On 19 October 2023, an Additional Session of the ITU Council was opened.

Cesar Martinez, ITU Council President, and Doreen Bogdan-Martin, ITU Secretary General, opened the plenary session.

Representatives of the Communications Administrations of the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications: the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, as well as representatives of the RCC Executive Committee took part in the work of the Additional Session of the ITU Council.

The agenda of the ITU Council additional session included the following items:

1. Progress report on the preparation of the project on the Union headquarters premises;

2. Proposed dates and duration of the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Council sessions, as well as proposed dates for the Council working group and expert group block meetings during the same period;

3. The specific location and exact dates of the 2026 Plenipotentiary Conference;

4. A list of the chairs and vice-chairs of the Council's working groups and expert groups;

5. An update on the next steps to complete the audit of the accounts (2022 Financial Performance Report and External Auditor's Report);

6. Other matters.

During the plenary session of the Additional Session of the ITU Council, the place and exact dates of the 2026 Plenipotentiary Conference were discussed.

The ITU Council confirmed that the next Plenipotentiary Conference 2026 (PP-26) will be held from 9-27 November 2026 in Doha, Qatar.

Then the first and second meeting of the Advisory Council on Administration and Management was held.

During the meeting of the Advisory Council on Administration and Management, discussions took place on:

- Union Headquarters facility project report;

- An update on the next steps for completing the audited accounts (2022 Statement of Financial Activities and External Audit Report).

The plenary of the Additional Session of the ITU Council then continued its work under the agenda.

The plenary discussed the proposed dates and duration of the Council sessions in 2024, 2025 and 2026, as well as the proposed dates of the clusters of Council working groups and expert groups for the same period.

The ITU Council confirmed the following dates for the ITU Council:

- First cluster of Council working group meetings from 22 January to 2 February 2024;

- ITU Council 2024 session from 4 June to 14 June 2024;

- In order to avoid a religious period in 2026: to hold the 2026 Council session from 28 April to 8 May 2026.

As well as discussing the list of chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the Council's working and expert groups.

In the course of the plenary session, representatives of the Communications Administration of the Russian Federation made comments on some agenda items.

On 20 October 2023, the Additional Session of the ITU Council continued its work under the agenda.

The discussion continued on the report on the Union's headquarters premises project.

The panellists checked the ad-hoc group discussion on the subject.

Further discussions on the list of chairmen and vice-chairmen of the working and expert groups of the Council continued in the plenary session.

It was suggested that this issue be discussed at the next ITU Council session.

During the discussion on this item the representatives of the Communications Administration of the Republic of Belarus took the floor.

The Council agreed that the issue would be presented at the next ITU Council session.

Next, there was a discussion on India's contribution and a discussion on the summary report of the EGTI-EGH joint session on the ICT Development Index held on 18-19 September 2023. The Chair's report was also presented.

At the end of the ITU Council supplementary session, Chairman Cesar Martinez thanked the participants for their hard work.