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With the elections over, the conference has switched gear to deal with policy and strategic issues that will shape the future of telecommunications and information and communication technologies. A number of ad hoc and drafting groups have been set up by the various substantive Committees and by the Working Group of the Plenary to lead negotiations. As Highlights only cover plenary meetings where all decisions of the conference are taken, conclusions reached on issues under negotiation will be reported on in the third week of the conference. Meanwhile, this issue of the Highlights covers the discussion in the plenary meeting of 14 October, along with the side events organized during week two of the conference.
Congratulations to the Chilean delegation!
 The conference congratulated the Chilean delegation for the triumphant rescue of the 33 miners that were trapped at the San Jose copper mine for 69 days. Many people watching the rescue operation were relieved to see all miners finally escape from what must have been a terrible ordeal, miners who so captivated the world with their bravery and courage, the Chairman of the Conference Fernando Borjón said.
Conference swears in newly elected officials
The conference decided on 14 October 2010 that the newly elected officials and the 12 members of the Radio Regulations Board (RRB) will take office on 1 January 2011.
At the swearing-in ceremony, the re-elected officials received their letters of re-appointment from the Chairman of the Conference: Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun I. Touré; Deputy Secretary-General, Houlin Zhao; and Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, Malcolm Johnson.
The following oath of office was taken in French by the Director Elect of the Radiocommunication Bureau, François Rancy; and the Director Elect of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, Brahima Sanou:
“I solemnly undertake to exercise in all loyalty, discretion and conscience the functions entrusted to me as a staff member of the International Telecommunication Union; to discharge these functions and to regulate my conduct with the interest of the Union only in view, without seeking or accepting instructions or assistance from any Government or other authority external to the Union in regard to the accomplishment of my duties." They both received their letters of appointment from the Chairman of the Conference after being sworn-in.
Tribute to outgoing members of the Radio Regulations Board
The Secretary-General paid tribute to the outgoing members of the Radio Regulations Board, thanking them for their dedicated and outstanding contribution to the Union. Those present were awarded the ITU silver medal and certificate of appreciation: Hassan Lebbadi (Morocco); Shola Taylor (Nigeria); and Aboubakar Zourmba (Cameroon). Others not attending the Guadalajara Conference, will have their awards sent to their administrations: Robert W. Jones (Canada); Martine Limodin (France); Wladyslaw Moron (Poland); and Shahzada Alam Malik (Pakistan).
Credentials Committee concludes its work
Mr N. Kisrawi
Chairman of Committee 2 |
The Credentials Committee held two meetings, on 5 and 13 October 2010. At its first meeting, it set up a working group, under the leadership of its Vice‑Chairman, João Carlos Albernaz ( Brazil), to verify the credentials, transfers of powers and proxies of delegations. The Committee's conclusions were approved by the conference (see list, which will be updated as and when more credentials are submitted and verified). The conference also approved the Committee's recommendation to authorize its Chairman, Nabil Kisrawi, to verify credentials, transfers of powers and proxies received after 14 October 2010. The Committee has concluded its work. Its Chairman will submit his conclusions in a future Plenary Meeting.
All delegations from ITU's 192 Member States, whether they have the right to vote or not, must have credentials that confer on them full powers to represent their government. A Member State of the Union loses its right to vote if:
- as a signatory, it has not deposited an instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval of the ITU Constitution and Convention (Geneva, 1992); or
- as a non-signatory Member State, it has not deposited an instrument of accession to the ITU Constitution and Convention; or
- it is in arrears in its payments to the Union, and the amount of its arrears equals or exceeds the amount of its contributions due for the two preceding years.
Staff matters
Human resources management and development
The conclusions reached on staff matters by Committee 6 (Administration and Management) at its night session on Monday (11 October) were approved, subject to modification, by the conference on 14 October. That night session saw Committee 6 devote much of its time to staff matters, with the Chairman of the ITU Staff Council making a statement as required under Resolution 51. This resolution covers ITU staff participation in conferences of the Union.
