UN agency teams with Japanese university to boost technology transfer in Asia-Pacific

The United Nations telecommunications agency today signed an agreement with a Japanese university to boost training in the management of telecommunication networks and services in the Asia and Pacific region.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Waseda University in Tokyo calls for the school to provide academic expertise and technical assistance in new technologies and distance-learning, primarily to senior managers and executives drawn from private and public organizations in the ICT sector in the Asia and Pacific region.

"This partnership between the ITU and an academic institution brings a new dimension towards creating an environment in which relevant information and knowledge may be more readily accessed and exchanged" said the head of the ITU, Yoshio Utsumi when signing the MoU. "In today's global and networked economies, knowledge is a main weapon of success. To enable developing economies to compete fairly in this new environment, human resource development must be improved in quantum terms."

The ITU, which became a specialized UN agency in 1947, is composed of 189 Member States and over 655 sector members representing public and private companies and organizations. They cooperate to develop telecommunications technology and to harmonize national telecommunication policies.