During the meeting, the President welcomed the Secretary-General in Vilnius and stressed that Lithuania is a committed partner of the International Telecommunication Union and will always be active in telecommunication and digital transformation policies.
“We are doing a great deal in our country to reduce social exclusion. In these times of technological development, it is important that the digital divide does not become a factor that increases social exclusion. I am delighted that today we are launching an initiative to improve digital skills among the elderly,” the President said at the meeting.
According to Gitanas Nausėda, Lithuania has contributed with its expertise to a report on the damage caused to Ukraine’s telecommunications sector as a result of Russia’s aggression; Lithuania also provides medium-wave radio broadcasting from its territory to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. The President called on the ITU to work closely with member states, other stakeholders, and the Ukrainian authorities in order to restore Ukraine’s telecommunication infrastructure.
Gitanas Nausėda also introduced the Secretary-General to the specificities of the region, which might have a negative impact on the development of 5G telecommunication networks in the country. Kaliningrad, situated at the heart of the European Union and NATO, could affect not only Lithuania’s but also entire Europe’s efforts to harmonize the use of radio frequency bands necessary for mobile communications. The International Telecommunication Union has a key role to play in this respect, by setting the rules by which neighboring countries harmonize and use radio frequencies for both civil and defense purposes. “We hope that the ITU will support equal opportunities and access for all countries to use radio frequencies for the development of communications in their countries, especially in cases where an agreement between neighboring countries is not possible,” President Gitanas Nausėda underlined.
The Head of State invited ITU Secretary-General to attend the Three Seas Initiative Summit Business Forum to be held in Vilnius in the spring of 2024 under the Lithuanian presidency of the Three Seas Initiative. At the meeting, the President also pointed out that Lithuanian business has great ambitions in telecommunications and can be a partner to the ITU business community.
