U.S. Support for ITU Secretary General Candidacy of Doreen Bogdan-Martin

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

I am pleased to announce U.S. support for the candidacy of Doreen Bogdan-Martin to become the next Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).  Ms. Bogdan-Martin is a deeply experienced and widely admired expert on global communications issues. She has served at the ITU for 28 years, including in senior leadership positions since 2008.  She is currently the Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, where she is leading efforts to transform the global digital landscape to improve connectivity, close gaps in infrastructure, elevate youth voices, and make the digital future more inclusive and sustainable for all.

If elected, Ms. Bogdan-Martin would be the first woman to lead the ITU, an organization critical for the future of information and communication technologies and to closing digital divides. With origins dating to the telegraph era, the ITU exists to foster the connectivity and interoperability of the world’s telecommunications networks. It does important work in support of radio spectrum management, telecommunications standards, and critical development initiatives to close the digital divide.  Responsible, forward-looking, and transparent leadership of the ITU is vital to the U.S. telecommunications industry, as well as U.S. defense, intelligence, and aeronautics agencies.

Doreen Bogdan-Martin is the right leader at the right time for the ITU, and I am proud to endorse her candidacy on behalf of the United States.