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International Telecommunication Union has elected Hamadoun Touré of Mali as Secretary-General

November 13, 2006

1 Min Read

ANTALYA, Turkey -- Member States of the International Telecommunication Union elected Mr Hamadoun I. Touré of Mali as Secretary-General of ITU for a four-year term. The election took place in Antalya, Turkey during the 17th ITU Plenipotentiary Conference. Mr Touré won the position with 95 votes with 155 countries present and voting, and thus the required majority for election was 78 votes.

The majority emerged in the third round of voting, with Mr Mathias Kurth of Germany receiving 60 votes.

Addressing the Conference after the results of the vote, Mr Touré told the 1500 delegates from around the world that he would work with transparency, objectivity and vigour to realize the two main objectives that were central to his campaign: to eliminate the digital divide and to ensure that cyberspace would become more secure. He said, "The Millennium Development Goals that were endorsed by all the world’s leaders as well as the WSIS resolutions are the ingredients we need to get down to work."

Mr Hamadoun Touré holds a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technical Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications of Leningrad and Doctor of Philosophy Degree (PhD) from the University of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics of Moscow. After six years at the Office des Postes et Télécommunications du Mali (OPT) Mali, he joined Intelsat as Group Director & Regional Director in 1985 until he became Director-General, Africa, of ICO Global Communications in 1996. Elected Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau in 1998, he was elected for a second term in 2002.

International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

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