Council opens in Geneva with great expectations for the future of the ICT sector worldwide

TThe Council’s 48 Member States are meeting from 4 to 13 July 2012 with great expectations for the future growth of the ICT sector worldwide. Speaking at the inaugural plenary session on 4 July, ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré; Fernando Borjón (Mexico), outgoing Chairman of Council; and the newly elected Chairman of Council, Ahmet Cavusoglu (Turkey) spotlighted the major events that will shape that future:

• the ITU Connect Americas Summit in Panama City, 17-19 July;
  
• the Global Symposium for Regulators in Colombo, 2-4 October;
  
•  the sixth meeting of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development in New York in September;
  
•  the three key world ICT events in Dubai, namely: ITU Telecom World 2012, 14-18 October; the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA-12), 20-29 November 2012; and the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12), 3-14 December;
  
•  the World Telecommunication Policy Forum (WTPF-13), to be held in Geneva in May 2013;
  
•  the World Telecommunication Development Conference in 2014 (WTDC-14);
  
•  the Plenipotentiary Conference, to be held in Busan in the Republic of Korea in 2014;
  
• the World Radio Communication Conference in 2015 (WRC-15);
  
•  ITU’s 150th anniversary in 2015.
  

Much of the Council’s focus will be on the preparations for these events. Speaking of WCIT-12, Dr Touré called for openness and transparency, and asked the Council to consider granting open access to the WCIT-12 documents, as well as agreeing to the holding of an open consultation, accessible to all stakeholders worldwide, regarding the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) to be reviewed at WCIT-12.

“Most of us were not involved in the preparations for the 1988 conference in Melbourne”, he said “But the historical record shows that many of the current fears, concerns, and criticisms surrounding WCIT also appeared in 1988. As we know, those fears and concerns were unwarranted: the 1988 Melbourne conference created the framework that enabled the spectacular growth of telecommunications – including the Internet – over the past 24 years. As we know, 1988 set the stage for the information society. And I am absolutely convinced that 2012 will set the stage for the knowledge society,” Dr Touré stated.

Fernando Borjón opened the Council session via video link from Mexico City, and acknowledged the presence of ministers from Costa Rica, the Russian Federation, and Ghana. Last year, Mr Borjón had chaired the plenary meetings of the first week of the Council, and the second week had progressed equally well under the guidance and leadership of Council Dean, Fabio Bigi (Italy), who had served as Acting Chairman of the Plenary, assisted by then Vice-Chairman, Ahmet Cavusoglu. Mr Borjón praised both men for their leadership. Commenting on the many results achieved during last year’s Council session, he said he looked forward to the reports from the Council Working Group on International Internet-related Public Policy Issues and from the Independent Management Advisory Committee.

Dr Cavusoglu noted that the 2012 Council session will continue to seek ways of strengthening ITU’s role in building confidence and security in the use of ICT, implementing the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), fostering international cooperation in Internet-related activities, and raising awareness of the need for child on-line protection, strengthening the regional presence, the deployment of ICT in regard to climate change, and accessibility to ICT for people with disabilities.

Council observes a minute of silence in tribute to the memory of Richard Butler

Richard Butler was Deputy Secretary-General of ITU from 1968 to 1982, and Secretary-General from 1983 to 1989. Mr Butler passed away on 23 June 2012, at the age of 86. Announcing this sad news, Dr Touré asked delegations to “take a moment to remember one of the most active supporters of ITU and his work over the past half century.” After leaving ITU, Mr Butler continued to play a very active role in ITU’s work, remaining fully engaged until just a few weeks ago. “He was in Geneva earlier this year for the Radiocommunication Assembly and the World Radiocommunication Conference. He will be very much missed by all of us”, said Dr Touré, inviting delegates to “share their memories of this most exceptional and inspiring man” in the condolences book, which will be passed on to Dick Butler’s family. The book will be available outside the Popov meeting room for the duration of the Council session.

Reflecting the views of the Council as a whole, delegates from Ghana, Republic of Korea, Indonesia, United States, Japan, Burkina Faso, Mexico, Malaysia, the Russian Federation and Cameroon praised Mr Butler’s contributions to the telecommunication world. Australia thanked the Chairman, the Secretary-General, and all delegations for their condolences on the death of Mr Butler, saying that he had made an extraordinary contribution to telecommunications throughout his career and had given his time generously to all the people he met.

