Adriaens wants Antilles to have a say in ITU

August 12, 2008 6:06 AM

In order to come up better for her interests, the Antilles would love to participate independently in Conferences of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
Minister Maurice Adriaens (Transport and Communication, FOL) told Houlin Zhao and Malcolm Johnson, respectively vice-secretary-general and director of ITU’s Standardization Bureau, world’s oldest telecommunication-standards organization that nowadays is part of the United Nations.

The Antilles are currently sharing a seat with the Netherlands during ITU-conferences. This makes it difficult to pay attention to developments in the Caribbean region. Regional concerns are of bigger interest for the Antilles than the European concern, which the Netherlands is aiming at.

ITU has promised Adriaens to consider his request. The minister was immediately informed that it is possible for the Antillean regulator Bureau Telecommunication & Post (BT&P) to be affiliated to ITU as observer. Adriaens has also informed ITU of the political developments of the Antilles and that he would like to welcome a delegation of ITU in the Antilles, when these Caribbean-Dutch islands celebrate their 100th anniversary telecommunication on own land, which is on October 8 and 9 of this year.

Zhou complimented BT&P with the own work that according to him ‘can serve as an example’ for many countries in the region. He assured Adriaens that he will take part in the celebration of the ‘100 years of telecommunication in the Antilles’.

(Source: National Newspaper Amigoe)

August 11, 2008