The APT Preparatory Group for ITU World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (APT-WTSA) is to assist the APT Members to prepare for the ITU World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) in coordinating issues of regional interest and preparing coordinated regional contributions to the Assembly.

Objectives

The main objective of APT-WTSA is to organize coordinated regional activities for WTSA to ensure that the interests of APT Members on the telecommunication standardization issues are properly represented. These activities include, but not limited, to: 

a) assist APT members to prepare for the WTSAs in coordinating issues of regional interest and the submission of regional contributions to the Assembly;
b) develop proposals from APT members that considers the interests of the Asia-Pacific region as inputs for WTSAs;
c) assist APT members during the WTSAs.

Terms of Reference

The Terms of Reference of the APT-WTSA are as follows:

a) To hold meetings during a preparatory cycle of WTSA;
b) To establish necessary Working Methods including Structures of the Preparatory Group, Output Documents Approval Procedure and Guidelines on representation of the APT in other regions’ preparatory meetings, in line with the APT practices, and for the effective delivery of the objectives of the Group. The Working Methods of the Group are to be approved by the Management Committee of the APT;
c) To identify and study issues associated with the agenda of the WTSA taking into account, where appropriate, the developments on the decisions of the previous WTSAs and relevant decisions of the PP, ITU Council and the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group;
d) To develop Preliminary APT Common Proposals (PACPs) and any other appropriate documents on the agenda items of the WTSA, in accordance with the APT’s Documents Framework;
e) To develop APT Positions as may be required on issues for consideration at the WTSA and on proposals from other regions to the WTSA;
f) To develop APT Views as may be required on issues for preparation for the WTSA to be submitted to ITU TSAG or ITU-T Study Groups, if deemed necessary;
g) To represent APT in other regions’ preparatory meetings;
h) To review the preparatory work of other regions and to undertake coordination with these regions if deemed necessary;
i) To arrange coordination meetings during the WTSA for the APT Members attending the WTSA and provide collaborative support and guidance for the APT Common Proposals presented at the WTSA;
j) To report the activities and the progress of the work of the Group to the Management Committee on an annual basis as necessary.

Structure

The APT WTSA-20 consists of the Plenary, a Chairman, Vice-Chairmen, Working Groups and a Steering Committee.

Working Group 1 (WG1): ITU-T Working Methods 

WG1 considers the activities related to the Working Methods of ITU-T. Proposed Terms of reference of WG1 are:

• To identify the issues and consideration of the proposals related to the Working Methods of ITU-T for implementation of the ITU work program to strengthen cooperation between ITU-T and other SDOs, and intra-ITU collaboration and coordination;
• To review the proposals regarding the ITU-T Resolutions and ITU-T A-Series Recommendations and other issues related to the Working Methods  of ITU-T;
• To consider any other issues assigned by the Plenary or referred to the Group by other APT Preparatory Groups.

Working Group 2 (WG2): ITU-T Work Organization

WG2 considers the activities related to the organization of work of ITU-T such as the structure of ITU-T Study Groups to be studied in ITU-T and TSAG. Proposed Terms of reference of WG2 are:

• To consider proposals on the programme and organization of the work of ITU-T consistence with ITU-T strategies and priorities;
• To identify issues and considerations of the proposals related to the structure of ITU-T Study Groups;
• To consider proposals related to the review the Questions for study, allocation of the Questions and the actions required for further processing;
• To review the proposals regarding the ITU-T Resolutions and Recommendations related to the Working Organizations of ITU-T;
• To consider any other issues assigned by the Plenary or referred to the Group by other APT Preparatory Groups. 

Working Group 3 (WG3): Regulatory/Policy and Standardization Related Issues

WG3 considers the standardization related issues such as Regulatory/Policy, Strategic Plan and ITU-T operation issues other than the Working Methods and Work Organization of ITU-T. Proposed Terms of reference of WG3 are:

• To identify issues and consider proposals on  area of the strategic standardization ;
• To identify issue and consider proposals related to the particular need of the developing countries and bridging standardization gap;
• To review the proposals regarding the ITU-T Resolutions and Recommendations related to Regulation/ Policy and Standardization related issues;
• To consider any other issues assigned by the Plenary or referred to the Group by other APT Preparatory Groups.

Office Bearers of APT WTSA-20

Chairman

Mr. Yoichi Maeda (Japan)

Vice-Chairmen
Ms. Fang Li (People’s Republic of China)
Mr. U.K. Srivastava (India)
Dr. Hyoungjun Kim (Republic of Korea)

Documents:
Working Methods of APT-WTSA (approved by MC-44)

Status updates in developing APT Common Proposals (ACPs) for ITU WTSA20

Preliminary APT Common Proposals for WTSA-20 (Adopted at APT WTSA20-3 and APT WTSA20-4)
(Note: All 29 PACPs have been endorsed by APT Members and find the following for the status)

APT Views on ITU-T SG Restructuring and ITU-T A Series Recommendations (adopted at APT WTSA20-4)

Meetings:

APT Coordination Meeting/Activities during WTSA-20 (log-in required)

Extraordinary Meeting of the APT Preparatory Group for WTSA-20 (APT WTSA20-e), 17 - 19 November 2021 (Virtual/Online Meeting)
The 4th Meeting of the APT Preparatory Group for WTSA20 (APT WTSA20-4), 16-20 November 2020 (Virtual Meeting)
The 3rd Meeting of the APT Preparatory Group for WTSA20 (APT WTSA20-3), 13-17 July 2020 (Virtual Meeting)
The 2nd Meeting of the APT Preparatory Group for WTSA-20 (APT WTSA20-2), 13-15 May 2020 (Virtual Meeting)
The 1st Meeting of APT Preparatory Group for WTSA-20 (APT WTSA20-1), 11 June 2019 - Tokyo, Japan

Virtual Interim Meeting of Working Groups
Virtual Interim Meeting of Working Groups of the APT WTSA-20 (APT WTSA20-WGS-IM-3), 13-16 October 2020
Virtual Interim Meeting of Working Groups of the APT WTSA-20 (APT WTSA20-WGS-IM-2), 18-21 August 2020 
Virtual Interim Meeting of Working Group 3 of the APT-WTSA20 (APT WTSA20-WG3-IM), 16-17 June 2020 

Relevant Outcomes of the Meetings
Preliminary APT Common Proposals approved at APT WTSA20-3
ITU WTSA Resolutions / A-Series Recommendations Proposals from Members

Related Links
APT Preparatory Group for WTSA-16
APT Preparatory Group for WTSA-12