Ethiopia will host the 2021 World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), as approved by the International Telecommunication Union, ITU, at the request of the African nation.
The event takes place in 2021 and will be the first time an African country is hosting it.
The International Telecommunication Union Council meeting in Geneva (2019) approved the choice of Ethiopia unanimously according to Getahun Mekuria, Minister of Innovation and Technology, who was in Geneva.
WTDC happens every 4 years and since its establishment in 1994, it will see for the first time an African country as host in 2021.
Ethiopia has in the past few months been beneficiary to major international meetings increasing the diplomatic and hospitality profile of its capital Addis Ababa, which is seat of the African Union and other United Nations offices.
In May, Addis Ababa hosted the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day event which brought together major stakeholders over a three-day period.
Before May, the Prime Minister had announced that Ethiopia had been awarded hosting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, on Africa meeting for 2020. Abiy attended his first WEF meeting in Davos early this year.
Addis Ababa was earlier this month chosen to host the next gathering of world football governing body’s supreme legislative body, the FIFA Congress.
The announcement of the 70th FIFA Congress taking place in Addis Ababa was made at the end of the 69th Congress which took place in the French capital, Paris.
According to Chief of Staff of the AU Chairperson, Congress will take place at the Union’s headquarters in May 2020.
Credits to Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban