supporting Member States in their innovation and entrepreneurship efforts is paramount.
Similarly, ladies and gentlemen, the Standardization Bureau has initiated a pilot project that aims to recruit more study group staff in regional or area offices.
We believe that this effort will improve synergies across the Bureaux and also efforts to bridge the standardization gap.
Another key external engagement result has been ITU's presence at major global events, from the World Economic Forum to the Mobile World Congress.
For the first time, all five Elected Officials attended MWC. We held bilaterals and roundtables with government and industry members.
I think these kind of efforts have helped to position ITU as a key player in the global digital agenda.
It's also brought more visibility to our own conferences, such as the Global Symposium for Regulators organized by the Telecommunication Development Bureau.
I want to commend BDT Director for this year's symposium, which advanced the kind of forward-looking regulatory approaches that are needed in our ever-changing digital world.
Solidifying ITU's position as a thought leader on all things digital boosts the visibility of our diverse work on spectrum, on standards, on statistics, on regulation, digital applications and inclusion, as well as our impact-driven development projects on the ground.
Doing so also puts the contributions of each Sector — Radio, Standards, and Development — at the heart of everything we do to fulfill our World Conference mandates.
Let's not forget that these strategic engagement efforts are merely a means to a significant end – which is universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation for all.
That's why an initiative like Partner2Connect is important, uniting stakeholders around commitments to reach some of the hardest-to-connect communities in the world, including SIDS, LDCs, LLDCS and others.
That's also the case of other key targeted initiatives, such as the Giga initiative with UNICEF to connect every school on the planet to the Internet, our GovStack efforts, our Digital Transformation Centers, which is a flagship effort on capacity development, our United for Smart Sustainable Cities, our Smart Village work, our Smart Islands work. And this list goes on.
This truly shows the power of partnerships to ensure the opportunities and benefits of digital technology reach everyone, everywhere.
I think that's what meaningful connectivity is all about.
Initiatives that help position ITU as a trusted, purpose-driven, inclusive, and committed partner.
Councilors, you've asked us to deepen our engagement in UN processes.
And we have strengthened the relationship with the executive heads in various UN organizations, including the UN Secretary-General and we heard this morning from the UN Deputy Secretary-General.
ITU has actively participated in major UN processes, from the Doha Programme of Action for LDCs to the Global Digital Compact discussions which remain ongoing.
And of course, the ITU-led WSIS Forum in March is one of the many examples of our commitment to UN core values and multi-stakeholder solutions.
And we're going to be speaking about the WSIS+20 process in our deliberations this Council.
Multi-stakeholder approaches that we will continue to support later this year, with our participation at the IGF which takes place in Japan.
ITU has also been providing its contribution to the UN in areas where we have much expertise including areas like space.
As the new Resolutions on space adopted at Plenipot 22 call for closer collaboration with other UN bodies, we have strengthened our engagement with UNOOSA.
We have contributed to the UN Policy Brief on the future of outer space governance further demonstrate the key role ITU plays in space.
This strong engagement with the UN has already resulted in exciting new initiatives with our sister agencies, including the Early Warnings for All initiative where we're partnering with WMO, a new digital window that we're really excited about, as part of the Joint SDG Fund, and as you heard UNDP will be leading that.
And as we heard last week at the AI for Good Summit, the Global AI for Health Initiative that ITU will be leading with WIPO and WHO.
During this period, we've also intensified our collaboration not only with other standards bodies — something you have asked us to do — and that includes IEC, ISO, IETF, IEEE, and UNECE — but also with OHCHR.
I want to commend the TSB Director for the organization of the World Standards Cooperation meeting in March and his important efforts to approach standardization work through different lenses — from human rights to sustainability to gender — and it's helping ITU to become a more inclusive and accessible standardization platform.
These endeavors reinforce our position as a core member of the UN family.
I think we're showing the world that ITU's expertise and capacity can help advance 'Our Common Agenda' — and deliver, as the UN Secretary-General has urged us, a Rescue Plan for People and for Planet.
Colleagues, our transformation journey is just beginning.
The challenges we face can only be addressed if we leverage our collective knowledge, our capacity, and our commitment to build the ITU we want.
But there are also unique opportunities along the way.
We're about to enter a very exciting period that will culminate with the World Radiocommunication Conference at the end of the year in Dubai.
It's a moment of major technological significance four years in the making.
All preparations are on track.
Radio-frequency spectrum and associated satellite orbit resources are the building blocks of an advanced global communication system for humanity.
Achieving universal connectivity depends on the very work that will be done at WRC-23.
I also understand that today BR is publishing the 3000th edition of its most famous BRIFIC– it's a crucial source of radiofrequency assignment information and we've been doing this since 1952.
This year, we are fortunate that our World Radiocommunication Conference coincides with COP28.
Because digital and climate actually go hand in hand.
The ITU DSG is going to be leading our efforts in the Green Digital Action track that is set to take place during this COP.
Because capturing and addressing the true environmental costs of digital transformation is absolutely vital.
And because our industry can actually help the transition to net zero emissions across the entire economy.
Our industry can also help rescue the SDGs which is why ITU and partners are organizing on the SDG Digital Day on the 17th of September just prior to the High Level Week and the SDG Summit.
This Day will contribute to the SDG Summit by putting data and digital technologies that will help to accelerate and achieve each and every one of those SDGs.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the state of our Union.
That's the important and necessary work that we have started together.
It's a work in progress.
And yes, these are no ordinary times.
But ITU is not an ordinary organization.
We've evolved many times before.
And I think we need to do it again… and like you, I know that change is never easy.
Even a 158-year-old organization can have growing pains.
But we need an ITU that's fit-for-purpose and fit for the future.
So let's use the next 10 days to determine how we can create an ITU that's more agile, more open and transparent, innovative and aspirational, financially stable, trusted, and results-driven.
That's what you've asked us to do.
That's what's reflected in our roadmap.
And that's what the world needs from ITU.
Because, in the end, it's not a choice between robots and refugees — between cutting-edge technologies and meaningful connectivity.
The true measure of success will be if we can deliver and achieve both.
Whether we can achieve universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation.
And whether we can do this together.
Because that's what the ITU is all about, it's about working together as one.
Ladies and gentlemen, I really look forward to engaging with you throughout this conference.
And I look forward to the results we will achieve during this Council and beyond.
Thank you for your attention and thank you for being here.
