By: Nana
Appiah Acquaye
The African
Telecommunications Union (ATU) has secured official endorsements for all 49
African Common Proposals to the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU)
Plenipotentiary Conference 2026, with each proposal receiving more than 15
country endorsements required for submission.
The conference will take
place in Doha, Qatar, from 9 to 27 November 2026. Ghana’s latest submission
brings the number of countries providing official endorsements to 23, with
further submissions expected.
Ghana joins Algeria, Angola,
Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya,
Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Uganda and
Zimbabwe in supporting the proposals.
The endorsements follow more
than two years of negotiations through four African preparatory meetings.
Participants agreed on the form of the 49 proposals at the fourth and final
meeting in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 15 to 17 September 2026. ATU subsequently
sought formal endorsements from individual countries to qualify the proposals
for submission to the conference.
“Through this work, we want
the decisions taken in Doha to help our Member States make connectivity more
affordable, strengthen cybersecurity and secure equitable access to satellite
and orbital resources,” ATU said.
The proposals also seek
greater support for countries to use artificial intelligence for development
and protect essential infrastructure, including submarine cables, from
disruptions.
With the formal endorsements
secured, African delegations can now take these priorities into negotiations at
the ITU’s highest decision-making conference.
