Brazil is elected to the Council of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

This is a machine translation of Brazil's communications ministry's press release

Brazil will continue on the Council of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), an agency of the United Nations System linked to the information, communications technology (ICT) and telecommunications sector. The election took place during the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, in Bucharest, Romania, this Monday (3), which was attended by members of the Ministry of Communications (MCom), the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition, the specialist in telecommunications regulation, Agostinho Linhares de Souza, a career server at Anatel and who works at MCom, was elected to compose the Radio Regulation Board (RRB) of the same body.

Two of the 12 seats on the Board were destined for American countries. Canadian Chantal Beaumier was elected for one of the vacancies. The dispute for the other seat was between the Brazilian and the Mexican Javier Juárez Mojica – who lost by one vote. Agostinho Linhares, a telecommunications engineer with a doctorate from the University of Brasília (UnB), is the first Brazilian in 30 years to take a seat on the Board.

The RRB is the ITU body competent to approve the rules used in the Radiocommunications Sector, and acts to harmonize their applications among the Member States. Additionally, it is responsible for the coordination between space systems and between terrestrial communication systems.

ITU COUNCIL – Out of a total of 182 countries that could vote, Brazil received 166 votes. The body has 48 seats, nine of which are reserved for the Americas. Argentina, Mexico, Bahamas, Canada, Cuba, United States, Paraguay and El Salvador were also elected to participate in the Council.

“The result reflects the international recognition of the country's technical and balanced performance in the international agenda of connectivity and standardization of ICTs”, highlighted the National Secretary of Broadcasting, Maximiliano Martinhão, who is present at the international meeting.