Ghana’s focal point at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Ing. Kwame Baah-Acheamfuor, set the gold standard at this year’s ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-22) by leading the agreements to perennial controversial issues two days before the end of the conference.
The ongoing PP-22 Conference in Bucharest started September 26, and is due to end October 15. But two days ahead of the finish date, Kwame Baah-Acheamfuor, who is revered for his renowned experience and endearing personality, led delegates to achieve that unusual feat.
A statement from the ITU recalled that at the last conference in 2018, delegates sat for many nights and weekends, yet it took close to 20 hours on the final day of the conference for agreements to be reached. But this year, Kwame has led the world to achieve that two clear days ahead of the final.
According to the statement, the ITU PP-22 Conference, which is hosting nearly 4,000 delegates from 193 countries with the aim of a greening conference, worked from 8am to 9pm daily except Sundays.
Kwame chaired the Working Group of the Plenary, which negotiated 89 proposals from countries, and it resulted in approving two (2) new Resolutions and updating twenty-one (21) Resolutions.
The first new resolution agreed upon was on Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technologies and Telecommunications/ICTs, and the other was the Role of Telecommunications/ICTs in Mitigating Global Pandemics. There were no changes to the resolution OTTs and another resolution on ITU’s role with regard to international public policy issues relating to the risk of illicit use of information and communication technologies.
Kwame Baah-Acheamfuor has been Ghana’s focal person to the ITU, and Councillor to the ITU Council. For the first time in Ghana’s relations with the ITU, Ghana was re-elected to the ITU Council for 2023 to 2026; and Rev. Ing Edmund Yirenkyi-Fianko was elected to the ITU Radio Regulations Board.
