#International Telecommunication Union

[documenting-apartheid]

JUNE 21, 2024 - "Israel opposed a proposal at a recent United Nations forum aimed at rebuilding the Gaza Strip’s war-ravaged telecommunications infrastructure on the grounds that Palestinian connectivity is a readymade weapon for Hamas."

"The resolution, which was drafted by Saudi Arabia for last week’s U.N. International Telecommunication Union summit in Geneva, is aimed at returning internet access to Gaza’s millions of disconnected denizens."

“Based on this rationale, Gaza will never have internet,”

"Marwa Fatafta, a policy adviser with the digital rights group Access Now, told The Intercept, adding that Israel’s position is not only incoherent but inherently disproportionate."

“You can’t punish the entire civilian population just because you have fears of one Palestinian faction.”

"Israel’s monthslong bombardment of the enclave has severed fiber cables, razed cellular towers, and generally wrecked the physical infrastructure required to communicate with loved ones and the outside world."

"A disconnected Gaza Strip also threatens to add to the war’s already staggering death toll. Though Israel touts its efforts to warn civilians of impending airstrikes, such warnings are relayed using the very cellular and internet connections the country’s air force routinely levels. It is a cycle of data degradation that began at the war’s start: The more Israel bombs, the harder it is for Gazans to know they are about to be bombed."

The United States, which has previously harshly condemned Russia for national internet disruptions in Ukraine, told the Council that it could not support the resolution as it was drafted because it "disagreed with some of the characterizations", specifically the language blaming the destruction of Gaza and the forced use of obsolete technology on Israel.

"Whether or not the U.S. ultimately voted for the resolution — the State Department did not respond when asked — it appears to have been successful in weakening the version that was ultimately approved by the ITU. The version that did pass was stripped of any explicit mention of Israel’s role in destroying and otherwise thwarting Gazan internet access, and refers obliquely only to “​the obstacles practiced in preventing the use of new communication technologies.”

[theleadersglobe]

China Advances 6G Standards with International Recognition

China has taken a major leap in the global race for next-generation telecommunications by establishing three crucial 6G technological standards under the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). These new standards represent a significant step toward shaping the international framework for 6G, putting China at the forefront of the future of telecommunications. 

Endorsed on July 26 during a plenary meeting of the ITU’s Telecommunication Standardisation Sector study group, these standards are designed to align with the International Mobile Telecommunications 2030 framework. The focus is on improving immersive communication, ultra-reliable low-latency connections, and the seamless integration of artificial intelligence. These advancements will pave the way for new services requiring high bandwidth, reliability, and minimal latency, making them a cornerstone of the future global telecommunications landscape.

Read More: https://theleadersglobe.com/science-technology/china-advances-6g-standards-with-international-recognition/

[southsouthcooperationday]

Multi-stakeholder round table 8: Science, technology, innovation and capacity-building.

7th Plenary meeting (continued) - Round table at the First Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 22-26 July 2024. The Addis Ababa Action Agenda (Addis Agenda) recognizes science, technology, innovation (STI), an...

Watch the Multi-stakeholder round table 8: Science, technology, innovation and capacity-building!

[autismday]

Immersive inclusivity: Enhancing virtual worlds with accessibility - ITU WEBINARS

This World Autism Awareness Day, explore the link between accessibility and virtual worlds to pave the way for more inclusive + immersive virtual experiences for everyone.

Enhancing virtual worlds with accessibility features holds great promise in making immersive digital experiences more inclusive. By incorporating accessibility features into virtual worlds environments, developers can ensure that individuals with diverse abilities can participate fully in virtual activities. For instance, customizable controls, haptic feedback, and voice commands can empower users with motor impairments, while text-to-speech and speech-to-text functionalities enhance communication for those with hearing or speech challenges. Moreover, platforms in virtual worlds can implement features like adjustable contrast, font sizes, and color schemes to cater to individuals with visual impairments. These innovations not only improve accessibility but also contribute to a more equitable and diverse digital landscape.

On April 2, 2024, the global community will come together to observe World Autism Awareness Day 2024. This occasion, significantly elevated by the commitment of SDG Resources, showcases the powerful intersection of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and autism advocacy. This Webinar will explore the link between accessibility and virtual worlds to pave the way for more inclusive and immersive virtual experiences for users of all abilities.

