New ITU Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General

Mr Hamadoun Toure, from Mali, former Director of the Bureau for Telecommunication Development, was elected Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union. Mr Houlin Zhao, from China, former Director of the Telecommunications Standardisation Bureau, was elected Deputy Secretary General of the ITU. The elections were held in Turkey, during the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference.

Mr Toure has been very actively involved in Development, and I had the opportunity of knowing him since early 90s (INTELSAT, ICO and ITU) and have always been impressed with his dynamism and integrity. Meanwhile, I had occasion to also know Mr Zhao since 1999 and have been very impressed with his dynamism and team spirit as well. I think he and Mr Toure, having worked together for the last 8 years and accomplished much in their own spheres of influence, will lead ITU forward with new dynamism and with a renewed sense of team work.