Speech by Malcolm Johnson, ITU Deputy Secretary-General
Opening remarks - ITU Council Working Group on Financial and Human Resources (CWG-FHR)
30 January 2017, ITU Headquarters, Geneva
Distinguished Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the Secretary-General and the elected officials I wish you all a Happy New Year and welcome you to this meeting of the Council Working Group on Financial and Human Resources – the first of a series of CWGs meeting over the next 2 weeks.
To start with let me thank you Chairman for taking on the chairmanship of the group for this meeting and for your cooperation with the Secretariat for its preparation.
I am pleased to inform you that further to Council 2016 decision, the ITU Secretary-General has undertaken consultations regarding Vice-Chairmanship positions for Council Working Groups and that for this group we have received the following candidatures .
For the Asia-Pacific Region: Mr Manish Gupta (India)
For Europe: Mr Dietmar Plesse (Germany)
For the CIS Region: Mr Andrei Sergeevich Zhivov (Russian Federation)
I encourage regions that have not yet done so to nominate a candidate as soon as possible for consideration by the Council in May.
The Secretariat was very busy in the run up to the end of the year in order to have all our documents submitted before the 30-day deadline, even though of course Council working groups do not have the power to take any decisions, but rather to give advice and recommendations to the Council.
The 16 documents submitted by the Secretariat cover important issues such as the following:
• Preparation of the draft biennial Budget of the Union for 2018-2019;
• Efficiency measures;
• Security;
• ITU Publications;
• Cost implications of WTSA decisions;
• Report and follow-up to the recommendations of the IMAC and External Auditor;
• Implementation status of the JIU recommendations from the "Review of management and administration in the ITU", and other JIU recommendations on UN-wide issues;
• The results of the consultation on possible improvements to the Plenipotentiary Conference;
• Draft ITU risk management policy; and
• A recommendation to discontinue TIES email service.
We have received 4 contributions from Members States for the meeting related to:
- ITU participation in MoUs with financial and /or strategic implications;
- Improving the stability and predictability of the financial base of the Union; and
- A proposal on the establishment of a joint ITU coordination committee for Vocabulary.
In addition, this meeting will also include discussion on the ongoing implementation of the HR Strategic Plan, an update on the implementation of Resolution 48 “Human resources management and development” (Rev. Busan, 2014) and a review of the ITU Gender Policy.
With respect to risk management, I would like to invite you to an Information Session on Risk & Compliance Management on Wednesday 1st February at 12:00 in the Popov Room, with an expert with many years of experience on the topic, Mr. André Richartz, recommended by Beate Degen, the Chair of the IMAC who will be introducing the speaker.
There will also be an information session next Wednesday 8 February at 12h30 in Room A on the ongoing ITU Visual Identity exercise. Many members (and non-members) have been consulted over the last year and it will be a good opportunity to find out more about how things are progressing.
I now leave you in the Chairman’s capable hands and wish you a very productive and enjoyable three day meeting to discuss many important issues.