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Blessings Chidakwa

Herald Reporter

RIDING on the crest of President Mnangagwa’s engagement and re-engagement policy, Education 5.0 model and Zimbabwe is open for business mantra, Zimbabweans are scaling dizzy heights on international platforms.

Speaking after paying a courtesy call on President Mnangagwa at State House in Harare yesterday, Zimbabwean telecommunications expert, Dr Cosmas Zavazava, who raised the country’s flag high when he was elected director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) last month, said Zimbabweans have been doing well since the advent of the Second Republic.

Dr Zavazava beat five other candidates to clinch the top post during the ITU plenipotentiary conference in Bucharest, Romania. The ITU is a specialised organisation of the United Nations (UN) responsible for all matters related to information and communication technologies (ICT).

As BDT director, Dr Zavazava will be in charge of the development arm of the ITU, which facilitates development projects in developing countries, small island developing states and underdeveloped areas of the world.

“The President naturally wants to see his people progressing and also taking centre stage in the international community,” said Dr Zavazava, who is Africa’s only representative in the top five of the world ITU.

The telecommunications expert said he won courtesy of the engagement policy of President Mnangagwa.

“Due to his efforts and those of the Government to engage and re-engage, we have been able to be recognised by the international community.

“It is not an easy task to win this kind of an election, so our diplomacy is working and the world recognises the talent that the country has,” he said.

Dr Zavazava said his election to the post was not only of paramount importance to himself, but the nation at large.

“We are in the digital age and anything that happens within the spectrum of the digital economy is important.

“Being there in the top management of the ITU, which is a specialised agency of the United Nations and leading and impacting the world is a great deal for the country and for Africa,” he said.

During the ITU elections, Dr Zavazava led the first two rounds of voting, but failed to garner the 50 percent plus one vote threshold in both rounds.

This forced the election to the decisive third round, where he polled 101 votes to comprehensively beat Bahamas’ Stephen Bereaux, who got 63 votes.

Four African countries, Cameroon, Gambia, Congo Brazzaville and Zimbabwe fielded candidates.

The BDT, which Dr Zavazava leads, is the development arm of the ITU which facilitates projects in developing countries, small islands and other underdeveloped areas.

The ITU convenes the Plenipotentiary Conference every four years to elect its secretary-general, deputy secretary-general and directors of its three units: Radio Communication Bureau, Telecommunication Standardisation Bureau and Telecommunication Development Bureau.

Prior to his election, Dr Zavazava was the chief of department, Partnerships for Digital Development in the BDT responsible for strategic partnerships, engagement with industry and the private sector, resource mobilisation and projects implementation.