The RIPE NCC is a Sector Member of ITU-D and participates at the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), where we engage with participants and member states to advance the priorities that address the Internet-related issues in line with NCC's vision and mission.
The 9th ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-2022) was held from 6 to 16 June in Kigali, under the theme "Connecting the Unconnected to Achieve Sustainable Development, to set the development agenda and
priorities for ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) for the 2022 to
2025 period. More than 2000 delegates from 150 Member States plus over 350 sector
members participated in the conference; 45 resolutions
have been updated, and four new resolutions have been approved.
The WTDC opening plenary projected the Russian-Ukraine war discourse, where
the Ukraine delegation, supported by other member states, objected to
the nomination of Russian candidates to any position on the WTDC Committees
due to Russia’s actions in Ukraine. A secret ballot to resolve the issue resulted in not accepting the Russian appointments. This practice has become normality where
similar objections took place during WTSA & at ITU Council meetings
earlier this year.
A significant risk to RIRs at the WTDC came from resolution 63: “IP addresses
allocation and facilitating the transition to IPv6 deployment in developing
countries”. The Chinese wanted to amend resolution 63 to include an explicit
reference to IPV6+ as a technology and commercial innovation trend. Many member states and sector members, including the RIPE NCC and other RIRs, ICANN and ISOC, all opposed this proposal with the fact that IPv6+ is not a standard developed by the IETF, where technical standards should be developed, and that it is not even clearly defined and could impact the IPv6 deployment progress. In the end, the Chinese proposal was not accepted.
It’s worth noting that member states continue to disagree sharply on cybersecurity. Resolution 45 on Cybersecurity had two ad hoc groups and a lot of informal discussions. Several proposals referencing UN processes, the need for the ITU to serve as a platform, and cybercrime references were removed, and only four proposed consensus texts were retained.
As a sector member of ITU-D, we will remain engaged with ITU-D meetings and study groups and update NCC management and the RIPE community on any developments. Some excellent team efforts from colleagues from ARIN, AFRINIC, and ISOC are to be
highlighted. Thanks for all; our
involvement and joint efforts have paid off, which is a great result.
Best Regards,
Chafic