Yoshio Utsumi is struggling to change the International Telecommunication Union, the world's oldest international organization whose origin dates back to 1865.
The ITU's secretary general said the Geneva-based, engineer-dominated organization should become more policy-savvy at a time when telecommunications are rapidly transforming the world economy and people's lifestyles.
"The most difficult and biggest task is to reform ITU into a body that can deal with policy matters," Utsumi, a former senior Posts and Telecommunications Ministry official, said in a recent interview in Tokyo.