ITU Gets First Woman Secretary General in 157 Years

Emma Okonji with Agency Report

The International Telecommu-nication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialised agency that coordinates global telecom operations, yesterday, elected the first woman Secretary-General that will superintend over the affairs of ITU for the next four years.

Doreen Bogdan-Martin, who was elected yesterday in the ongoing ITU’s 21st Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-22) in Bucharest, Romania, became the first female to be elected as ITU Secretary-General in its 157 years of operation.

Bogdan-Martin, who is from the United States of America, received the majority of Member State votes, pledging meaningful connectivity as her goal.

The election had representatives of Member States voting during the meeting’s morning session. Bogdan-Martin won the position with 139 votes, out of 172 votes cast.

“Whether it’s today’s children or our children’s children, we need to provide them with a strong and stable foundation for growth,” Bogdan-Martin said.

“The world is facing significant challenges – escalating conflicts, a climate crisis, food security, gender inequalities, and 2.7 billion people with no access to the Internet. I believe we, the ITU and our members, have an opportunity to make a transformational contribution. Continuous innovation can and will be a key enabler to facilitate resolution of many of these issues,” she added.

Ms Bogdan-Martin has held leadership positions in international telecommunication policy for over two decades. Throughout her career, she has brokered innovative and visionary partnerships with the private sector, civil society, and other United Nations agencies to accelerate digital inclusion and connectivity.

Bogdan-Martin will begin her four-year term as ITU Secretary-General on 1 January 2023.

The Secretary-General-elect has pledged “to continue driving this institution to be innovative and increasingly relevant for our Member States, better positioning all of us to embrace the digital environment and make progress on achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals and connecting the unconnected.”

Bogdan-Martin was endorsed by her country’s government as a candidate to make the digital future inclusive and accessible for everyone, especially in developing countries.

US President Joe Biden, in a 20 September statement backing her candidacy, said: “Ms. Bogdan-Martin possesses the integrity, experience, and vision necessary to transform the digital landscape.”

As chief architect of ITU’s development work in recent years, Bogdan-Martin had emphasised the need for digital transformation to achieve economic prosperity, job creation, skills development, gender equality, and socio-economic inclusion, as well as to build circular economies, reduce climate impact, and save lives. Her current term as Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau ends on 31 December 2022.