Secretary-General of International Telecommunications Union to visit Finland at invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen and Minister of Transport and Communications Lulu Ranne
Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen, Minister of Transport and Communications Lulu Ranne and Director General of the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom Jarkko Saarimäki will meet Secretary-General of International Telecommunications Union Doreen Bogdan-Martin in Helsinki on 6 May 2025.
Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union ITU, will visit Finland on 6 May 2025 at the invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen and Minister of Transport and Communications Lulu Ranne. ITU is a specialized agency of the United Nations tasked with coordinating telecommunications networks and services internationally.
The topics to be discussed at the official meetings include questions related to the regulation of the radio spectrum, security of digital infrastructure and significance of the long-term international standardisation work of ITU for the telecommunications sector.
Finland wants to be active in ITU’s work especially in matters where we have core competence, such as the development of 6G technologies, and is making efforts to bring the knowledge and skills of Finnish companies into the development work. It is highly important that digital infrastructure and mobile networks are safe, secure, reliable, resilient and competitive in order to be able to meet the needs of the future.
The recent damages to critical underwater telecommunications infrastructure in the Baltic Sea and harmful interference with the radio spectrum further stress how important it is to improve the resilience of digital infrastructure.
This will be Secretary-General Bogdan-Martin’s first visit to Finland. Besides the meetings with ministers and public officials, she will visit the head office of the technology company Nokia and meet Sari Baldauf, Chair of Nokia’s Board of Directors. Her journey also includes visits to Sweden and Denmark.
The core tasks of ITU include the standardization of information and communication technologies, international agreements on the use of the radio spectrum and support for developing countries to promote the accessibility, safety and security of technologies. ITU aims to ensure that digital infrastructure is globally interoperable and promotes the sustainable development goals. ITU is the oldest UN specialized agency, celebrating its 160th anniversary this year. This will also be honoured during the visit.
Inquiries:
Janne Hirvonen, Desk Officer, Unit for Technology and Sustainability, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 295 350 072
Kaisa Kopra, Chief Specialist, Data, Safety and Security Department, Ministry of Transport and Communications, tel. +358 295 342 066
Mervi Kaikkonen, Head of International Affairs, Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom, tel. +358 295 346 030
The email addresses of the ministries are in the format [email protected]. The email addresses of Traficom are in the format [email protected].