The Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) hosted a national meeting with its members recently in Abu Dhabi offices, in a bid to garner support for UAE candidates as they prepare for the International Telecommunication Union Plenipotentiary Conference, to be held in South Korea.

The UAE's goal is to qualify for a seat in the Radio Regulations Board in the Asia and Australasia region as well as a seat in council membership.

Held from October 20 until November 7 in Busan, South Korea, the conference is the most important ITU event, due to its strategic and technical focus on defining the future of the telecommunications sector for the next four years, through board elections.

Leading the meeting was Nasser Bin Hammad, senior manager of international relations in TRA and UAE candidate for membership in the region’s Radio Regulations Board, which consists of 12 international members worldwide.

The meeting agenda involved reviewing assigned responsibilities of each team member, assembled from targeted UAE authorities and coordinating efforts with regards to the conference calendar. Hammad also provided a full explanation of the UAE’s strategic objectives for participating in this year’s conference and requesting candidacy for both the next ITU Council member states and the radio regulations board.

Nasser Bin Hammad said: "Elections for the ITU Council Member States and the Radio Regulations Board are witnessing a high volume of competition among the various regional groups that fall under the ITU umbrella. The Council Member States consists of 48 seats shared among all regions. 13 of the seats are specifically for the East Asia and Australasia region, with 17 competing countries. The Radio Regulations Board, specific for East Asia and Australasia only has three seats with currently five international prominent competing country candidates, including myself for the UAE. Our country has strengthened its presence and contributions at the ITU events, conferences and initiatives through hosting major Telecommunication Conferences five times over the past three years, with the most recent held in Dubai during April this year,” he added.

As the chairman of the Gulf and Arab preparatory team for PP-14, responsible for the preparations for the 2014 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, Nasser Bin Hammad said, “The meeting included a review of the paperwork to be submitted during the conference by the UAE as the Arab region’s representative. This is done after Arab preparatory meetings held in Dubai and Bahrain over the course of the year. There was also a vital discussion regarding civil aviation safety and the importance of the role of communications in strengthening the security and safety of air traffic by providing the latest communication technologies including the use of the internet. In light of the recent incidents this sector had witnessed, tracking the movement of air navigation for civil aviation has become one of the most pressing and urgent topics included on the conference agenda. Thus, international efforts can be coordinated to contribute in this area as we highlight the necessity of including Arab paperwork to present in this topic.”

The UAE national team in charge of this task includes representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the UAE Armed Forces, Ministry of Interior, Etisalat, Du, Al Yahsat, Al Thurayya and the Civil Aviation Authority. – TradeArabia News Service