 Welcome to the World Rady Communication Conference 2023, WRC 23 here in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where I'm joining the studio this afternoon by Cindy Cook, who is the Director of International Spectrum and Standards for ICED Innovation, Science and Economic Development for Canada. Cindy, welcome to the studio. Thank you for having me. Now, in your opinion, I wanted to ask you, why is the World Rady Communication Conference an important conference for the world? So in my view, it's an important conference for the world for a number of reasons, but primarily because this is the only place where we make changes to the international regulations that govern the use of spectrum. It's also the only place where we harmonize the use of spectrum. So throughout the cycle, there's always new innovations that are coming in technology and systems and services. And if we want to bring those to the world, we need to accommodate those within the spectrum that we have while ensuring that we protect the services that are already existing there. So it's a big step in that direction. And as I said, harmonization is very important. And this is the only place where we do it in the ITUR, the WRC. And harmonization is important because it allows us to provide affordable connectivity. So it brings in that element of affordability when you can provide services throughout the world. Now, apart from being here with us at Canada, part of the Canadian delegation, you've got other roles here as well. Perhaps you could tell us a little bit about them and how they affect the work of the conference here. Sure. So this cycle, this last four years, I was the chair of CPM 23, so the conference preparatory meeting, which is the group that develops the foundational text that is used for decisions that are going to be made here. So we began four years ago with our first meeting where we took all the agenda items that are being discussed and assigned those to ITUR working parties where they could perform the studies and develop the methods that are going to be examined, the potential resolutions to the various agenda items. So I followed all of that work that was being done over the last four years, providing advice and help where I could. And it was a particularly difficult cycle with COVID, but COVID did force us all into virtual and hybrid meetings, which sounds horrible, but was an opportunity for a lot more delegates to participate in the work. And I believe that that resulted in us having the largest second CPM meeting ever, not just in terms of delegates. We had over 1,900, but also in terms of the number of input contributions that we had and the involvement of more of the people. The output of that meeting is the foundation for a lot of the proposals that have been made here. And then at this WRC 23, I am the chair of committee three, which is the budget control committee. The committee is responsible for keeping track of the expenses of the conference. So we examined those, approved those, and then report on the progress of those expenses or how are we tracking for the WRC and present that to Plenary. And as well, we will report on any financial implications of the decisions that are being made by the other committees. So decisions that are being made on the agenda items in committee five and six and four may have a financial impact on the union. So we will need to take a look at those. Now, I know you've been involved with WRC for many years, but there has been a big push to increase the participation of women at WRC. I wanted to ask you how successful do you think it's that's been? So that push has been ongoing for quite a number of years. As I'm sure many people have told you, it was 20 years ago that Vina Rowett chaired, was the first woman to chair a world radio conference. But that was it for a long time. And I think we've seen a lot of progress in the last four years. Not only do we have a woman as our secretary general, it's also the Carol Wilson was the first woman to chair an RA. I was the first woman to chair a CPM. And then at this WRC, three out of the seven committee chairs are women for the first time ever. So that's a lot of progress. And I think if we want to encourage women to pursue these leadership positions and any type of active positions in the ITU, we need to create an environment where they feel welcome to provide their views, where they think they're being heard and appreciated. And there's a number of ways that we have been able to start creating that environment. One, of course, was at the last WRC when we had the declaration on promoting gender equality, equity, and parity in the ITUR. And I chaired that at the last WRC. We spent a lot of time working on a resolution over the last four years that was adopted at RA 23 two weeks ago, which is awesome. And another development that helps create that environment is the recent council decision to follow the UN guidance on gender inclusive language. So now in the ITU style guide for the English language, we use, for example, the word chair instead of chairman, which just helps create that environment. Another step we have to start taking going forward now is to implement what's in that resolution. And one of the things that we are called to do is to encourage more women to take on positions within the ITUR. And that means that we need to start encouraging them to put their hands up, to volunteer, to be put forward. But not just them. We also need to ensure that their bosses, that their administrations and companies support them in doing so. So I'm looking forward to our next steps to implement that resolution. And send them to conferences such as this, obviously. Oh, exactly. In different types of positions. So they can be here as a spokesperson for a particular agenda item or as a rapporteur or to chair anything from a drafting group to hopefully someday another World Radio Conference. Let's hope so, too. Absolutely. So in terms of the World Radio Conference itself, what impact do you think the outcomes of this conference will have for the future radio communications? So I think that the outcomes of this conference have the potential to have a large impact on how we communicate, how the world communicates, as well as an impact on creating an environment where new technologies, new applications can emerge that will benefit society and the world. We also have the opportunity to create an environment where billions of dollars of investment can take place to provide broadband connectivity, to increase the connectivity that we have today in areas of our countries that are unserved, in areas of the world that are unserved. So it's a fantastic opportunity to create that type of environment for the world and to an environment where all of these new ideas that people have can come to fruition. So I'm excited to be a part of that and excited to be a part of the activities that are taking place here. We're very pleased to have had you here in the studio, Cindy Cook. Thank you so much for joining us in the studio today. Thank you for having me. And if you've enjoyed this interview, then do check out our other interviews on our YouTube channel, as well as our podcasts on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts. And for further information, why not visit our website at www.itu.int. Thanks for tuning in.