The 13th meeting of the Telecommunications Development Advisory Group (TDAG) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) was held last 6-8 February in Geneva.
The group chaired by Vladimir Minkin of Russia reviewed the implementation of the operational plan in 2007 and approved the plan for the 2008-2009 biennium. The discussion of these subjects revealed the need to define key performance indicators (KPIs) that allow the operational plan’s implementation to be measured. In this regard, a working group on KPIs and project implementation was set up, chaired by Marie-Odile Beau of France. By the next TDAG meeting it should define the said indicators with the goal of measuring the progress towards accomplishing the sector objectives, besides presenting ways to speed the formulation and implementation of regional initiatives or projects.
The meeting also included examination of the activities of the development sector (ITU-D) with respect to implementation of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) results, as well as the evolution of the ITU-D members in 2007. It was stressed that over the last year 29 entities became members of the sector.
TDAG additionally focused on relevant events for the sector, namely the Global Symposium for Regulators, to be held in March 2008 in Thailand, and the Connect Africa Summit, held in Geneva in October 2007. The latter was considered a true success, given the high level of financing achieved for projects linked to telecommunications development in Africa. TDAG was also informed that the Connect the World project will continue; the Connect Asia-Pacific Summit has been scheduled for December 2008.
Plans call for the next TDAG meeting to be held in February 2009.
