 Welcome to the World Ready Communication Conference WRC 23 here in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates where I'm pleased to be joining the studio by Mr El Hajjar Abdul Rahman who is the Chair of Committee 6 here at the World Ready Communication Conference as well as being with the African Society of Communication Union playing a number of important roles there. Mr Abdul Rahman, welcome to the studio. Thank you. Welcome. Now, let me ask you first of all, tell us a little bit about your chair as role of the committee and what are some of the issues that your committee is focusing on and why are they important to the conference? Committee 6 is dealing with general matters and when it comes to general matters we are referring for example to the update to the radio regulation because we do not only deal with standing agenda item on specific topics but we have also the review of the existing provision the regulation so that to take into account for example if there has been some updates to the recommendation at the level of ITUR some of those recommendations are incorporated by reference in the regulation there might be a need to update them or even the resolution recommendation of previous conferences there is a need to review them so I mean the view either to revise or to approach it or to update some of the this provision. Now the World Ready Communications is a long conference that has a particular importance in ITU's calendar but it's also very much representative of ITU's multi-stakeholder approach which engages governments, regulatory authorities and industry in finding consensus on the issues that are being discussed here. How successful do you think that is? That is important because first of all the first aim of WRC is to revise the radio regulation radio regulation is a treaty it's an international treaty so it means that it involves member states at the first level but at the same time also the aim of this regulation is to cope with the trends that we have in the industry and also it's also a way of providing a means to achieve the sustainable development goals through the ICT. So therefore it's involved in a large community of people as you have indicated the governments and the industry and other civil societies and even the consumers so all these stakeholders need to get together because to find a solution we need to have the input from everyone so therefore it's a good platform for everyone to be there to be on board and to make sure that the outcome of such confidence will fit with the goals for the government and also for the peoples in general. Now you mentioned there's a large community here there's also been a big push to encourage more women to participate in this conference I wonder from your experience and from your perception how successful do you think that's been? Yes during the last regional assembly there was a good move that we had on this issue with the resolution which was adopted by the regional assembly for mainstreaming gender issues so therefore I had also been honoured in my committee to have also women taking leadership role as one of the Vice Chair for the Committee Six, Miss Tanya Villa from Mexico, she's Vice Chair for the Committee Six and also at the level of the sub-working groups we had some women which have chaired some of those groups Miss Keiko from Japan, Miss Taylor Bayenza from Tanzania so it means that there's an endeavour to have more women taking leadership role during this WRC and of course I'm sure also even looking at the attendance here there are more and more women attending such kind of gathering and it's really important to have more involvement of women in ITUR especially sector, radio sector activities I know that it's where you have less women involved in activities it's really important to have more and more women in those activities and you're not only wearing your heart and your sleeve you're wearing your band on your wrist there that says now for what does it say? Now for WRC 23 which is of course in the network of women, that's very admirable thank you very much finally is there a message that you would like to convey to the delegates here as well as to our wider audience around the world? Yes I think one of the outcome of this conference will be the Agia and the item for the next WRC and this item is this topic is really important why because it will give the guidance on the work that should be carried out by the different groups with them ITU in preparation of the next conference but ultimately this also is a way to contribute to the new landscape for ICTs and with the contribution of the spectrum in providing and achieving the goals for the SDG goals therefore there are several new topics who have been brought to this conference they are still on the discussion but hopefully by the end of the conference we'll identify what will be the major trends for the for the next year so it's regarding development in the field of tragic communications. Now briefly while we've got a little bit of time how many WRCs have you attended in the past? My first WRC was in 2003 so in Geneva and this WRC also was chair was by by by a woman Miss Fina Rawat from Canada. Indeed absolutely no no I wasn't there but but we have interviewed her in the studio as well so I just wanted to ask you your impression has it the task got easier as you've done more of these or is it equally as challenging? I think having a position of chair of committee is a challenge it's an enriching experience first of all but of course you you may have to face some challenges but I think it is something that is really interesting I've learned a lot from the process because you are working with several peoples and some of these peoples are very experienced in that field and you are all as chair of committee is just lead and to make to ensure that the rules for the for the general for the conferences apply so it was really a good experience that I had and I really liked they liked it and I'm very thankful for those who have for the for those who have with whom I have worked with as chair of the sub-working groups sub-working groups and even the secretariat because the secretariat in BR is doing a lot a lot to facilitate our life. Well thank you very much for your work here at the conference which I'm sure is highly appreciated and your presence here in the studio today we look forward to catching up with you again perhaps at the next WRC. Thank you Max. Thank you and if you've enjoyed this interview which I'm sure you will have then do check out our other interviews on our YouTube channel as well as our podcast on SoundCloud Spotify Apple podcast or wherever you listen to your podcasts and for further information visit our website at www.itu.int. Thanks for tuning in.