SUNS  4366 Wednesday 3 February 1999

Geneva 1, Feb (TWN) -- The new Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Mr. Yoshio Utsumi of Japan, and four other top-ranking officials, took up their offices Monday.

Utsumi, elected at the ITU assembly in Minneapolis last October, has taken over from Dr. Pekka Tarjanne of Finland who has been the ITU head for last nine years.

Apart from Utsumi, the other elected top officials were: Deputy Secretary-General Roberto Blois of Brazil, and the directors of three ITU bureaux - Robert Jones of Canada (elected for a second term) at the Radiocommunication Bureau, Houlin Zhao of China at the Telecommunications Standardisation bureau and Hamadou Touro of Mali at the Telecommunications Development Bureau.

Utsumi reiterated his intention to "adapt the ITU to an era of privatization and competition ... and to constantly plan, do and review