Target Audience

Participation is open to the ITU Member States, Sector Members, Associates, ITU Academia, and to any individual from a country that is a member of the ITU and who wishes to contribute to the work. This includes individuals who are also members of international, regional and national organizations. Participation is free of charge. 

Register Here

[hicginewsagency]

ITU Publishes updated Global Treaty to Optimize Radio Spectrum Management and advance Technological Innovation

Doreen Bogdan-Martin, ITU Boss Geneva, 28 August 2024 ​​The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) released today an updated version of the Radio Regulations, the international treaty governing the global use of radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits.  Entering into force on 1 January 2025, the 2024 e​dition of the ITU Radio Regulations is the result of a four-year process that…

[wildlifeday]

International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Secretary-General Message for World Wildlife Day 2024.

Statement of ITU Secretary-General, Mrs. Doreen Bogdan-Martin for World Wildlife Day 2024.

[girlsinictday]

Encourage girls to pursue a future in ICTs towards bridging the digital gender divide.

The global celebration of International Girls in ICT Day 2023 will be held on 27 April 2023. This year and every year, ITU and partners work together to inspire and encourage girls to pursue a future in ICTs towards bridging the digital gender divide. The aim is to encourage young women and girls to pursue their studies and careers in science, engineering, technology, mathematics, and other fields and help them achieve their dreams. 

This year, the theme of Girls in ICT Day is ‘Digital Skills for Life’. The global Girls in ICT event will be celebrated on 27 April in Zimbabwe as part of the Transform Africa Summit 2023, in coordination and collaboration with the Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) and Smart Africa. This is a hybrid event and will be live streamed. 

In the CIS Region to celebrate the Girls in ICT Day, we partner with Ministry of Digital Development of the Kyrgyz Republic and ISOC Chapter Kyrgyzstan. Regional forum will be held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in a hybrid format. A forthcoming event will promote awareness of the gender digital divide, advocate for STEM education and digital skills training, and encourage girls and young women to pursue careers in ICT. 

Register and attend the event: Forum on ICT Opportunities for Girls in Central Asia​​ (9:00-13:00, UTC +6). 

[internationalwomenday]

DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality.

International Women’s Day (IWD) official commemoration:

“DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality” 8 March 2023, 10–11.30am EST General Assembly Hall, UN Headquarters.

Aligned with the priority theme of CSW67, the UN observance of IWD recognizes and celebrates the women and girls who are championing the advancement of transformative technology and digital education and curtailing the impact of the digital gender gap on widening economic and social inequalities.

The high-level event will bring together technologists, innovators, entrepreneurs, and gender equality activists to provide an opportunity to highlight the role of all stakeholders in improving access to digital tools. The opening remarks will be followed by a high-level panel discussion and musical performances.

Participants will include:

E. Mr. António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General

E. Mr. Csaba Kőrösi, President of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly

E. Ms. Mathu Joyini, Chair, 67th Commission on the Status of Women

Marie Bjerre, Minister for Digitalization, IT Technology and Gender Equality, Denmark

Amina J. Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General, via video message

Sima Bahous, UN Women Executive Director

Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General, International Telecommunications Union

Gitanjali Rao, 17-year-old inventor, innovator, author, STEM promoter, UNICEF Youth Advocate

The event is open to UN Headquarters grounds pass holders. Registration is required for the in-person event, and it will be webcast on UN Women and UN Web TV.

[socialjusticeday]

2023 Commemorative Event on the Occasion of the World Day of Social Justice.

The Permanent Mission of the Kyrgyz Republic to the UN and the International Labour Organization, in partnership with the International Telecommunication Union and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the UN Youth Office, are pleased to convene the commemorative meeting of the 2023 World Day of Social Justice. This year’s theme will focus on the recommendations of Our Common Agenda to strengthen global solidarity and to re-build trust in government by “Overcoming Barriers and Unleashing Opportunities for Social Justice”.

