The seventh World Telecommunications Development Conference (WTDC-17) of the ITU was held last 9-20 October in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This ITU conference counted the presence of nearly 1,300 participants from more than 130 countries.
WTDC’s aim is to set strategies for balanced development of global and regional telecommunications, paying special attention to the expansion and modernisation of networks and services in developing countries and to mobilisation of the resources required. The conference is the top body of the ITU Telecommunications Development Sector (ITU-D) and is held every four years. It is also responsible for determining the working programmes and guidelines for that sector, in order to define questions and priorities concerning telecommunications development. The conference also has the mission of determining the sector’s role in pursuit of the sustainable development goals.
WTDC-17 approved the Buenos Aires Declaration, a document that presents a vision for the sector for the next four years.
The Conference adopted the Buenos Aires Action Plan, which consists of a package of activities meant to help developing countries promote sustainable development of networks, services and information and communication technologies. The respective plan was drawn up in accordance with a results-oriented structure.
Besides those strategy documents, WTDC-17 proceeded to revise resolutions adopted in previous sessions and to adopt new ones.
The conference witnessed the election of Portugal (Filipe Baptista) as vice-chair of Study Group 2 of ITU-D.
During WTDC-17 six coordination meetings of the ITU Policy Committee (Com-ITU) of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) were held, co-chaired by Portugal and Lithuania (as CEPT coordinator for WTDC).
Seven European Union coordination meetings were also held, chaired by Estonia. They served to work out positions on the proposed resolutions concerning Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.
Portugal also participated in two coordination meetings of the Association of Communications and Telecommunications Regulators of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (ARCTEL-CPLP).
