Mr. Houlin Zhao has served as Deputy Secretary-General of the
ITU since 2006 and was re-elected for a second four-year term in October 2010.
He served as Director of ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau from
1999-2006.
A graduate
of China's Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications with an MSc from
the UK's University of Essex, Mr. Zhao has spent most of his career working in
the international arena. His leadership is characterized by a tireless
commitment to further streamlining ITU's efficiency, strengthening its
membership base and enhancing strategic partnership between Member States and
Sector Members. He has helped ITU enhance its level of international
cooperation with other international organizations and is dedicated to
harnessing technology to bridge the gap between developing and developed
countries.
He is
married with one son and two grandchildren, and is fluent in three official ITU
languages: English, French and Chinese.
To listen to
the interview, click on this MP3 file link
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blog on the interview can be found in the IT Manager's Blog where you can
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PARTIAL
EXTRACTS AND QUOTES FROM THE EXTENSIVE DISCUSSIONS:
Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic
:00:33:
What are your specific goals for the ITU in 2015 and for the next several
years?
"....The ITU set up a strategic plan for the next four years so my main
task is to implement those strategic plans. ITU, as the specialized UN agency
responsible for IC telecomm, our commitment is to connect people in this
connected world...."
:01:37:
In what ways can the ITU benefit business enterprises?
"..... We are very pleased with our cooperation with them because it is
our business family who offer telecomm ICT services to serve our planet and
humanity...."
:02:44:
How can global companies align with the ITU?
"....Without ITU's contribution of international standards we may not
have the same telecomm services today. We know that with the standards we also
need a very good environment, so ITU takes on the task to facilitate market
development with fair competition - a favorable environment to invest and to
encourage investment....Also today no technology can be really effective and
efficient without proper spectrum co-ordination and we are very proud that ITU
is still considered the only competent place to take care of the world spectrum
co-ordination issues. I think industry needs ITU and ITU also relies on the
industry for implementation of new technologies and we all benefit from this
co-operation...."
:05:19:
In what ways can the ITU benefit Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in a way
that is different from the benefits for large enterprises?
"....I see the new potential and it is clear to me that it is very
beneficial to work with them and help them and try to find a way to strengthen
their power so that they can grow up very quickly and become stronger. I firmly
believe that with the development of SMEs and the local entrepreneurs (with
their economic power and with their new ideas), the country and the region will
benefit from their contributions....If we offer them the opportunity to have a
bigger chance to network in different countries or even different regions I
feel that they may become much stronger more quickly than we could think about.
I would like to see if ITU could work with our members to create a new environment
to facilitate their interaction among themselves, to facilitate them to get
access to the rest of the world and also to show their potential to the big
companies for potential partnerships with the big guys (or even partnership
among themselves would also be very good for them)...."
:10:42:
What do you see as some ICT opportunities for government, industry, and
academia?
"....ITU is the specialized agency for the United Nations and we have
governments as our members. We see the very important role that governments
have to facilitate ICT and technology development. I don't think that anything
can be really successful if the government is not supportive of development.
Government roles include policy making roles, regulation roles and facilitator
roles....ITU also has a long tradition of working with industry members. They
are very active in ITU in all activities including standardization activities,
in spectrum co-ordination activities, market facilitating activities - they are
almost everywhere and we are very pleased with our co-operation with
them....Academia is a new area we started to work with. I found that they have
a lot of advanced technology projects in their laboratories or their research
areas and some of them are very close to our standardization-making process
project at ITU so it would be useful to bring them close to us, to bring the
academic family close...."
:15:26:
How might ITU promote, within its many activities, professionalism in the
practice of ICT?
"....In order to reach the maturity of our technologies and also reach
the maturity status of our market we really need our experts, engineers and
teaching meccas to show their maximum proficiency and professional skills. It's
quite important for us to look at this issue and try to work with our members
to increase those skills and proficiencies...."
:17:02:
You were the keynote for IFIP WITFOR 2009 in Vietnam at the invitation of Leon
Strous, IFIP President. How do you further plan to work with organizations like
IFIP?
"....We have developed a lot of good co-operation with many partners
relative to ICT technologies and services, but it's still not enough....In many
countries in the world we have associations for engineers, associations for
teachers, associations for professors, associations for researchers, etc. -
these kinds of associations I think are one of the areas we have to take the
opportunity to co-operate with because they have very high expertise and they
have a lot of experience and a lot of strategic views for the future of our ICT
technology development...."
:20:55:
I sit on the practitioner board of the ACM and chair their professional
development group. What benefits can the ITU offer to ACM and its members?
"....For such kinds of computing associations there must be a lot of
ideas and innovations and I think that it will be useful for us to try to
co-operate with them to make our co-operations beneficial to both
sides...."
:24:56:
What added notable story (something amazing, interesting or amusing) or closing
thoughts you wish to share?
"....I am really excited with the challenge of my job starting at the
first of January of 2015. In the areas I visit, quite a number of areas are
still not covered by mobile phone signals and some countries still have their
telephone penetration less than 30 percent today. You may not believe that
exists, but this is true and in some areas communication is still very
difficult. In some villages in the African continent the villagers within 40
kilometers walking distance share one communication center where they can come
to see the so-called internet or the laptop....There is still a lot of
disparity and I think it is really important for us to work together to try to
improve the current situation...."
:29:41:
Houlin, with your demanding schedule, we are indeed
fortunate to have you come in to do this interview. Thank you for sharing your
deep experiences with our audience.