American Doreen Bogdan-Martin became the first woman elected to head the UN telecommunications agency on Thursday, winning the ballot hands down against her Russian opponent.
With 139 votes in her favour, compared to 25 for the Russian, she will replace China’s Houlin Zhao as head of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) next year, according to the results of the elections held in Bucharest.
Founded in Paris in 1865 under the name of the International Telegraph Union, the organization – integrated within the United Nations since 1949 – has carried its current name since 1932.
“Today we have written history. After 157 years, we have broken the glass ceiling”, launched Mrs. Bogdan-Martin, in front of the representatives of the Member States.
The ITU sets global standards for both mobile telephony and television or the Internet.
“Absolute priority for the United States”
The election was held by secret ballot. Until then the ITU’s telecommunications development director, Washington’s candidate was the favourite.
During the campaign, he highlighted his desire to achieve universal connectivity. His rival, Russia’s former deputy telecommunications minister, Rashid Ismailov, had expressed a desire to humanize technological development, instead of focusing solely on its expansion.
After her election, the American delivered a unity speech. “We seek unity,” she said of the ITU.
“Our success depends on the union of our efforts. The IUT is a union, a union of its members (…). And together we are united, we are united in our hope and in our conviction that we can work collectively to make a better connected world”, she assured.
In his appointment letter, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed that this election “is an absolute priority for the United States.”
This competition between the United States and Russia was not directly related to the war in Ukraine. But the invasion, which brings opprobrium from the West to Russia, was on everyone’s mind.
Source: BFM TV
