Referring to the Financial Plan for 2004-2007, ITU Secretary-General, Yoshio Utsumi said he was proud to have received such huge support from Member States in his re-election. "To meet this expectation, under this severe financial situation, I will make every effort to reduce costs and provide good services with the cooperation of staff", Mr Utsumi said. He recalled that during the discussion in Committee 6 (see Highlights N°. 18), he had explained several times that the financial plan was not feasible. "The implementation of this drastic reduction will result in a deterioration of the functions of the secretariat to an extent that the membership will find difficult to tolerate. To ask only the secretariat, particularly the staff, to bear such an excessive burden, without changing the structure of the Union, will paralyze the secretariat", he told the Conference. He urged members "to share the burden by accepting more efficient working methods and by prioritizing the activities and programmes.

"We, the staff of ITU, have listened carefully to the debates of the Conference and we note that the delegations have failed to undertake a comprehensive prioritization of ITU activities that would address, in a responsive manner, the issue of balancing the budget. Instead, the Conference is ending up with a financial plan, which is more like a financial massacre." 

He told the Conference that staff was sickened and demoralized by the reductions in the funding. "It is very easy to decide whether there should be an 8 or 10 % or 15 % cut, that 50 or 100 or 170 people should go. But those people have faces… They have families. Losing a job in an international organization means having to leave the country, in most cases." He appealed to those countries that had reduced their contributions to think again about the impact this would have on ITU’s activities and "perhaps reconsider their decision".

Many countries expressed concern over the fragile nature of the Financial Plan for the period 2004-2007. While not calling into question this delicate compromise reached in Committee 6 on Thursday night, some countries pointed out that the application of free choice of class of contribution for Member States and especially by Sector Members needed to be reviewed urgently as proposed by the Arab States to this Conference. Furthermore, cost recovery introduces an element of instability in the finances of the Union, they said. Others called the plan a delicate balance putting the ITU in a difficult position and asked to place on record that they didn’t agree with the plan. We need to review the structure of ITU and take the appropriate measures with regard to staff and as humanely as possible. There is a need to make profound reform to the ITU structure to make it more efficient, transparent… Summing up the declarations and statements the chairman of the Conference said: "The true capital of an enterprise is not the total amount of shares held by shareholders but the staff of the enterprise." He however advised ITU to embrace working methods of the 21st century that would propel the Union further forward and not continue living in the past.

The Conference revised Decision 5 of Minneapolis to reflect the strategic plans and goals established for the Union and its Sectors for the period 2004 to 2007. New revisions authorize the the Council to draw up the two biennial budgets of the Union in such a way that the total expenditure of the General Secretariat and the three Sectors of the Union is balanced by the anticipated income, taking into account the following limits:

• an upper limit of the amount of the contributory unit of Member States for the years 2004-2007 of CHF 330 000
• for the years 2004-2005, a contributory unit of Member States not exceeding CHF 315 000
• expenditure on translation and text processing in respect of the official and working languages of the Union not exceeding CHF 85 million for the years 2004 to 2007
• when adopting the biennial budgets of the Union, the Council may decide to give the Secretary-General the possibility to increase the budget for products or services which are subject to cost-recovery, within the limit of the income from cost recovery for that activity

The Council may exceed the limit of CHF 315 000 for the years 2004-2005 by up to 1%, in order to meet expenditure on unforeseen and urgent activities which are in the interests of the Union. Within the upper limit of CHF 330 000, the Council may exceed the limit of CHF 315 000 by more than 1% only with the approval of a majority of the Member States of the Union, after they have been duly consulted.

In determining the amount of withdrawals from or allocations to the Reserve Account, the Council should aim under normal circumstances at keeping this Account (after integration of unused appropriations) at a level above 3% of the total budget.

The Secretary-General is to provide to the Council, no less than five weeks before its ordinary 2003 and 2005 sessions, complete and accurate data as needed for the development, consideration and establishment of the biennial budget.

The financial plan had been balanced in part, on the assumption that an amendment to the Convention would be passed which would limit expenses for councillors. It was proposed that rather than covering the travel and subsistence costs of one councillor of every Member State serving on the Council, this would be limited to councillors from least developed countries, with travel expenses alone covered for councillors from developing countries. The amendment was modelled on the system used by the Universal Postal Union.