Today, the majority of workers have not recovered their pre-pandemic labour incomes and the gender gap in hours worked has continued to grow. Increases in food and commodity prices is disproportionately impacting poor households and small businesses, especially those in the informal economy. Roughly half the world’s population remains without any access to social protection. And in too many places, having a job does not guarantee the ability to escape from poverty. A continued lack of decent work opportunities, insufficient investments in social policy, and an over-consumption of natural resources have led to an erosion of trust and a frayed social contract in many countries. Even before the pandemic, there was growing concern about the adverse effects of high and rising levels of inequality, and a recognition of the need for urgent and decisive action to reduce them and ensure more inclusive growth that provides decent work opportunities for all. The digital divide and disruptions to global trade and supply chains risk further deepening inequalities and poverty. Women and youth are disproportionately affected by overlapping crises, unemployment, and socio-economic insecurity and face many barriers in accessing decent work. There are however many opportunities to unleash greater investments in decent jobs, particularly in the green, digital and care economy. In an era of rapid technological development, young digital natives can also find solutions to overcome inequalities. Youth entrepreneurship is on the rise and the increasing number of incubators, accelerators, and programs focused on supporting young entrepreneurs contributes to this trend. As tech leaders, young entrepreneurs can also use their influence to advocate for policies and practices that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions, launched by the UN Secretary-General and welcomed by member States and many other stakeholders, also provides a platform to mobilize financing, to boost employment in the green, digital and care economy and to extend social protection floors. Almost thirty years ago, at the World Summit for Social Development in 1995, global leaders pledged to make the eradication of poverty, the goal of full employment and social justice overriding objectives of development. The 2030 Agenda also aims to “promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all”. Decent work has increasingly been recognized as the lynchpin of strategies to achieve social justice by linking the social, economic and environmental components of sustainability.

[thesimblrofficedirectory]

Welcome to The Simblr Office Directory

This blog is an archive of the submissions for the office-centric OC prompt posted by the light of Simblr, @kashisun.

Here you can browse all the amazing creations submitted by your fellow simblrs. Feel free to scroll to your delight or click one of the links under the cut to see who's on roster under (or over) a particular bureau or delegation.

Want to be added to the directory or confirm that you've been queued? Just include a link to your post in an ask off anon and it will be queued within 48 hours. Until we get through the backlog and can queue at a more leisurely pace, all ask submissions will receive a confirmation. You can always mention us, but we won't be able to provided confirmation for that method.

Leaving the company? If you'd like your post removed, just include a link to the post in an ask off anon and it will be removed. Sideblogs may require additional verification. Please allow, at most, 48 hours for the request to be honored. Removal requests will not be confirmed, only acted upon.

Every company's hierarchy is a little different. Designations for this directory are based on some of the companies I've worked for, but especially on the multi-media marketing company I work for now.

Bureaus and Their Delegations

Delegations with an * currently have low or no headcount (posted and queued). Excludes leadership.

Bureau of Client Engagement

Leadership

Billing*

Escalations*

Product Support*

Quality Assurance*

Sales*

Bureau of Compliance (Bureau-specific Internal Affairs and Auditing)

Leadership

Client Engagement*

Facilities*

Finance*

Human Resources*

Information and Technology*

Legal (General)

Legal (Leadership)

Marketing*

Bureau of Facilities

Leadership

Catering*

Environmental (Janitorial, HVAC, and Plumbing)*

Mechanical (Electrical, Elevators, Equipment Maintenance)*

Premise* (Grounds Maintenance and Real Estate)

Purchasing* (From pushpins to pallet jacks)

Security

Warehousing* (Shipping, Receiving, Mail room, and Inventory)

Bureau of Finance

Leadership

Accounting

Asset Management*

Investments*

Travel and Accommodations*

Vendor Relations*

Bureau of Human Resources

Leadership

Career Development (Internships and Internal Role Transitions)

Dependent Care*

Employee Activities Committee (Members are volunteers)

Employee Benefits*

Floating Delegates (Administration) (For profiles that list a nondescript secretary/admin/receptionist/assistant role)

Floating Delegates (General) (For profiles that do not list a position)

Floating Delegates (Leadership) (For profiles that list a nondescript managerial role)

