HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

, image = Houlin Zhao (2017).jpg , alt = , caption = Zhao in 2017 , order = Secretary-General of the
ITU The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Union ...
, term_start = 1 January 2015 , predecessor =
Hamadoun Touré Hamadoun Ibrahim Touré (born September 3, 1953) of Mali was Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to information and communication technologies (ICTs), from ...
, alma_mater =
University of Essex The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of E ...
, UK
Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China , birth_date = , birth_place = Gaoyou, Jiangsu, China , nationality =
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...
Houlin Zhao ( zh, 赵厚麟) is the Secretary-General of the
International Telecommunication Union The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Union ...
(ITU). He was first elected at the 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference in
Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...
, and re-elected at the 2018 Plenipotentiary Conference in
Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics o ...
. ITU is the specialized
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...
Agency for
Information and Communication Technology Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computers ...
(ICT), working on promotion, collaboration, and standardization.


Background

Zhao was born on 7 March 1950 in
Gaoyou Gaoyou (), is a county-level city under the administration of Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, China, located in the Yangtze River Delta on the north side of the Yangtze River. History Recent archaeological finds at the Longqiuzhuang site in Gaoyou ...
,
Yangzhou Yangzhou, postal romanization Yangchow, is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province (Suzhong), East China. Sitting on the north bank of the Yangtze, it borders the provincial capital Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Y ...
in
Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ...
province. Houlin Zhao graduated from the Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and holds a Master of Science degree in Telematics from the University of Essex, UK. He is married and has one son and two grandchildren. He is fluent in three of the official UN languages – English, French and Chinese.


Early career

From 1986 to 1992, Zhao was a senior staff member in what was then the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee (known under its French acronym CCITT), and from 1993 to 1998 in ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, TSB. Before joining ITU, Zhao served as an engineer in the Design Institute of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of China, taking an active role in his country's expert meetings on telecommunication standards and national plans, as well as participating in ITU's technical Study Group meetings as a Chinese delegate. He contributed seminal articles to a number of prestigious Chinese technical publications, and in 1985 was awarded a prize for his achievements in science and technology with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Zhao was elected Director of ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau in Minneapolis, USA in 1998 and re-elected for a second term in Marrakech, Morocco in 2002. During this period, he led consensus based discussions between ITU, the
International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in Ar ...
(ISO), and the
International Electrotechnical Commission The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC; in French: ''Commission électrotechnique internationale'') is an international standards organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and ...
(IEC) on developing and publishing ‘common terms’ on ‘technically aligned texts’ of standards of these organizations, harmonizing policy approaches to intellectual property rights. This led to the adoption of a Common Patent Policy for ITU/ISO/IEC still in use today. During his term of office, he also spearheaded the introduction of new efficiency measures to improve ITU's standards-making environment and strengthen its promotion. He enhanced the strategic partnership between Member States and Sector Members, while initiating and maintaining good relationships with industry members. Under his leadership, ITU enhanced its level of international cooperation with other standards development organizations, and was instrumental in helping bridge the standardization gap between developing and developed countries.


ITU Deputy Secretary-General

Houlin Zhao was elected ITU Deputy Secretary-General at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Antalya, Turkey, in 2006, and was re-elected for a second four-year term at the Plenipotentiary Conference in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2010. As Deputy Secretary-General, he assisted the Secretary-General, Dr. Hamadoun I. Touré, and coordinated with the other elected officials in successfully managing ITU's activities and strategies, and maintaining good contacts with members, both national delegations and industry members. He oversaw the intersectoral coordination of projects and programmes on areas such as the
World Summit on the Information Society The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was a two-phase United Nations-sponsored summit on information, communication and, in broad terms, the information society that took place in 2003 in Geneva and in 2005 in Tunis. WSIS Forums hav ...
(WSIS) process, climate change and emergency telecommunications, and accessibility for persons with disabilities (PwD). He also supervised membership reform with the introduction of academic institutions to ITU's membership, implemented ‘market price’ and ‘membership priorities’. He also led an ITU delegation to participate in the
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also known as Rio 2012, Rio+20 (), or Earth Summit 2012 was the third international conference on sustainable development aimed at reconciling the economic and environmental goals ...
(Rio+20), held in Brazil, in June 2012. The resulting outcome document — "The Future We Want" — repeatedly highlights the importance of ICT for sustainable development and underlines the need to improve access to ICT, especially broadband networks and services, and to bridge the digital divide.


ITU Secretary-General

Mr Zhao was elected ITU Secretary-General on 23 October 2014. Speaking after his election, Mr Zhao said, "I feel deeply moved that you have unanimously and enthusiastically elected me as the new Secretary-General of ITU, entrusting me the honour of leading our beloved organization for the next four years. I sincerely thank all of you for your confidence in me." Addressing the conference after the vote, Zhao told some 2,000 conference participants from around the world that he would do his best to "fulfil ITU's mission, and, through our close cooperation, ensure ITU delivers services to the global telecommunication and information society at the highest level of excellence." According to a pre-election interview with ITU News, Zhao's top priorities at ITU Secretary-General are: ITU membership, ITU's effectiveness and ICT promotion. At the 2018 Plenipotentiary Conference in
Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics o ...
, Zhao was reelected for a second term at Secretary-General.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhao, Houlin International Telecommunication Union people 1950 births Living people Engineers from Jiangsu