Global Standards Symposium

The Global Standards Symposium (GSS) is a statutory meeting that precedes the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (a quadrennial conference of the International Telecommunication Union, ITU). GSS provides a high-level forum for discussion and coordination open to all. The GSS was created by the ITU's treaty-making conference, the Plenipotentiary Conference 2006 in Antalya, Turkey with Resolution 122.

Global Standards Symposium

Date	28 February 2022 (2022-02-28)
Location	Geneva, Switzerland
Also known as	GSS
Related event	World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly
Website	https://gss.itu.int

GSS 20

GSS 20 was scheduled to be held in Hyderabad, India in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was rescheduled and took place on 28 February 2022 at International Conference Centre Geneva (CICG) in Geneva, Switzerland. The theme of GSS-20 was "International standards to enable the digital transformation and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)". The GSS conclusions were forwarded to WTSA-20 for consideration.^[1][2]

Speakers at the symposium included:

• Nele Leosk (Symposium Chair) Ambassador-at-Large for Digital Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Estonia
• Ghana Minister Ursula Owusu^[3]
• Tunisia Minister Nizar Ben Néji
• South Africa Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni
• Costa Rica Vice Minister Teodoro Willink Castro
• UNECE Executive Secretary Oľga Algayerová
• ITU-T Director Chaesub Lee
• Valencia Major Joan Ribó
• Jean Todt, UN Special Envoy for Road Safety
• Fraunhofer HHI Executive Director Thomas Wiegand
• Marcus Shingles, CEO, Exponential Destiny
• Philippe Metzger, General Secretary, International Electrotechnical Commission
• Hossam El-Gamal, Executive President, National Telecom Regulatory Authority, Egypt
• Javier Garcia Diaz, Director General, Spanish Association for Standardization, Spain
• Jung Hae-Yong, Vice Mayor for Economic Affairs, Daegu, Republic of Korea
• Martín Olmos, Undersecretary of Information and Communications Technology, Argentina
• Gil Reichen, Mayor, Pully, Switzerland

GSS 16

The third Global Standards Symposium (GSS 16) was held on 24 October 2016 in Hammamet, Tunisia.^[4][5] The symposium was opened by the Minister of Telecommunications of Tunisia Dr Anouar Maârouf [fr]. Speakers included:

• Mongi Marzoug
• Houlin Zhao
• Chaesub Lee

GSS 12

The second Global Standards Symposium (GSS 12) was held on 18 November 2012 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.^[6] The symposium was opened by ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré.^[7]

GSS 08

The first Global Standards Symposium (GSS 08) was held on 20 October 2008 in Johannesburg, South Africa.^[8] The Symposium was opened by Minister of Telecommunications of South Africa Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri.

ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2006

Upon the instruction of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (2006, Antalya) the organisation of a Global Standards Symposium as a public forum, to take place before any World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly, was decided (Resolution 122).