Bangladesh elected to ITU council

Bangladesh has been re-elected to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)'s council for a second successive term.

The ITU is the United Nations specialised agency for information and communication technologies – ICTs.

“We have been elected council member of ITU from the Asia Pacific region," State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam told bdnews24.com on Monday.

The voting was held at Busan City of South Korea on Monday during ITU’s annual meeting. Bangladesh received 115 of the 167 votes.

The results placed Bangladesh seventh among the 13 council members from the region elected for four years.

“The victory is an international recognition of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s vision of Digital Bangladesh," State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak told bdnews24.com from Busan.

“Bangladesh will now have significant influence on international-level decisions related to our telecoms sector, the launching of Satellite Bangabandhu and getting orbit plot.”

The youngest minister in the cabinet said there were many responsibilities, too, coming with the position.

Bangladesh, as a council member, will play a vital role in the ITU’s decisions for the region, he said.

On Oct 23, he sought votes for Bangladesh at an ITU meeting.

“We want to build a tech-savvy world by globally sharing our experiences and achievements in the sector for telecommunications and technology."

He told the meeting of Bangladesh’s plans to provide internet to 70 percent and broadband connection to 35 percent of the population by 2018.

Palak said 98 percent of the land mass and 99 percent of the people were within the telecommunication network.

The number of mobile-phone users was more than 110 million, with 40 million using the internet, he added.

Palak mentioned that Bangladesh won the ITU’s WSIS Award and the WITSA Award for bringing technology to the people’s doorsteps.

Bangladesh was first elected council member at ITU in November 2010 after being granted membership in 1973.