Russian Premier Vladimir Putin meets ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré -

16 June 2011
Russian Premier Vladimir Putin meets ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré -

Photo copyright ActionPress/Virot

Geneva, 15 June 2011 - ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré met with Mr Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation during a historic visit to UN Headquarters in Geneva, where they discussed global access to the benefits of information and communication technologies (ICT).

Russia has long been a supporter of ITU and was one of its founding members nearly 150 years ago.

Prime Minister Putin reaffirmed his support and that of the Russian Federation to ITU and to the growth and development of the ICT sector. He said Russia was determined to contribute to the work of the Union and to strengthen the collaboration with the organization. Mr Putin referred to the importance of information technologies, in particular Internet services, which have a key position on the international agenda. He said that when we are talking about the democratization of international relations, we cannot ignore information technology.