BUCHAREST, SEPTEMBER 29 – Doreen Bogdan-Martin was elected Thursday as the first woman to lead the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in its 157-year history. Bogdan-Martin, a US citizen, beat in a landslide 139-25 victory Russia’s former deputy telecoms minister Rashid Ismailov. The vote in Bucharest was by secret ballot during the ITU’s plenipotentiary conference, its main decision-making body.
ITU is based in Geneva. It is the oldest oldest agency in the UN fold. It was created to manage international telegraph networks, and now it sets the global standards underlying mobile phones, television and the internet. “Today, we made history. After 157 years, we shattered the glass ceiling,” she said. In New York the Italian Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Maurizio Massari, sent Bogdan-Martin his warmest congratulations on her election with an overwhelming majority as the first woman to lead ITU in its 157 years history”.
I warmly congratulate @ITUBDTDirector Doreen Bogdan on her election with an overwhelming majority as first woman to lead @ITU in its 157-year history. Well done! Count on 🇮🇹🇺🇳.#MeaningfulConnectivity #DigitalInclusion #GlobalDigitalCompact #Plenipot https://t.co/16suDJwqGX
— Maurizio Massari (@MauMassari) September 29, 2022
Bogdan-Martin, who will take over from China’s Houlin Zhao, joined the ITU’s development bureau — one of its three main branches — in 1993 and became its director in 2019, pushing digital transformation. The vote to lead the agency – which coordinates everything from radio frequencies to satellites and 5G – was unrelated to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, the election was a test of Russia’s standing in the United Nations as the war in Ukraine grinds on. (@OnuItalia)
