Zimbabwe Hosting the 2nd African Telecommunications Union (ATU) Preparatory Meeting for the ITU

Zimbabwe is hosting the 2^nd African Telecommunications Union (ATU) Preparatory Meeting for the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-26) which is due to be held in Doha – Qatar in the last quarter of 2026. The preparatory meeting which will be hosted in Victoria Falls will take place at Cresta Sprayview Hotel, from 25 to 29 May, 2026 back-to-back with the ITU Regional Development Forum (RDF-AFR)

The country is also a key venue for continental meetings, hosting the ITU Regional Development Forum and the African Preparatory Meeting (APM) for the upcoming Plenipotentiary.

This is a landmark event for the country, the ICT sector as a whole, and indeed the Minister of ICT, Postal and postal and courier services, Hon Tatenda Mavetera, who will be the guest of honour, where 47 countries are jetting in for the event.

The RDFs offer an opportunity for high-level engagement among the Telecommunication Development Bureau, Member States and ITU-D Sector Members, with a particular focus on the implementation of the Regional Initiatives, and the Baku Action Plan as adopted by the 2025 World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-25).

The main objectives of the 2nd African Preparatory Meeting for PP-26 include:

1. to consider and adopt the outcomes of the three (3) ATU Working groups that were established by the 1st preparatory meeting held in Namibia in July, 2024, for the preparation of PP-26 and tasked to develop African common priorities and positions and draft preliminary African Common proposals for the Conference in line with the PP-26 agenda items;

2. to consider new contributions from Members on the Conference topics of interest;

3. to start the formulation of the African common proposals to the Conference reflecting the new priorities and challenges of ICTs in Africa and the mechanisms that will help to accelerate the implementation of the African digital transformation strategy and promote the sustainable development of the continent including the need to strengthen the ITU role in the global digital ecosystem;

4. to consider African Candidatures for ITU management positions and Council Membership; 5

The African Telecommunications Union (ATU) is a specialized agency of the African Union responsible for fostering the development of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure across the continent. Zimbabwe is an active member state, regularly aligning with ATU and SADC initiatives to improve regional broadband, spectrum management, and emergency telecommunications.

Zimbabwe’s engagement with the ATU spans key areas including telecommunications strategy, regulatory capacity building, and digital sovereignty: