June 08, 2007

ITU Establishes Centre of Excellence at PTA

chairman pta and ITU officals signing the MoU

 

Islamabad:   International Telecom Union (ITU) has established its Centre of Excellence (CoE) Node on Telecommunication Policy & Regulations in Pakistan at Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). A formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the setting up of ITU Centre of Excellence was signed today (June 8) at ITU Headquarters in Geneva. Representing Pakistani side, Chairman PTA, Maj. Gen (R) Shahzada Alam Malik signed the MoU while Mr Yury Grin represented the Secretary General, ITU. Acting Secretary General, ITU was also present on this occasion.

Expressing his gratitude on this occasion, the Chairman PTA said that Pakistan is thankful to ITU for reposing trust in Pakistan for imparting training to Asia Pacific countries. He further said that Pakistan feels the importance of this responsibility and will make all efforts to offer useful specialized courses for this node for the benefit of the countries of the Region.

The Node, established in Pakistan, will offer various training courses each year in collaboration with ITU on issues related to Telecom Policy & Regulations. These courses will be attended by the countries from the Asia & the Pacific Region. This platform will provide an opportunity to the countries of Asia Pacific Region to share expertise on highly specialized issues related to telecommunication. It will also enhance relations of Pakistan with Asia Pacific countries.

It may be mentioned that CoE is a forum aimed to develop human resource potential and to implement and sustain a network linking acknowledged Centres of Excellence in the Asia and Pacific Region. The network will enable the sharing of expertise and assist the planning and organization of high quality training and development programs of capacity building in the telecommunication sector.

In addition to CoE Node at Pakistan, four other Nodes have also been established in Thailand (Business Management), Iran (Spectrum Management), Republic of Korea (Technology Awareness) and Malaysia (Rural ICT Development). 49 ITU Member countries from the Asia & the Pacific region will be benefited from the programs offered through these CoE Nodes.

 

Khurram Ali Mehran

Deputy Director (PR)