Health Services*

Payroll*

Recruiting*

Training*

Union Relations*

Bureau of Information & Technology

Leadership

Data Security*

Infrastructure*

Public Relations

Research and Development*

Systems and Devices*

Telecommunications*

Bureau of Marketing

Leadership

Copy

Design

Planning and Implementation*

Board of Directors

Chief Officers

CEO - Chief Executive Officer/President

COO - Chief Operations Officer/Vice President

CCO - Chief Compliance Officer/Vice President

CFO - Chief Finance Officer/Vice President

CITO - Chief Information and Technology Officer/Vice President

CMO - Chief Marketing Officer/Vice President

Executive Administration* (Admins that report to chief officers)

[zvaigzdelasas]

Vodafone Egypt sending mobile units to Gaza border to boost communication network amid Israeli blackout - Ahram Online

[Ahram Online is Egyptian Private Media]

In a statement to Al Sharq News, Hany Mahmoud, the chairman of the board of directors of Vodafone Egypt, noted that the International Telecommunication Union issued a decision stressing the importance of restoring communications and internet services in Gaza in order to save the lives of those wounded in the ongoing conflict in the strip.[...]

The Israeli move to cut off all communications in the strip has prevented much of the world from receiving news from reporters and rescue workers on the ground on the most recent repercussions of the Israeli bombing campaign amid a worsening humanitarian crisis among 2.3 million Palestinians under an all-out food-water-fuel blockade for three weeks. Earlier on Saturday, the Egyptian government called on the international community to pressure Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing.

28 Oct 23

[billspotts]

While the streets of the country are full of people calling fraud and with opposition leaders Edmundo González Urrutia and Maria Corina Machado showing the tallies that demonstrate their victory, The National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel), the state agency responsible for regulating, supervising, and controlling telecommunications is giving direct orders to radio stations to maintain an editorial posture that prohibits the transmission of news that they consider “violates elements classified as violence.”

Even though this is communicated via WhatsApp, this entity is calling directly to the owners and producers of media outlets to specifically mandate that they can’t report nothing related to Machado, González, protests or the data from NGOs that reveal deaths, injuries, and arbitrary detentions by security forces and colectivos. According to local NGOs and media, 19 people were killed in the context of protest, and 711 have been victims of arbitrary detentions and 119 of enforced disappearance.

Four hundred media outlets, including print media, radio, TV channels, and digital platforms in Venezuela, have been shut down by the government in the last 20 years, according to Espacio Publico, an NGO that promotes and defends freedom of expression in the country.

The few left are now being threatened.

The persecution of press workers throughout the country accompanies the radio silence. The National Union of Press Workers (SNTP), the Press and Society Institute (Ipys), and Espacio Público, three organizations defending freedom of expression in Venezuela, have collected reports showing an escalation of repression:

Shots: in Trujillo, colectivos shot at the residence of journalist Alexander González, of Diario Los Andes and Unión Radio.

Wounded: Jesús Romero, director of the Código Urbe portal, was shot in the abdomen by members of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB). He was covering a demonstration on Monday in Maracay (Aragua).

Online threats: The correspondent of Channel I in Sucre state, Dreully Barrios, is being investigated by pro-government supporters for her coverage of the protests. In Carabobo, a discrediting campaign is circulating through Whatsapp messages, with photos of 12 journalists from the region.

Arrest warrants: the content creator, Francisco Lunar, warned that the mayor of Guanta, Natali Bello, issued an arrest warrant against him for publishing images of street demonstrations.

Maduro also wants to hide from the rest of the world what is happening. International correspondents have been detained, threatened, and deported.

[mariacallous]

The phone or computer you’re reading this on may not be long for this world. Maybe you’ll drop it in water, or your dog will make a chew toy of it, or it’ll reach obsolescence. If you can’t repair it and have to discard it, the device will become e-waste, joining an alarmingly large mountain of defunct TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, cameras, routers, electric toothbrushes, headphones. This is “electrical and electronic equipment,” aka EEE—anything with a plug or battery. It’s increasingly out of control.

