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International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin speaks at the EU Digital and Cyber Diplomacy Network Visit. February 2023.

Photo ©ITU/D. Woldu                         

International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

  • Founded in 1865 in Paris as International Telegraph Union
  • Name change decided at Madrid Plenipotentiary Conference in 1932; entered into force on 1 Jan. 1934
  • Relationship Agreement with UN (1949)
  • Governing Bodies
  • Basic Texts
  • Recommendations
    • Subscription required
    • Radiocommunications (ITU-R)
    • Standardization (ITU-T) 
    • Development (ITU-D)
  • Data
  • Library and Archives

Secretaries-General of ITU

  • 2023-: Doreen Bogdan-Martin (United States of America)
  • 2014-2022 : Houlin Zhao (China)
  • 2007-2014: Hamadoun Touré (Mali) 
  • 1999-2006: Yoshio Utsumi (Japan) 
  • 1989-1999: Pekka Tarjanne (Finland) 
  • 1983-1989: Richard Edmund Butler (Australia) 
  • 1967-1982: Mohamed Ezzedine Mili (Tunisia) (Press release BIO/1068-ITU/162 [1973])
  • 1965-1967: Manohar Balaji Sarwate (India) (ITU/97-BIO/397 [1965])
  • 1958-1965: Gerald C. Gross (United States of America) (Acting)
  • 1954-1958: Marco Aurelio Andrada (Argentina) 
  • 1950-1953: Leon Mulatier (France) 
  • 1935-1949: Franz von Ernst (Switzerland) 
  • 1928-1934: Joseph Raber (Switzerland) 
  • 1921-1927: Henri Etienne (Switzerland) 
  • 1897-1921: Emile Frey (Switzerland) 
  • 1890-1897: Timothie Rothen (Switzerland) 
  • 1890: August Frey (Switzerland) 
  • 1873-1889: Louis Curchod (Switzerland) 
  • 1870-1873: Charles Lendi (Switzerland) (Acting Director 1870-1872, Director 1872-1873)
  • 1869: Louis Curchod (Switzerland)