The amendments made in Committee 6 to Resolution 48 on “Human resources management and development were discussed and further amended by the conference and should be approved at a later plenary. These amendments are a combination of proposals put forward by Member States, as well as by the Tripartite Group on Human Resources Management. The amendments:
- update Resolution 48 by removing sections which were introduced by previous plenipotentiary conferences, and in particular the Antalya Conference in 2006, taking into account the financial situation prevailing in the years 2008-2011;
- introduce a reference in Resolution 48 on the creation by Council 2006 of the Tripartite Group and its achievements so far;
- introduce a reference in Resolution 48 on the adoption by Council 2009 of the Human Resources Strategic Plan and its implementation.
Resolution 48 also contains a list of items on which the Secretary-General is required to report to the Council. This list has been broadened to include the following:
- succession planning;
- persons with disabilities, including services and facilities for staff with disabilities;
- the use of surveys and questionnaires to ascertain the views of all staff, as required.
Help one or help all?
The Marshall Islands had introduced a draft resolution to Committee 6 requesting ITU to write-off its unpaid contributions so that it can continue to participate in the activities of the Union. It called on ITU to consider its very difficult circumstances as a Small Island Developing State and the recent economic constraints. It promised to take all necessary measures to avoid falling into debt in the future. The current situation of the Marshall Islands is a total debt of: CHF 1,047,929.95, including 270,800.10 interest for delayed payment.
Reporting to the Plenary Meeting on 14 October, the Chairman of Committee 6 said that there is no precedent for plenipotentiary conferences to accept requests received from other countries to write-off their debts. Previous similar requests were forwarded by the Plenipotentiary Conference to the Council with the instruction to “review the guidelines for repayment schedules, including a maximum duration, which would be up to five years for developed countries, up to ten years for developing countries, and up to fifteen years for least developed countries, as well as up to five years for Sector Members and Associates .
Many countries in Committee 6 had supported the request from Marshall Islands, but at the same time others expressed concern that such a decision would set a precedent for other countries in similar, and even worse, situations. Committee 6, which does not have any authority to take a decision on the matter, reported the issue to the Plenary Meeting for a decision, proposing one of the following two options:
- to write off the Marshall Islands debts amounting to CHF 1,047,929.95; or
- to follow the guidelines for repayment schedules as per Resolution 41 (Rev. Antalya, 2006), and which would be that Marshall Islands pays CHF 77 129. 85 over a fifteen-year period.
Zambia, backed by Jamaica, Tunisia and others preferred the second option, arguing that the conference should not set a precedent. However, Marshall Islands said that this second option was not sustainable at this time. The Republic of Korea, supported by Australia suggested that the repayment should not start immediately, but at a later date. The Syrian Arab Republic, citing Somalia, said there were other countries in an even worse situation than the Marshall Islands. This view was backed by Indonesia (while expressing sympathy for Marshall Islands), with Jamaica and South Africa underlining the need to approach the issue globally to include countries in a similar or worse situation.
The Secretary-General said that the problem is quite serious, as contributions were really high for small Island States. Richard Barr, Chief of the ITU Administration and Finance Department added that it might be worth considering extending the period of repayment to all countries facing similar problems as the Marshall Islands.
Mali and Bulgaria called for an amendment of the current rule or the drafting of a new rule that would take into account the population of a country, and even its revenue. Bulgaria would be in favour of reconsidering the class of contributions for these group of countries.
Israel supported the Secretary-General’s view that the case of Marshall Islands should not be seen as setting a precedent. Liberia aligned itself to these comments saying that it is in a similar situation and explaining that decades of war had destroyed its economy. “It is not the unwillingness to pay, but rather the inability to do so , the Liberian delegate said. Mexico argued that while they understood and regretted the situation of the Marshall Islands, they could not accept the writing off of arrears, but of interests. India called for a scheme of repayment or a moratorium, as the country said it was not in a position to pay its debt.
