Bangladesh is likely to face a tough challenge in retaining its executive membership of International Telecommunications Union in the elections to be held in Bushan, South Korea on Monday, with neighbouring, Muslims and very powerful countries contesting it.
A delegation comprising more than 50 people from government and private sectors have gone to the South Korean city ahead of the election. State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak is leading the delegation.
Among them are all the members of the parliamentary standing committee on telecommunication, secretary of telecommunication division, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission chairman and vice chairman, sources said.
Bangladesh, which won its executive membership to the 46-member ITU Executive Council in 2010 for a four-year term, is currently one of 13 members representing the ITU’s Executive Council for Asia and Australia regions.
Asia and Australia regions have a total of 13 membership posts sanctioned for representing in the ITU Executive Council. A total of 18 countries are contesting against 13 membership posts this year election.
India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Iran, Philippines, United Arab Emirate, Kuwait, Bahrain and Lebanon are 17 other countries contesting for the seats.
Seeking anonymity, a senior official of the Telecommunications Minsitry told the Dhaka Tribune: “As well as very powerful countries, our neighboring countries are contesting this election, creating pressure on us.”
“Moreover, our performance as a ITU Executive Council members was not very remarkable,” he said.
Even Bangladesh could not secure its own orbital slot for Bangabandhu satellite due to objections from 20 countries despite having enjoyed the ITU’s highest body leadership.
Former telecommunication minister Abdul Latif Siddique’s remarks on hajj might also impact on the election results, sources said. Before leaving for Korea BTRC Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose expressed his satisfaction of the campaign so far about the election.
“We found huge positive response about the ITU elections from different corners of the voters and we are hopeful about the election result,” said Sunil Kanti Bose. The numbers of ITU member states are 193 and all of them can vote for electing 48-member council for next four years.
Zhao to take office as ITU head on January 1
Two-time Deputy Secretary General Houlin Zhao of China has been elected the next ITU Secretary General. He will take office on 1 January 2015 for a term of four years.
Zhao won the position with polling 152 votes among 156 cast in the election. Malcolm Johnson of the United Kingdom has been elected Deputy Secretary-General of ITU with bagging 104 votes.
