Committees 3 (Budget Control), 5 (Legal and Policy) and 6 (Administration and Management), and the Working Group of the Plenary completed their work on Tuesday, 4 November. Many revised and new resolutions are now with the Editorial Committee (Committee 4) for refinement before their submission to the plenary for final approval. This issue of the Highlights looks at the final work done in some of these committees, as well as in the Working Group of the Plenary. It also gives a snapshot of Tuesday's plenary.
Australian Minister commends work of PP-14
Addressing the plenary on 4 November, Australian Minister for Communications, Malcolm Turnbull, commended the work of PP-14, and singled out for special mention the conference's engagement to harness ICT expertise to combat the Ebola epidemic, its resolution to improve global flight tracking in real time, and its financial and strategic plan for the next four years.
Minister Turnbull commented: "We have already agreed to a new resolution that takes an important step to improve civil aviation safety. I believe my counterpart from Malaysia raised the question as to why flight tracking still makes use of technology developed in the 1940s and 1950s. By bringing this issue to next year's WRC you are bringing the technology into the 21st century. This achievement cannot be understated and is an outcome that all Member States should be proud of."
On Ebola, the Minister said "The conference's resolution to make use of ICT to support efforts to combat Ebola is a timely and important initiative. Our thoughts, prayers and sympathies are with the victims of this awful disease, and with their families. I commend the ITU for its important contribution."
On ensuring ITU's sustainability and strength, the Minister observed that "This conference has set our goals and objectives beyond 2015, through the strategic and financial plans. The four goals of the strategic plan; growth, inclusiveness, sustainability and innovation, provide us with an ambitious plan for the next four years. The outcomes that have been achieved here at PP-14 put us, and the Union, in good standing to achieve these goals."
The Minister commended Conference Chairman Wonki Min for his able stewardship in leading the work of PP-14. "I've only just joined you but I wanted to assure you that the world has been watching your work. Through you and your committee chairmen, a great deal has been achieved in the past two and a half weeks."
Budget Control Committee reports balanced budget and commends the organization of PP-14
The Budget Control Committee (Committee 3) held its second and last meeting on Monday, 3 November. At this meeting, Committee Chairman Paarock Vanpercy from Ghana presented the budget of the conference, and indicated that the actual expenses will remain within the total budget allotment. He pointed out that 41 organizations and Sector Members had been registered, of which 27 were exempt from defraying the expenses of the conference and 14 will share in defraying these expenses.
Presenting the Budget Control Committee's report to the conference plenary on 4 November, Chairman Vanpercy recalled the Memorandum of Arrangement between the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning of the Republic of Korea and ITU, and expressed the committee's appreciation to the Government of Republic of Korea for the human and material resources that have been deployed to enable the Plenipotentiary Conference to carry out its work in the most efficient manner.
Mr Vanpercy, in accordance with the terms of reference of Committee 3, was reporting to the plenary on the organization and facilities available to the delegates, the accounts for expenditure incurred throughout the duration of the conference, and the estimated total expenditure of the costs that may be entailed by the execution of the decisions taken at PP-14. He said the total expenditure forecast for PP-14 at 31 October 2014 were on track, totalling an estimated CHF 3 660 000, or CHF 16 000 below budget.
The plenary approved the Committee 3 report (Document 151), which will be forwarded to the Secretary-General, together with the comments of the plenary, for submission to the 2015 session of the Council.
More resolutions approved
The plenary then moved on to approve the following resolutions:
Revised resolutions
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Resolution 48 (Rev. Busan, 2014):
Human resources management and development.
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Resolution 152 (Rev. Busan, 2014): Improvement of management and follow-up of the defrayal of ITU expenses by Sector Members and Associates.
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Resolution 158 (Rev. Busan, 2014):
Financial issues for consideration by the Council.
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Resolution 170 (Rev. Busan, 2014): Admission of Sector Members from developing countries to participate in the work of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector and the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector.
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Resolution 58 (Rev. Busan, 2014):
Strengthening of relations between ITU and regional telecommunication organizations and regional preparations for the Plenipotentiary Conference.
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Resolution 77 (Rev. Busan, 2014):
Scheduling and duration of conferences, forums, assemblies and Council sessions of the Union 2015-2019.
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Resolution 111 (Rev. Busan, 2014):
Considering major religious periods in the scheduling of ITU conferences, assemblies and Council sessions.
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Resolution 167 (Rev. Busan, 2014):
Strengthening and developing ITU capabilities for electronic meetings and means to advance the work of the Union.
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Resolution 175 (Rev. Busan, 2014):
Telecommunication/information and communication technology accessibility for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs.
New resolutions
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Resolution COM 5/3:
Review of the current methodologies and development of a future vision for the participation of Sector Members, Associates and Academia in the activities of the ITU.
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Resolution COM 6/4:
Support and assistance for Iraq to rebuild its telecommunication sector.
New decision
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Decision COM6/2:
Use of hyperlinks in ITU documents.
Suppressed
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Resolution 4 (Rev. Guadalajara, 2010):
Duration of plenipotentiary conferences of the Union.
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Resolution 93 (Minneapolis, 1998):
Special arrears accounts.
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Resolution 153 (Rev. Guadalajara, 2010):
Scheduling of Council sessions and plenipotentiary conferences.
Working Group of the Plenary – Overview of resolutions adopted for transmission to plenary
The 12th and last meeting of the Working Group of the Plenary (WGPL) took place on Tuesday, 4 November, under the group's Chairman Musab Abdulla (Bahrain). It considered and approved the following revised and new resolutions.
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Revision of Decision 11 (Rev. Guadalajara, 2010), "Creation and management of Council Working Groups". WGPL approved revisions (Document DT/74) from its ad hoc group on Resolution 11, chaired by Felicity Morrison, Australia. The revised decision puts further emphasis on the need to introduce more efficiencies in the running of council working groups (including grouping and reducing the number of meetings to reduce costs) and to ensure geographical distribution and gender balance in the leadership roles of these groups.
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Internet-related resolutions. The Chairman invited Fabio Bigi, Chairman of the ad hoc group on Internet matters, to present the results of work done in his group. Mr Bigi said he was pleased with the successful completion of the task assigned to the group and thanked all delegates for their good spirit of cooperation and compromise. He noted that the discussions were very informative, sometimes difficult, and very long (with more than 50 hours spent in the ad hoc group). The package of Internet resolutions listed below was approved by consensus by the WGPL and will be forwarded to the conference plenary for final approval.
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Resolution 101 on Internet Protocol-based networks (Document DT/75).
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Resolution 102 on ITU's role with regard to international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet and the management of Internet resources, including domain names and addresses (Document DT/76).
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Resolution 133 on the role of administrations of Member States in the management of internationalized (multilingual) domain names (Document DT/77).
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Resolution 180 on facilitating the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 (Document DT/78).
India made a statement on their proposal IND/98/1, on ITU's role in realizing a secure information society, which will be included in the records of the conference.
Connect 2020 Agenda for Global Telecommunication/ICT Development
WGPL unanimously endorsed a new resolution titled "Connect 2020 Agenda for Global Telecommunication/ICT Development". It sets the global agenda for the development of the telecommunication/ICT sector and is the result of several contributions (AZE/BLR/CBG/GRC/KAZ/KOR/LTU/POL/RUS/E/SNG/SUI/UGA/136/1). The resolution encapsulates a shared global vision, high-level goals and targets, under the agenda Connect 2020, envisaging "an information society, empowered by the interconnected world, where telecommunication/ICT enable and accelerate socially, economically and environmentally sustainable growth and development for everyone."
Having adopted the Strategic Plan of the Union for 2016-2019, ITU will work towards successfully implementing the Connect 2020 Agenda. ITU membership is invited to participate actively in this endeavour, and to contribute with national, regional and international initiatives. The resolution is an invitation to all stakeholders to take an active role, work together and contribute, with their experience, qualifications and expertise towards the achievement of the Connect 2020 vision, goals and targets.
Committee 6 (Administration and Management)
At its ninth meeting (Monday, 3 November), Committee 6 endorsed revised Resolutions 48 (Human resources management and development), 152 (Improvement of management and follow-up of the defrayal of ITU expenses by Sector Members and Associates), 158 (Financial issues for consideration by the Council) and 170 (Admission of Sector Members from developing countries to participate in the work of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector and the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector), and new Resolution COM 6/4 (Support and assistance for Iraq to rebuild its telecommunication sector).
Committee 6 finalized its work on 4 November after the endorsement of a new resolution on the options for the Union's HQ premises over the long term, which defines a frame for further discussion on this topic. Committee 6 has met 11 times since the beginning of the Plenipotentiary Conference and the work of its various ad hoc and drafting groups resulted in the revision of 2 Decisions and 23 Resolutions, the adoption of 5 new Resolutions and the deletion of 3 Resolutions.
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PP-14: Interview with H.E. Mr Malcolm Turnbull, Minister for Communications, Australia
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