As economies develop and the consumerist lifestyle spreads around the world, e-waste has turned into a full-blown environmental crisis. People living in high-income countries own, on average, 109 EEE devices per capita, while those in low-income nations have just four. A new UN report finds that in 2022, humanity churned out 137 billion pounds of e-waste—more than 17 pounds for every person on Earth—and recycled less than a quarter of it.

That also represents about $62 billion worth of recoverable materials, like iron, copper, and gold, hitting e-waste landfills each year. At this pace, e-waste will grow by 33 percent by 2030, while the recycling rate could decline to 20 percent. (You can see this growth in the graph below: purple is EEE on the market, black is e-waste, and green is what gets recycled.)

“What was really alarming to me is that the speed at which this is growing is much quicker than the speed that e-waste is properly collected and recycled,” says Kees Baldé, a senior scientific specialist at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and lead author of the report. “We just consume way too much, and we dispose of things way too quickly. We buy things we may not even need, because it's just very cheap. And also these products are not designed to be repaired.”

Humanity has to quickly bump up those recycling rates, the report stresses. In the first pie chart below, you can see the significant amount of metals we could be saving, mostly iron (chemical symbol Fe, in light gray), along with aluminum (Al, in dark gray), copper (Cu), and nickel (Ni). Other EEE metals include zinc, tin, and antimony. Overall, the report found that in 2022, generated e-waste contained 68 billion pounds of metal.

E-waste is a complex thing to break down: A washing machine is made of totally different components than a TV. And even for product categories, not only do different brands use different manufacturing processes, but even different models within those brands vary significantly. A new washing machine has way more sensors and other electronics than one built 30 years ago.

Complicating matters even further, e-waste can contain hazardous materials, like cobalt, flame retardants, and lead. The report found that each year, improperly processed e-waste releases more than 125,000 pounds of mercury alone, imperiling the health of humans and other animals. “Electronic waste is an extremely complex waste stream,” says Vanessa Gray, head of the Environment and Emergency Telecommunications Division at the UN’s International Telecommunication Union and an author of the report. “You have a lot of value in electronic waste, but you also have a lot of toxic materials that are dangerous to the environment.”

That makes recycling e-waste a dangerous occupation. In low- and middle-income countries, informal e-waste recyclers might go door-to-door collecting the stuff. To extract valuable metals, they melt down components without proper safety equipment, poisoning themselves and the environment. The new report notes that in total, 7.3 billion pounds of e-waste is shipped uncontrolled globally, meaning its ultimate management is unknown and likely not done in an environmentally friendly way. Of that, high-income countries shipped 1.8 billion pounds to low- and middle-income countries in 2022, swamping them with dangerous materials.

High-income countries have some of this informal recycling, but they also have formal facilities where e-waste is sorted and safely broken down. Europe, for example, has fairly high formal e-waste recycling rates, at about 43 percent. But globally, recycling is happening nowhere near enough to keep up with the year-over-year growth of the waste. Instead of properly mining EEE for metals, humanity keeps mining more ore out of the ground.

Still, the report found that even the small amount of e-waste that currently gets recycled avoided the mining of 2 trillion pounds of ore for virgin metal in 2022. (It takes a lot of ore to produce a little bit of metal.) The more metals we can recycle from e-waste, the less mining we’ll need to support the proliferation of gadgets. That would in turn avoid the greenhouse gases from such mining operations, plus losses of biodiversity.

The complexity of e-waste, though, makes it expensive to process. As the chart above shows, even an ambitious scenario of a formal e-waste collection rate in 2030 is 44 percent. “There is no business case for companies to just collect e-waste and to make a profit out of this in a sustainable manner,” says Baldé. “They can only survive if there is legislation in place which is also compensating them.”

The report notes that 81 countries have e-waste policies on the books, and of those, 67 have provisions regarding extended producer responsibility, or EPR. This involves fees paid by manufacturers of EEE that would go toward e-waste management.

Of course, people could also stop throwing so many devices away in the first place, something right-to-repair advocates have spent years fighting for. Batteries, for instance, lose capacity after a certain number of charge cycles. If a phone can’t hold a charge all day anymore, customers should be able to swap in a new battery. “Manufacturers shouldn't be able to put artificial limitations on that ability,” says Elizabeth Chamberlain, director of sustainability at iFixit, which provides repair guides and tools. That includes limiting access to parts and documentation. “Repair is a harm-reduction strategy. It's not the be-all-end-all solution, but it's one of many things we need to do as a global society to slow down the rate at which we're demanding things of the planet.”

