News Excerpt:
India led a high-level delegation to Geneva for a series of crucial meetings at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Headquarters.
- The visit focused on fostering collaboration and exploring innovative initiatives in the telecommunications and information and communication technology (ICT) sectors.
The key highlights of the visit include:
- International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has started the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Alliance for Digital Development to respond to significant unmet needs of ITU Membership in the area of innovation, as articulated in the Kigali Action Plan adopted at the World Telecommunication Development Conference 2022 (WTDC-22).
- The Outcomes of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2022 (PP-22). The Alliance has three main vehicles:
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- Digital Transformation Lab
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- Network of Acceleration Centres
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- Digital Innovation Board
- The Alliance establishes the Digital Innovation Board to provide strategic guidance, expertise and advocacy regarding its mission of building critical local enablers and fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in digital development to create a more inclusive and equitable digital future for all.
- Bilateral Meetings:
- India and Japan held a bilateral meeting at ITU Headquarters on the sidelines of the Digital Innovation Board Meeting.
- The meeting reviewed engagements of India and Japan in the telecom and ICT sector and the leaders proposed active collaboration on AI, 5G Use cases and Quantum Products certification between both the countries.
- Both stressed the need to collaborate to develop a framework on trusted products and agreed to operationalize the sub working groups on 5G use cases.
- The Telecom Secretary also co-chaired a bilateral meeting between India and Bahrain on the sidelines of Digital Innovation Board Meeting.
- Both countries decided to collaborate actively in the ICT sector in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, 5G use cases, Cybersecurity, and the development of a Data Embassy.
- India proposed to share with Bahrain the TEC (Telecommunication Engineering Center ) standard on Fairness Assessment and Rating of Artificial Intelligence Systems, status note on regulatory sandbox.
Conclusion:
The visit underscores India's proactive engagement in shaping the global telecommunications landscape and its commitment to leveraging innovation for socio-economic development.
