Inaugurated By H.E. Mohamad Ahmad Al-Qamzi UAE Hosts Global Standards Symposium
Al Qamzi: If planned and implemented with foresight, standards can play a crucial role in the rapid adoption, interconnection, and future development of telecommunications.
On behalf of H.E. Mohamad Ahmad Al-Qamzi, Chairman of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the UAE (TRA), H.E. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, today inaugurated the second Global Standards Symposium which took place at the Dubai World Trade Center and for the first time in the Middle East. Hosted by the TRA, this United Nations event was organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN’s specialized agency for ICTs.
Speaking during the opening ceremony on behalf of H.E. Mohamad Ahmad Al-Qamzi, Chairman of the TRA, H.E. Al Ghanim said: “We are faced with critical questions regarding the best manner in which to foster innovation, support ICT adoption in developing markets, and unlock the potential of ICTs through intelligent standards.
If planned and implemented with foresight, standards can play a crucial role in the rapid adoption, interconnection, and future development of telecommunications. They can build bridges and be the beacons that guide us to the future.”
GSS is a precursor to the World Telecommunications Standardization Assembly (WTSA) which will start on Monday the 20th of November 2012, and the one day event pooled leaders from the public and private sector to discuss the intersection of ICT with sectors such as health care, utilities, and transport and report to the Assembly. Ministers, regulators, heads of other international, regional and major national standards bodies from the different regions of the world will participate in GSS, along with senior executives from global telecom and ICT companies like Etisalat, du, Microsoft, Cisco, Nokia, and Toyota.
The event included five sessions of discussions along with keynote speeches from Mr Malcolm Johnson, Director of TSB, and H.E. Mr Nguyen Thanh Hung, Chair of the 2008 Global Standards Symposium and Vice-Minister of Information and Communications in Vietnam. GSS looked into the intersection of the ICT sector with other vertical sectors such as health care, utilities, and transport. It discussed issues of interoperability of standards and how that can drive innovation, developing markets and how standards affect and can benefit them, futures challenges , M2M, e-health, smart grid, intelligent transportation systems, and resilience of networks to disasters. The Chairman of the GSS, H.E. Mr Nasser Bin Obood Al Falasi, Chief Government Relations & Communications Officer at Etisalat Group, will present the conclusions of the Symposium to the WTSA.
The first Global Standards Symposium was held in Johannesburg, South Africa on 20 October 2008 prior to the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA-08). The event examined global ICT standards challenges, such as accessibility, climate change and collaboration among standards development organizations.
Emirate: Dubai
Date: Nov 19, 2012
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