was 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 Unio ...

(ITU) from 1998 to 2006.

Early life and education

Yoshio Utsumi was born in 1942 in

Takamatsu 270px, Takamatsu City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Takamatsu city center 270px, View from Yashima to Takashima port is a city located in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 414,134 in 190120 households and a popul ...

, a city in

Kagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kagawa Prefecture has a population of 949,358 (as of 2020) and is the smallest prefecture by geographic area at . Kagawa Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the southwest and Tok ...

on the Japanese island of

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...

. He obtained a Bachelor in Law degree from the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

in 1965, and a Master of Arts in Political Science degree from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

in 1972. He is married to his wife Masako, an architect. They have a son and a daughter.

Career

Utsumi worked for the Japanese

Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications may refer to: * Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, Bangladesh * (1949–1998) * Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (Japan) (1946–2001) * Ministry of Posts and Telecommu ...

in various high level posts, including helping liberalize Japan's telecommunications market, serving as director-general of the ministry, and serving as first secretary of the Japanese mission to the ITU for 3 years, before he moved to the post of ITU secretary-general in 1998.

International Telecommunication Union

Utsumi had already contributed to the ITU before joining the organisation. He spent three years, from 1978 onward, as First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Japan in charge of ITU affairs in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, elected as its Chairman at the 1994 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference was held in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

where he witnessed the approval of a Japanese proposal for the creation of the ITU's World Telecommunication Policy Forum (WTPF). In 1998, Utsumi was elected as ITU Secretary-General at the

Plenipotentiary Conference The expression Plenipotentiary Conference (of conference of plenipotentiaries) is used to refer to some diplomatic conference integrated by diplomats invested with the full power of independent action on behalf of their country's government. In the ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. He was elected for a second term at the 2002 conference in

Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...

. He was not a candidate for reelection in 2006 as the ITU rules do permit more than 2 consecutive periods as secretary-general. His tenure was marked by achieving significant cost-savings within the organisation and the organisation of the United Nations' World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), whose first gathering took place in two phases, in Geneva in 2003 and

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

in 2005 and involved more than 30,000 attendees, including around one hundred Heads of State and Government. Utsumi introduced measures that led to a nineteen-percent increase in private sector membership of ITU.

Awards and honors

In April 2013 he was awarded The Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six classes, the lowest ...

in recognition of his achievements.Yoshio Utsumi honored with “The Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure
Japan Telecommunications Engineering and Consulting Service (JTEC) Awarded IEEE Honorary Membership, 2015

References

1942 births Living people Japanese diplomats Japanese government officials International Telecommunication Union people {{japan-politician-1940s-stub