Tunisia and Cuba expressed their concern at this ‘fundamental’ change and the impact it could have given the number of Council Member States from developing countries. However, the Chairman of Committee 6 added that if the proposed amendment did not pass, the integrity of the entire financial plan could be in jeopardy.

Germany stated it was necessary for the Council to seek operational savings as money was still needed for other activities such as the World Summit on the Information Society. "How will we get money for WSIS, if we don't save it somewhere else." Australia said it supported this spirit of cost-saving and was willing to give up the travel and per diem benefits, even though it was the furthest from Geneva and stood to benefit the most from the Union paying airfare. South Africa expressed similar sentiments.

The Tunisian delegation eventually tabled a change to the amendment in order that the travel costs, per diem and insurance expenses of Member States of the Council from both developing and least developed countries would be covered. These countries would be determined by the United Nations Development Programme criteria. New Zealand questioned where more than CHF 450 000 would come from to re-balance the financial plan. Germany noted that the plan was really only an estimate, which includes many other unknown variables. In the end, the Tunisian amendment was adopted, with no modifications made to the financial plan itself.

The principle of incorporating gender policies in the management, staffing, and operation of ITU has been enshrined in Resolution 70; however, the original recommendation for a professionally staffed gender unit in the ITU General Secretariat isn’t.

The resolution calls on the Secretary-General to encourage administrations to submit female candidatures for elective posts and for membership of the Radio Regulations Board. Saudi Arabia took exception to this, expressing concern that it ‘might mean that we don’t encourage male candidates.’ The Chairman proposed a modification encouraging administrations to give ‘equal opportunities’ to male and female candidates for these posts. This was adopted.

The final touches were put on Resolution PLEN/7 during plenary. The resolution outlines the expectations for both the Working Group of the Council on the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the Secretary-General in preparing for the Summit. It was on the latter point where some confusion had reigned, as there have been two documents on WSIS that the Plenipotentiary had been asked to consider.

Decision PLEN/1 describes ITU’s input to the declaration of principles and plan of action and ITU activities related to the Summit. However, it was eventually resolved in Resolution PLEN/7 to instruct the Secretary-General, to submit to the second meeting of the WSIS preparatory committee, guided by Decision PLEN/1:

• An information document on ITU activities related to WSIS
• ITU’s substantive input to WSIS, to be elaborated by the Working Group of the Council

The Chairman of the Working Group of the Plenary succeeded in getting Plenary to agree, during second reading, that it was necessary to include a further invitation to Member States and Sector Members in the resolution. She noted that that in the light of the financial status of the Union and the importance of the Summit to the image of ITU, it was critical that Member States and Sector Members ‘mobilize additional resources’ to ensure the success of WSIS.

Recognizing the value of the staff of the Union to the fulfilment of its goals, the Conference established guidelines for human resources management and development.

The Conference recognizes that a reduction in staffing levels from their present levels will almost certainly be required during the period leading up to the next plenipotentiary conference (scheduled for 2006). To cope with the situation, the guidelines provides that:

• with immediate effect and within available financial resources, recruitment of new staff, including temporary staff, should be limited and, to the extent practicable, vacancies should be filled through greater mobility of existing staff
• internal mobility should, to the extent practicable, be coupled with training so that staff can be used where they are most needed
• internal mobility should be applied, to the extent feasible, to cover needs when staff retire or leave ITU in order to reduce staffing levels without terminating contracts

At the same time, human resources will be developed to the fullest extent possible, in particular through in-service training. 

Mr Abderrazak Berrada, a longtime ITU official and Member of the Moroccan delegation, announced at the end of Plenary that this would be his last Plenipotentiary. He said he had now participated in 8 out of the 16 Plenipotentiaries convened by ITU, and noted it was time to ‘tend his garden’. He expressed the pride he had in ITU and his pleasure in serving it. Mr Berrada received a standing ovation and many heartfelt expressions of appreciation for his years of dedicated service to the Union.

The amendments to the Constitution and Convention signed during the Plenipotentiary Conference in Marrakesh will come into force on 1 January 2004.