In the end, the conference agreed to set up a working group to try and come up with a further option that will be fair to all countries in a similar position. Many delegates stressed that all countries in difficult circumstances should be treated equally… there are many such countries, especially in Africa, they said.
| Decisions and resolutions abrogated by the conference |
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On the proposal of Committees 5 and 6, the conference decided, on 14 October, to suppress the following decisions and resolutions, which have served their time:
- Review of the management of the Union: Decision 7 (Marrakesh, 2002).
- Improvement of the functioning of the Coordination Committee,
including the tasks of the Deputy Secretary-General"and the role of the other elected officials: Resolution 108 (Marrakesh, 2002).
- Study on the management and functioning of the Union: Resolution 147 (Antalya, 2006).
- Scheduling of conferences: Resolution 156 (Antalya, 2006).
- Compensation matters: Resolution 47 (Rev. Minneapolis 1998).
- Organizational structure and grading in ITU: Resolution 49 (Kyoto, 1994).
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Side events at PP-10 attract key players
Week two of the Plenipotentiary Conference also saw a number of thematic side events covering major ICT issues. The events were organized by the ITU Telecom Secretariat ahead of the ITU Telecom World 2011 event which will be taking place in Geneva next October.
 The first event, held on Tuesday 12 October, looked at the issue of broadband, and how to avoid roadblocks to broadband deployment. After a welcome speech from ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré, panellists included Serbia’s Minister of Telecommunications and Information Society, Jasna Matic, Telmex International CEO Oscar Von Hauske, Cisco VP Robert Pepper, and senior representatives of Satmex Mexico and of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (ITSO), representing the satellite sector.
The second event, held on Wednesday 13 October, addressed ICTs and climate change, a particularly topical subject ahead of the COP 16 Conference which will be taking place in Mexico later in the year. The session was opened with remarks made via teleconference by Kevin Grose of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), who was speaking from Bonn, Germany. He was followed by Malcolm Johnson, Director of the Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB); Sechwyo Nzima, from Zambia’s Ministry of Communications and Transport; and representatives from Ericsson, Telefonica and ITU Study Group 13, who gave interesting presentations with different local – and global – perspectives.
The third event, held on Thursday 14 October, looked at accessibility and ICT, and featured welcoming remarks from ITU Deputy Secretary-General Houlin Zhao, and presentations from the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid, as well as TSB Deputy Director Reinhard Scholl; Cynthia Waddell, from the International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet (ICDRI); Keith Besgrove, from Communications and the Digital Economy, Australia; and Ali Ghodbani, from the Ministry of Communications Technology, Tunisia. The session was moderated by Clara Luz Alvarez, Rapporteur of ITU-D Question 20, Mexico.
The final side event was held on Friday 15 October and addressed cybersecurity. The session was moderated by Steve Santorelli, Director of Global Outreach Team Cymru, Inc, United States, and panellists included Hassam Baryalai, Deputy Minister of Communications and IT, Afghanistan; Mohd Noor Amin, Chairman, IMPACT Management Board, Malaysia; Jody Westby, CEO, Global Cyber Risk, United States (speaking via teleconference from Washington DC); Eugene Kaspersky, Kaspersky Labs, Russian Federation; Cheri F. McGuire, Vice President, Global Government Affairs & Cybersecurity Policy, Symantec Corp., United States; Andrew Cushman, Director, Global Security Strategy and Diplomacy Team, Microsoft Corp, United States; and Bilel Jamoussi of TSB.
Enter the PP-10 Draw and win one of three iPad WiFi-enabled tablet computers
ITU has launched a competition that will give every registered PP-10 delegate and observer the chance to win one of 3 iPad WiFi-enabled tablet computers, donated by Telmex.
To enter the competition, simply visit the PP-10 Competition page. You will be asked to answer one simple question, "Why is ITU membership valuable to your country or organization?", after which your name will be automatically entered in the prize draw, which will take place at the end of next week.
Announcing the competition, ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré said: "I want to encourage all delegates to participate, even if you're not here until the end of the conference. If you win, ITU will be very happy to ship your prize to you, wherever you may be." Dr Touré thanked the sponsor Telmex for their generosity and support.
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