The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) will kick off its quadrennial plenipotentiary conference in South Korea's southern port city of Busan on Monday, attended by some 3,500 delegates from around the world with plans to set new ICT-related policies for the world in the coming years.

The ITU is an information and communications arm of the United Nations with a membership of 193 countries that has the power to set new technological standards and guidelines for the world ICT industry. 

Allocating radio frequencies and satellite orbits, and improving the quality of communication services are some of its key tasks.

"As the host of this year's ITU gathering, South Korea will contribute to the organization managing key policy issues and setting the future vision," the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said in a news release. 

"Through this, South Korea will make a leap from an ICT infrastructure-strong nation to the leader in the ICT diplomacy."

Held every four years, this year's meeting, set to last three weeks, is the first to be held in South Korea and only the second in Asia. Japan hosted it in 1994.

Key agenda items will include women's empowerment through ICT, issues on radio spectrums and satellite orbits, cyber security, and shared growth through ICT, according to South Korean organizers.

"While setting the long-term vision of the future ICT strategy, member countries will also exchange opinions of establishing sense of trust on the Internet, narrowing the information divide, and allocating radio spectrum for the positioning of aircrafts," the ministry said.

Ministry officials said South Korea plans to propose two agendas: the Internet of Things (IoT) and ICT convergence. If its proposals are accepted by member countries, South Korea can expect to emerge as the leader in the field, they said.

The ITU members will also vote to fill 65 positions at the ITU, including the secretary general. South Korea's Lee Chae-sub, an IT convergence researcher at KAIST, will run for director of the organization's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau.

South Korean officials also plan to use the conference as an opportunity to showcase their country's advanced ICT industry. On the sideline, they will hold a handful of exhibitions, hoping to draw some 300,000 visitors.

During the World IT Show 2014 to be held in the first week, South Koreas's largest ICT firms, including Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., will present their newest technologies and products, organizers said. 

The 5G Global Summit will be held on Monday and Tuesday, where telecom and other IT-related firms will discuss the future of the fifth-generation technology. It will be attended by high-ranking governmental officials from South Korea, China, Japan, and the European Union.

The Big Data World Convention, which kicks off on Wednesday, will be a venue for IT giants such as IBM to showcase the vision of the big-data industry, South Korean organizers said.

The Global ICT Premiere Forum, scheduled for the second week, will be an opportunity to witness South Korea's economic vision under three key words  "creative government, "creative enterprise," and "creative user," they said, adding that other scheduled events will include cloud computing and healthcare. 

The Science & Creativity Festival, to be held in the last week, will help the general public get a closer look at scientific advancement through hundreds of programs available at the site, they said. (Yonhap)