… ICANN extends hand
of fellowship
Chinese Houlin Zhao has emerged the newly elected Secretary
General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), ITRealms authoritatively reports.
Mr. Zhao would take over from Dr. Hamadoun Toure who would
be completing his eight-year term in office by January 2015.
ITRealms sources
confirmed that Mr. Zhao garnered 152 votes out of the 156 countries accredited
for the election.
This came as the leadership of the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) under Mr. Fade Chehade as the president and
chief executive officer has extended congratulation message to Mr. Zhao on his
emergence.
ITRealms gathered
that Mr. Zhao was hitherto elected ITU Deputy Secretary General at the ITU
Plenipotentiary Conference in Antalya, Turkey, in 2006, and re-elected for a
second four-year term at the Plenipotentiary Conference in Guadalajara, Mexico,
in 2010.
Before becoming Deputy Secretary General, ITRealms learnt, he served as Director
of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) from 1999 to 2006,
first elected at the Plenipotentiary Conference in Minneapolis, United States,
in 1998, and re-elected at the Plenipotentiary Conference in Marrakesh, Morocco,
in 2002.
From 1986 to 1992, Mr Zhao was a senior staff member in what
was then the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee
(known under its French acronym CCITT), and from 1993 to 1998 in TSB.
Prior to joining ITU, Mr Zhao served as an engineer in the
Design Institute of China’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. He
contributed seminal articles to a number of prestigious Chinese technical
publications, and in 1985 was awarded a prize for his achievements in science
and technology within the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.
Born in 1950 in Jiangsu, China, Mr Zhao graduated from
Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and holds a Master of
Science degree in Telematics from the University of Essex in the United
Kingdom.
Meanwhile, ICANN President
has congratulated Mr. Zhao for his election as new Secretary-General of the
International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
“We extend our heartfelt
congratulations to Houlin Zhao on his election as the ITU Secretary-General,” Chehadé
declared on getting the news of Zhao election.
Also, Chehadé underscored the
contributions of Dr. Toure’s towards enhancing lines of communication between
ITU and ICANN, which he hope the new Secretary General would sustain.
“We are grateful to Dr. Toure for
the bridges he helped build between the ITU and ICANN,” said Chehadé.
He further described Toure’s effort as
interactions built on a foundation of mutual respect and a shared belief that
the Internet has an increasingly important role in global socioeconomic
development.
“We are enthused at the prospect of
continuing those efforts with Houlin Zhao,” he assured.
+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) @NGRCommTech @NgComCommission @ITU
ITREALMS ... delivering news for ICT4D
Pix: Top: Mr. Zhao, new ITU scribe and below is ICANN president.
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