On 8 November 2023, the joint 59th meeting of the Board of the Communications Administrations Heads of the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications and the 29th meeting of the Coordination Council of the CIS Member-States on the Informatization at the RCC was held in Ashgabat.

The meeting was attended by delegations of the RCC full members - the Communications Administrations of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the Republic of Uzbekistan and the RCC observers - IOSC INTERSPUTNIK.

Representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in Turkmenistan and the Republic of Tajikistan in Turkmenistan took part in the meeting.

The meeting was attended by the Head of the ITU Regional Office for CIS states, representatives of the CIS Executive Committee, the CIS Interstate Statistical Committee and the CIS Interstate Council on Antimonopoly Policy as invited participants.

In addition, the meeting was attended by numerous experts of telecom operators and manufacturers of communication facilities: "Rostelecom", "Space Communications", "Uzbekiston Pochtasi", "Uzinfocom", "Uzbektelecom", "UNICON.UZ", National Radio Association, "Turkmentelecom", "Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and Viasat, Inc.

Nurudin Mukhitdinov, General-Director of the RCC Executive Committee, opened the meeting and thanked the Government and the Communications Administration of Turkmenistan for inviting and organizing the meeting at a prestigious level.

Guided by item 4.2 of the current Regulations of the RCC Board of the Communications Administrations Heads, in case of absence of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the RCC Board of the CAs Heads at the meeting of the Board, it is proposed to elect a chairman from among the present heads of Communications Administrations - full members of the RCC.

Preference in this case shall be given to the Head of the Communications Administratio of the State in whose territory the Board meeting is held.

On the proposal of the host party, the Minister of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus Konstantin Shulgan was appointed the Chairman of the 59/29th meeting of the RCC Board of the Communications Administrations Heads and the Coordination Council.

The Chairman of the Agency "Turkmenaragatnashyk" of Turkmenistan Hajimyrat Khudaygulyev made a welcoming speech to the participants.

The heads of the RCC Communications Administrations exchanged views on the issue of digital development and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the RCC Member-States, as well as on the measures taken by the RCC CAs to combat fraud on communication networks. The participants of the meeting approved the preparation of RCC communications administrations for the World Radiocommunication Conference and the Radiocommunication Assembly 2023, as well as heard information on the results of the 2023 Council Sessions and the first block of meetings of the Council Working Groups and ITU Expert Groups.

The meeting considered a block of postal items:

- on the implementation of the "Action Plan to implement the decisions of the 27th UPU Congress and the Abidjan Postal Strategy for 2022-2025",

- on the implementation of the UPU Regional Development Plan 2022-2025 for the Europe and Central Asia region,

- approved the work of the delegations of the RCC Communications Administrations at the 4th Extraordinary Congress of the UPU.

The RCC Commission on Postal Communications and the RCC Council of Postal Operators will continue to coordinate and monitor the implementation of the Action Plan.

The meeting also heard the following information.

- on the implementation of the Strategy of Cooperation of the CIS Member-States in Building and Developing the Information Society for the period until 2025 and the Action Plan for its implementation for the period until 2025,

- on granting the status and creation of the basic organization of the CIS Member-States, which provides methodological, organizational and technical support of works in the field of information and communication technologies.

The meeting participants also discussed a large block of issues related to the internal activities of the Commonwealth:

- heard a report on the activities of the RCC Executive Committee for the past period and the results of an independent audit of the financial and economic activities of the RCC for 2022,

- considered the issue of adjusting the RCC income and expenditure estimates for 2023, approved the RCC income and expenditure estimates for 2024 and the planning period for 2025 - 2026.

The participants of the meeting unanimously accepted Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Policy Impact Partners (PIP) and Viasat, Inc. with the status of an observer into the RCC Commission on Regulation of Usage of the Radio Frequency Spectrum and Satellite Orbits.

The election of a new General-Director of the RCC Executive Committee will take place by correspondence by 20 November 2023.

In 2024, the joint 60th anniversary meeting of the RCC Board of the CAs Heads and the 30th meeting of the Coordination Council of the CIS Member-States on the Informatization at the RCC will be held, venue: Minsk, Republic of Belarus, 20 May 2024.

In conclusion, the participants of the meeting expressed their gratitude to the Government of Turkmenistan and the Agency "Turkmenaragatnashyk" for the excellent organization of the joint meeting of the RCC Board of the CAs Heads and the Coordination Council and for the hospitable reception.