ITU TELECOM ASIA 2002 will be held in Hongkong, China in 2-7December 2002. The event, which will include exhibition and forum, has been endorsed during recent ITU Council Meeting. It will be hosted by Chinese government and will take place in Hongkong Convention and Exhibition Center, which is ideally located and offers advanced exhibition and forum facilities.

A signing ceremony of the host country agreement was held at the ITU's headquarter in 3 May, 2001,with his Excellency Mr QIAO Zonghuai, ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations office in Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland, and Yoshio Utsumi, ITU's Secretary-General.

Ambassador QIAO said "China will be delighted to host the prestigious event for the second time, which will help advance telecommunications development in all the countries of the Asia Pacific Region." Mr Utsumi said that he was very pleased that the ITU was once again going to organize an event in China, and that he was confident that Asia 2002 would be a great success for the region's people.

In December 2000, ITU TELECOM ASIA 2000 was successfully held in Hongkong, China.

For more information about the event, please visit the web site at www.itu.int/asia2002