In the first stakeholders meeting of the International Telecommunications Union Asian-Pacific Region Center of Excellence (ITU ASP CoE) in Bangkok, Thailand on the 19th to 20th October 2006, Pakistan was selected and given the mandate to become the CoE node in the Asia Pacific Region for Policy & Regulations. Accordingly Ministry of Information Technology, MoIT (IT&T Division) assigned the task to PTA for the establishment of ITU Regional Center of Excellence (CoE) Node in Pakistan.

A formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the setting up of ITU Centre of Excellence was signed on June, 8, 2007 at ITU Headquarters in Geneva. Chairman PTA, Maj. Gen (R) Shahzada Alam Malik (Pakistan) signed the MoU with Mr Yury Grin (represented the Secretary General, ITU. Acting Secretary General, ITU).

The Node, established in Pakistan, will offer various training courses each year in collaboration with ITU on issues related to Telecom Policy & Regulations. These courses will be attended by the countries from the Asia & the Pacific Region.

This platform will provide an opportunity to the countries of Asia Pacific Region to share expertise on highly specialized issues related to telecommunication. 49 ITU Member countries from the Asia & the Pacific region will be benefited from the programs offered through these CoE Nodes.