UCC ED Mutabazi, ITU boss Zhao hold bilateral talks

Mr. Godfrey Mutabazi the UCC Executive Director and Mr. Houlin Zhao the ITU Secretary-General. (PHOTO/Courtesy)

GENEVA – Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) Executive Director Godfrey Mutabazi has met with the ITU Secretary-General Mr. Houlin Zhao at the sidelines of the ITU Council 2019 in Geneva Switzerland.

Mr. Mutabazi has congratulated Mr. Zhao upon re-election and thanked him for considering Uganda’s re-election to Council.

Mutabazi also extended the Commission’s gratitude for honouring the invitation to the UCC at 20 celebrations hosted last year.

The ITU boss last year graced an event in Uganda as the UCC celebrated 20 years of driving the communications sector.

Mr. Zhao said that he was impressed by the country’s commitment to growing and providing access to ICTs as enablers for growth and economic development.

The meeting mostly focused on the Secretary General’s key priorities and mutual support to achieve the same.

Mr. Mutabazi also met with Mr. Mario Maniewicz, the Director of Radiocommunication Bureau (BR). The two directors discussed commitment to support the work of the ITU-R in the next cycle. Mutabazi congratulated Maniewicz upon election to the International Telecommunications Union Executive team noting that Uganda worked well with the previous director and is happy to continue with this relationship.

(L-R) Eng. Godfrey Mutabazi, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) Executive Director, Ms. Irene Kaggwa Sewankambo, the Director of Engineering, Communication, and Infrastructure Department at UCC and Mr. Mario Maniewicz, the Director of Radiocommunication Bureau (BR) in Geneva at the sidelines of ITU plenary meeting. (PHOTO/Courtesy)

“I extend Uganda’s gratitude to the Radiocommunications sector for the spectrum workshops that have helped our technical teams to improve on ITU’s filing tools, mechanisms, and processes,” expressed Mr. Mutabazi.

Mutabazi explained that Uganda is also focusing on strengthening mechanisms and processes to handle the spectrum requirements of the new technologies, especially 5G and to improve filing and coordination with ITU-R, including Satellite coordination. He also expressed Uganda’s commitment to building local capacity in terms of contributing to the work of ITU, as well as the implementation of outcomes and recommendations.

UCC ED Mutabaazi, Ms. Irene Kaggwa Sewankambo, the Director of Engineering, Communication, and Infrastructure Department and Ms. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau at the ongoing ITU inagrual meeting in Geneva. (PHOTO/Courtesy)

Ms. Irene Kaggwa Sewankambo the Director engineering and Communications Infrastructure meet with the US Head of Delegation 2019 World Radio Conference (WRC) Ms. Grace Koh and Ms. Kelly O’Keefe the Chief of Staff U.S WRC – 19 Delegation. The team broadly discussed technical issues for the preparations for WRC 2019 considering positions and desirable outcomes for the World Radio Congress 2019.

Uganda was last year re-elected to the Council of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Dubai, UAE, for the 2019-2022 cycle.

During the session of Council, the Ugandan delegation held several separate talks with various parties of interest to establish good working relationships with ITU sector directors and to position Uganda as a strategic development partner within the region.