On November 1, 2018, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference held the next Secretary - General's election in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with 178 member countries voting. China's current ITU Secretary - General Zhao Houlin was recommended as the only candidate for the post of Secretary - General and won a 176 - vote re-election to the next Secretary - General.

On behalf of the Chinese delegation, Chen Zhaoxiong, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, warmly congratulated Zhao Houlin on its re-election as Secretary - General of the ITU and thanked member states for their trust and support for Secretary - General Zhao Houlin. Chen Zhaoxiong said that China will fully support the ITU to play an important role with all member states. In the next four years, the Chinese government will continue to contribute US $ 2 million to the ITU to promote efforts related to bridging the digital divide and to help upgrade the informatization level of developing countries. I look forward to Secretary - General Zhao Houlin leading the ITU to achieve new achievements in promoting the development of global information and communications and serving the digital transformation of the economy and society in the new term.

After his election, Zhao Houlin thanked the Chinese government for nominating him as a candidate for Secretary General of the ITU. He said that in the past 20 years, modern information and communication technologies and services have developed rapidly around the world and achieved remarkable results. At present, the number of telephone users in the world has reached more than 7 billion, and the number of Internet users is nearly 4 billion. However, achieving the goal of connecting all people around the world still faces challenges and much remains to be done. Zhao Houlin said that the ITU has made great contributions to the development of information and communication technology. He will lead the ITU to continue to strengthen cooperation with member states and partners, enhance work transparency and efficiency, and build a stronger ITU to provide more effective services to the global information and communication industry and the information society.

The ITU is the specialized agency of United Nations in charge of information and communication technology, responsible for allocating and managing global radio spectrum and satellite orbit resources, developing global telecommunication standards, providing telecommunication assistance to developing countries and promoting global telecommunication development. Zhao Houlin joined the ITU as a general official in 1986, was elected Director of Telecommunications Standardization Bureau and Deputy Secretary - General of the ITU after 1998, and was elected the first Chinese Secretary - General in the 150 - year history of the ITU in 2014. The new term of office of the Secretary - General will officially begin on January 1, 2019 for a period of four years.

(Translated by Jenny Liu)