Houlin Zhao of China. Photo: ITU

Member States of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have re-elected China’s Houlin Zhao as ITU Secretary-General during the Union’s 20th Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-18) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The election took place during the Plenary session of the PP-18 conference. Zhao, an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) engineer who has served in a variety of senior management positions at ITU, will begin his second, and last four-year term on Jan. 1 2019.

“We continue to connect the unconnected,” said Zhao. “We are strengthening partnerships to implement our common vision of a connected world, where information and communication technology is a source for good for everyone everywhere.”

Prior to first being elected as ITU Secretary General in 2014, Zhao served eight years as ITU Deputy Secretary-General. He also served two elected terms as Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB), which develops technical standards to ensure worldwide ICT interoperability. Before that, he was a Senior Counsellor with TSB for 12 years.