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The Africa Regional Preparatory Meeting for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-14) has been slated for October 2 to 4, 2013. The WTDC is held every four years by the ITU to identify priorities for the development of telecommunications and Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). It also takes into account contributions made by Member States and Sector Members, and comes out with an Action Plan, setting the future of activities of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) over the next four-year period. At a media briefing in Accra, Minister for Communications, Dr Edward Omane Boamah said Ghana was confirmed at the 2013 Session of the ITU Council to host the Regional Development Forum (RDF) for Africa on October 1, 2013. The conference in Accra he explained would prepare the African delegations to build consensus and adopt common positions on the agenda items that will benefit Africa ahead of the ITU�s 6th World Telecommunication Development Conference from March 31 to April 11, 2014. The event will be held at the Accra International Conference Centre and an exhibition of technology to expose the sophistication of the ICT landscape will be mounted to demonstrate the sector�s accomplishments and benefits of reforms commenced in 1994 when Ghana possessed less than 68,000 Direct Exchange Lines (DELs). In accordance with the conventions and procedures of the ITU, pre-registration is being carried out exclusively online through Designated Focal Points (DFP) to enable participation in the RPM and RDF. Dr Omane Boamah explained that the request for participation in Ghana must therefore, be submitted to the Ministry of Communications for registration as early as possible. �We look forward to provide the proverbial Ghanaian hospitality to the arriving delegations from ITU, Africa and the World and we expect that the consensus on the issues to be reached in Accra will receive overwhelming endorsement when presented to the World Telecommunication Development Conference in 2014,� he said. He said to facilitate consensus building; the ITU is organizing, ahead of the meeting, the Regional Development Forum (RDF) as a platform for open dialogues, cooperation and partnerships among telecommunication/ICT policy makers, regulators, industry, academia, regional and international development agencies and organizations on specific regional ICT issues. The ITU is the global and specialized agency of the United Nations with a membership of 191 States, with responsibility for the regulation, standardization, co-ordination and development of international telecommunications. Its antecedents can be traced to 1865 when the first International Telegraph Convention was signed, giving birth to the International Telegraph Union, and subsequently to the signing in 1906 of the first International Radiotelegraph Convention.