The Secretary-General’s State of the Union address

In his State of the Union address, Dr Touré chronicled ITU’s many achievements since the previous Council session, which took place last October.

ITU Telecom World 2011 and Broadband Leadership Summit: ITU Telecom World 2011 did not only mark the 40th anniversary of the event, but strategically repositioned it in line with the changing needs of the industry and the wishes of the membership. These wishes had been expressed at recent sessions of the Council and at the Guadalajara Plenipotentiary Conference in 2010. The Summit closed with the Broadband Commission endorsing a Broadband Challenge that recognizes communication as “a human need and a right”, and that calls on governments and private industry to work together to develop the innovative policy frameworks, business models and financing arrangements needed to facilitate growth in access to broadband worldwide.

Radiocommunication Assembly (RA-12) and World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12): RA-12 approved the Recommendation and Resolutions that not only establish the IMT-Advanced technologies, but also pave the way for studies within the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) to boost the development of mobile broadband communications globally. WRC-12 was a landmark event in many areas, including mobile broadband, the digital dividend, Earth observation radiocommunication applications, improvements of safety at sea and in the air, and the enhancement of the satellite regulatory regime.

Connect Arab States (Doha, Qatar, in March 2012): industry and government leaders identified local market opportunities worth more than USD 46 billion. The event, which had a strong focus on youth and employment, attracted participants at the highest level from across the region and around the world, bringing together some 540 participants from 26 countries, including 7 Heads of State or Government.

United Nations Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB): the Plan of Action for the Overall Review of the Implementation of the WSIS Outcomes (WSIS+10) was endorsed by CEB at its meeting, hosted by ITU in April 2012. CEB also gave ITU the leading managerial role of the whole review process. The plan of action foresees a series of events, to be hosted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2013, by ITU in 2014 and by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015.

A dedicated staff, a better world: the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, addressing ITU staff in Geneva on the eve of the CEB meeting, said that he was always looking for ways to improve the United Nations in order to better serve the world’s people. Thanking the ITU staff for their dedication to that cause, he challenged them to continue to offer their expertise and enthusiasm, saying “You have ideas, you have energy, and you have telecommunications.”

Second anniversary of International Girls in ICT Day: on 26 April 2012, ITU promoted Girls in ICT Day in New York and launched a three-year “Tech Needs Girls” campaign focused on empowerment, equality, education and employment.

World Telecommunication and Information Society Day: was celebrated under the theme “Women and Girls in ICT”. Three women were honoured with the World Telecommunication and Information Society Award for their ICT leadership: Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President of Argentina; Sun Yafang, Chairman of Huawei; and Geena Davis, Hollywood icon and founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media have all contributed to providing the best possible opportunities enabling women to benefit from information and communication technologies. Their efforts have included encouraging women and girls to aspire to technology careers, and empowering them to seize every available digital opportunity.

WSIS Forum 2012 recognized outstanding achievements: 18 winners of the newly created WSIS Project Prizes were announced by ITU. The prizes recognize excellence in projects and initiatives that implement the goals of the World Summit on the Information Society by improving connectivity to information and communication technologies.

Rio+20: ITU played an important role in the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), which took place in Brazil in June 2012. The ITU delegation was led by the Deputy Secretary-General, Houlin Zhao, and was successful in ensuring that ITU’s message on the importance of information and communication technologies for supporting sustainable development was heard: the approved final document contains a number of explicit references to ICT, including direct mentions of both broadband and the use of space systems.

Leadership of Council 2012

Dr Cavusoglu, Head of Turkey’s Department for International Affairs, Information and Communications Technologies Authority (Region B – Western Europe), was elected Chairman of this year’s session of the Council, taking over the rotating chairmanship from Region A (The Americas). The vice-chairmanship this year falls to Region C (Eastern Europe and Northern Asia). At the time of writing this Issue of the Highlights, negotiations were still going on with Council Member States from that region.

Leadership of the Council’s Standing Committee on Administration and Management remains the same as last year, with Blanca Gonzalez of Spain as Chairman, alongside Vice-Chairmen Ms C.Greenway of Australia and Marcin Krasuski of Poland. The chairman and vice-chairmen of this Committee are elected for two years at a time to ensure a degree of continuity, while respecting the principles of rotation and geographical representation.

