Doreen Bogdan Martin will be the first woman to lead the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), following elections that took place on September 29, during ITU’s Plenipotentiary Conference in Bucharest, Romania.

Martin won the position with 139 votes out of 172 votes.

"Whether it's today's children or our children's children, we need to provide them with a strong and stable foundation for growth," Bogdan-Martin said. "The world is facing significant challenges – escalating conflicts, a climate crisis, food security, gender inequalities, and 2.7 billion people with no access to the Internet. I believe we, the ITU and our members, have an opportunity to make a transformational contribution. Continuous innovation can and will be a key enabler to facilitate resolution of many of these issues."

Prior to the development, Ms Bogdan-Martin held leadership positions in international telecommunications policy for over two decades.

Throughout her career, she has brokered innovative and visionary partnerships with the private sector, civil society, and other United Nations agencies to accelerate digital inclusion and connectivity.

Her four year term as ITU Secretary General begins January 1, 2023, and she has pledged to "continue driving this institution to be innovative and increasingly relevant for our member states, better positioning all of us to embrace the digital environment and make progress on achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals and connecting the unconnected.”

Martin will replace Houlin Zhao, who has held the position for the past eight years.

Just recently, President Paul Kagame conferred one of the country’s highest honours to Zhao, at the head of state’s office in Kigali.

His induction to the National Order of Honour came during the second week of ITU's World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), which brought digital leaders and decision-makers and other stakeholders to Kigali for high-level global discussions.

It was the first WTDC taking place in Africa since the establishment of ITU’s Development sector in 1992.