Hamadoun Ibrahim Touré (born September 3, 1953) of

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

was Secretary General of the

International Telecommunication Union The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)In the other common languages of the ITU: * * is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information ...

(ITU), the

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of the

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dedicated to information and communication technologies (ICTs), from 2007 to December 2014. He was re-elected for a second four-year term in 2010. Since 2007, he has worked to fulfil ITU's mandate to 'connect the world' and help achieve the

Millennium Development Goals In the United Nations, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 created following the Millennium Summit, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. These w ...

. He has also actively promoted the ITU Connect series of events, with the first one, Connect Africa, being held in

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

and

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

, in 1997. Connect Africa raised US$55 million in investment pledges to improve Africa's telecommunication infrastructure over seven years. In the first two years, 1998 and 1999, US$22 million was invested in ICT infrastructure, mainly for mobile communications. He has also served on the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT) International Advisory Board. In May 2011, Touré was appointed the United Nations' (UN) Cybersecurity Executing Arm by the UN's Specialised Agency – International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The Memorandum of Agreement was officially signed by Touré and Datuk Mohd Noor Amin, Chairman of IMPACT at the TCU's head office in Geneva.

Biography

Hamadoun Touré holds a master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technical Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications of Leningrad as well as a doctorate from the University of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics of Moscow. He began his career in 1979 at the Office des Postes et Télécommunications du Mali. He had a distinguished career in the satellite industry, working with

Intelsat Intelsat S.A. (formerly Intel-Sat, Intelsat) is a Luxembourgish-American multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons, Virginia, United States. Originally formed ...

from 1985 to 1996 and managing its rapid expansion in Africa and the Middle East regional through connectivity projects such as RASCOM. Touré was elected as the Director of the ITU's Telecommunications Development Bureau at the 1998 Plenipotentiary Conference in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, and re-elected at the

Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...

conference in 2002. He was elected as the ITU Secretary-General at the 2006 Plenipotentiary Conference in

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

, and re-elected for a second four-year term in 2010 at the

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

conference. In 2015, following his retirement from ITU, Touré returned to Mali where he was appointed as Founding Executive Director of the SMART Africa Alliance. He is married with four children and two grandchildren, and is proficient in four official ITU languages: English, French, Russian and Spanish.

References

External links

*
itweb.co.za
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Toure, Hamadoun Malian engineers Living people 1953 births International Telecommunication Union people 21st-century Malian people