ITU's 2012 Global Standards Symposium concluded successfully

Nasser bin Obood chaired the day-long meeting that covered three major areas including the challenges to standardisation in the ICT and telecommunications industries, the opportunities that cooperation can deliver in areas including healthcare, transportation and utilities, and strategies for bridging the gaps in establishing standards across regions and markets.

In his role as Head of the World Telecommunication standardization Assembly (WTSA), Etisalat's Chief Government Relations and Communications Officer will now will present the conclusions of the GSS to the first Plenary meeting of the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA), which starts today, also in Dubai.

Bin Obood said: "Emerging economies are well poised to rapidly become the hotbeds of innovation. There are potentially huge opportunities waiting to be tapped in these markets if consumer behaviour and needs are well understood and if specifically designed products can be made available for them. The Etisalat Group is well placed to support innovation in the Middle East, Africa and Asia and through supporting events such as the ITU's GSS and WTSA we are helping to promote an effective ecosystem that will help change the living conditions for people around the world."

This is the ITU's second Global Standards Symposium. It is a one-day event where ministers, regulators, heads of other international, regional and major national standards bodies, and industry from the different regions of the world meet to discuss global ICT standards challenges, with a focus on the intersection of the ICT sector with other vertical sectors.

Nasser was joined in the inaugural session by auspicious industry statesmen including H.E. Mr Mohamed Ghanim, Director General, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, United Arab Emirates; Dr Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General, ITU; Mr Malcolm Johnson, Director, ITU/TSB; and H.E. Mr Nguyen Thanh Hung, Vice-Minister, Ministry of Information and Communications, Vietnam, and Chair of GSS 2008.

Earlier this year Etisalat partnered with the ITU and TRA to host the annual ITU World Conference in Dubai. This is part of a three month engagement that is bringing the world's most influential stakeholders from across the ICT sector to the UAE between October and December 2012.