At the core of the e-waste crisis is the demand: A growing human population needs phones to communicate and fridges to keep food safe and heat pumps to stay comfortable indoors. So first and foremost we need high-quality products that don’t immediately break down, but also the right to repair when they do. And what absolutely can’t be fixed needs to move through a safe, robust e-waste recycling system. “We are consuming so much,” says Baldé, “we cannot really recycle our way out of the problem.”

[makotoscoffee]

I see many misguided posts about how to help Palestine, the most important things you can do are:

- Donations are not making it into the country, but you can give Palestinian citizens eSIMS FOR FREE! this amazing woman is organising a project called Connecting Gaza, DM her and she'll set you up to make a difference by giving internet access to the people in Gaza who have lost all telecommunication infrastructure

- Research if there are Palestine shops in your city, or pop-ups, that sell products from Palestine. Yes, you won't be guaranteed that the money you spend is able to make a difference in the country, but it can make a difference in your community and show solidarity whilst keeping Palestinian culture alive. Anyone of any ethnicity or religion (as it is not a religious cloth and is usually used like any other scarf/headdress) can wear a kefije, as it is an international symbol of solidarity with Palestine.

- Boycott according to the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) guide. Here's their website, you can boycott more than just products and companies too! That link is to a recent post on their website, here is the 'standard' list of companies. They're not that many, and it's not that hard. In addition, many are boycotting McDonald's for donating meals to the IDF (at least 12 000), and Starbucks for suing its union over a social media post in support of Palestine. A BOYCOTT MEANS NO BUSINESS. NOT DESTROYING PROPERTY, NOT GETTING RID OF THE THINGS YOU HAVE, BUT NOT GIVING YOUR MONEY TO THESE COMPANIES. Except I would get rid of your SodaStream or any other product from the lists that forces you to purchase more products from that company.

- Protest! Manifest, disrupt, make your voice heard!! Tear down those fucking posters!! Protect your identity, it's becoming increasingly risky. But that doesn't mean you can simply skip it.

EVERY MESSAGE THAT MAKES IT OUT OF PALESTINE IS CRYSTAL CLEAR: DON'T STAY SILENT, HELP THEM SHOW THE WORLD WHAT IS HAPPENING. NEVER STOP SPEAKING ABOUT PALESTINE AND PUTTING PRESSURE ON THE PEOPLE WITH POWER TO DO SOMETHING. SHOW THE BEAUTY AND HUMANITY OF PALESTINE.

IF YOU'RE IN THE UNITED STATES AND CALLING YOUR REPRESENTATIVES, HERE IS A GUIDE FOR HOW TO MAKE THE MOST IMPACT

THIS PERSON ALSO SHARED THIS WHICH GIVES SOME IMPORTANT NUANCE AND DETAILS ABOUT THIS METHOD

[meilas]

"why is Israel in Eurovision even though it's not in Europe" - setting aside the genocide thing, because Israel really should've been disqualified. Non-European countries can take part in Eurovision, because being European isn't a prerequisite for taking part in Eurovision - being a member or associated member in the European Broadcasting Union is. That's also how other non-European countries take part (like Australia) or took part in the past (like lebanon and Morocco). Now, European Broadcasting Union implies that only European countries can join, right? Nope. Actually every country that is within what the international telecommunications union ITU defines as the European Broadcasting Area, which reaches into north Africa and Western Asia (including Israel). (that area, again, is defined by the historical reach of European Television cables). Associated members however can be any state from around the globe, including Australia and the USA, as Associated Membership is more of a business partnership. Participation in the Song contest for Associated members is negotiated on an individual basis (like, again with Australia).

thank you anon!

[hicginewsagency]

"Witnessing regulatory leaders coming together in Uganda to balance innovation with regulation was a reminder of what we can achieve through unity."  ITU Boss Speaks at the Closure of the 4-Day Summit.