New Delhi to house ITU South Asia Area office and technology innovation centre by Jan 2019

India's strong partnership with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) was recently demonstrated by ITU's decision to set up the ITU South Asia Area Office and Technology Innovation Centre in New Delhi. Manoj Sinha, Union Minister of State for Communications (Independent Charge) has assured that India is on target to have this Centre operational by January 2019.

India has also been elected as a Member of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Council for another 4-year term (2019-2022). The elections to the Council were held during the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2018 at Dubai, UAE.

By securing 165 votes, India ranked third among the 13 countries elected to the Council from the Asia-Australasia region, and eighth among the 48 countries elected to the Council globally. The ITU has 193memberstates who elect representatives to the Council.

Commenting on this development, Manoj Sinha, Union Minister of State for Communications (Independent Charge) said, “We are delighted to see India as a member of the ITU Council once again. This is a recognition of the role our country plays in the area of Telecom and ICT on the global stage”.

India has been an active member of the ITU since 1869 and has been a regular member of the ITU Council since 1952, and has played an important role in harmonizing the contributions of member States from the region, always respecting the principles of equality and consensus-building.