The agenda

In addition to the many events listed above, the Council will examine the implementation of the operational plans of the Union’s three Sectors and the General Secretariat for 2013-2016. It will also track the progress made by Council Working Groups on Financial and Human Resources, on a Stable ITU Constitution and on Child Online Protection, among others.

Presenting the agenda, Doreen Bogdan-Martin said it remains similar to previous years in terms of structure (see Document C12/1). Approving this agenda, the Council agreed that the “Business plan for conformance and interoperability” (Document INF/7) should be taken into account when this issue will be discussed on Friday, 6 July. It was also agreed that “ITU activities in promoting accessibility to ICT for persons with disabilities” (Document INF/11) would be included in the agenda.

Council approves report on the implementation of the Strategic Plan and activities of the Union for 2011-2012

The report presented by ITU Deputy Secretary-General, Houlin Zhao, was fully endorsed by the Council. It covers the main activities of the Union over the second half of 2011 and the first two months of 2012 (Document C12/35). The report is prepared in response to Resolution 71 (revised at the Guadalajara Plenipotentiary Conference). It analyses how the Strategic Plan has been carried out, in pursuance of results-based budgeting and management, and linking the strategic, financial and operational plans as per Resolution 72 (also revised at Guadalajara).

“With detailed information on work in the Sectors, as well as on ITU-wide activities, the report shows that ITU has continued to play a significant role in radiocommunication, standardization and development,” Mr Zhao told the Council. It outlines major ITU events during the reporting period: WSIS Forum 2011; World Telecommunication and Information Society Day; ITU Council; and ITU Telecom World 2011. The 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference, held in January and February, is covered in the section that details the activities of ITU-R.

The report reflects ITU activities in areas designated as priorities, namely, cybersecurity, climate change, e-health, accessibility, emergency telecommunications, Internet issues, and the promotion of broadband through the Broadband Commission for Digital Development. Three sections of the report are then devoted to the work of the Radiocommunication, Standardization and Development Sectors, respectively. Details are listed corresponding to the strategic goals and the defined objectives and outputs of each Sector. A final section presents information on the General Secretariat under the same format. Hyperlinks in the report lead to further information related to the topics covered.

Country profiles of progress

Several countries took the floor to highlight their national ICT plans, their recent achievements and the importance of the role of ITU as a United Nations specialized agency in the field of ICT. These included Costa Rica, Ghana, and Honduras – with Serbia thanking ITU for its efficient and professional efforts in helping the country rebuild its destroyed public broadcasting system in accordance with Resolution 126 of the Guadalajara Plenipotentiary Conference, and Resolution 33 (Rev. Doha, WTDC-06). Serbia has submitted a document requesting the Council to consider allocating the necessary funds, within available resources, to help continue this action successfully.

Preparations under way for the Plenipotentiary Conference in 2014 in the city of Busan

Mr Jae-You Choi from the Republic of Korea gave a brief account on preparations for the Plenipotentiary Conference in 2014 (PP-14) in the city of Busan. In April 2011, a Task Force was established within the Korea Communications Commission. In July the Pre-preparatory Secretariat was established under which two additional teams and various private-sector experts were invited. In the second half of 2012, organization of PP-14 will be expanded at the national level to include all relevant Korean government bodies. To this end, the government issued a Decree on 28 June, which was approved by the country’s President and was enacted on 1 July, providing legal ground for the preparatory process. “We expect such legal measures will spur more enthusiasm and passion in our future endeavour,” Mr Jae-You said, adding that the Republic of Korea is making efforts for PP-14 to become a global festival. “To this end, we are planning various events and programmes, and will continue in our best efforts to introduce the conference to the whole world.” The Republic of Korea is in the process of “formulating a basic broad plan for the conference by gathering domestic and international experts from the ICT and the other sectors as well,” he also said, inviting “genuine and insightful advice from the Secretary-General and the ITU people”. As part of the preparatory process, the Korean government has invited Dr Touré to visit the country in September this year.

Gift from the Russian Federation

The Russian Federation’s Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications, Nikolay Nikiforov, outlining the history of telecommunications in his country presented to the Secretary-General a model of the first radio which was the forerunner of more modern radiocommunications. Accepting the gift, Dr Touré stated that the radio would be kept in ICT Discovery – ITU’s brand new interactive museum – for all to admire.

Not an official document – For information only.