Lyndall Shope-Mafole |
This year's session of the ITU Council will be a time for many firsts. When the 46 Member States who make
up this governing body converge on Geneva from 14 to 25 June 1999, it will be their first ordinary session
since their election by the Plenipotentiary Conference in Minneapolis last autumn.
For the first time in the Union's history, a woman will chair this august body. Lyndall Shope-Mafole was
elected to this position by the new Council at an extraordinary session which took place in the closing
hours of the Minneapolis Conference. |
Josefina Lichauco |
Ms Shope-Mafole, who is the Plenipotentiary Minister of Communications at the Embassy of South Africa in Paris, is no
stranger to the ITU. Since South Africa was readmitted to the Union at the Kyoto Plenipotentiary Conference in 1994 and
elected to the Council in that same year, she has taken on very important roles in the international world of
telecommunications, including Africa TELECOM 98. She was also the Vice-Chairperson of the Council last year.
Leadership of the Council is granted according to the principle of rotation among the different regions of the world.
It was the turn of Regions D (Africa) and E (Asia-Pacific) to provide a Chairperson and a Vice-Chairperson. The
Vice-Chairperson is also a woman. Josefina Lichauco is Deputy Minister, Department of Transportation and Communications
of the Philippines.
These two women have used every occasion, during ITU meetings, to underline the need to pay attention to the special
needs of the developing economies in order to stop the communications and information gap from widening into an
unbridgeable chasm.
Now is also a timely moment to introduce the leaders of Council's two standing committees on finance and staff
matters. The Standing Committee on Finance will be chaired by Bruce Gracie, Senior Adviser, International
Organizations at Industry Canada, with Frédéric Riehl, Deputy Director, Office fédéral de la communication
(Switzerland) as Vice-Chairperson. The Standing Committee on Staff Matters will be chaired by Gheorghe-Adrian
Bocsan, Inspector General, Inspectorat général des communications, at the Ministry of Communications (Romania),
with Mette J. Konner, Head of Section, National Telecom Agency (Denmark) as Vice-Chairperson.
With the main cast by now well and truly rehearsed, the stage is set for the Council to approve a budget for the
Union for 2000 and 2001 as well as the financial plan for the years 2000 to 2003.
Key issues that will be up for review from the Minneapolis Conference include: fixing the processing charges for
satellite network filings; the holding of a world summit on the information society; the role of the ITU in Internet
Protocol (IP)-based networks and management of Internet domain names and addresses; cooperation agreements with the
World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); world
and regional TELECOM exhibitions and forums; strengthening the regional presence; limits on the volume and cost of
documentation; gradual lifting of interim limitations on the use of official and working languages of the Union; use of
the ITU name, abbreviation, flag and emblem by third parties; apportionment of revenues in providing international
telecommunication services; assistance and support to Palestine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Liberia, Rwanda and
Somalia; the TELECOM surplus; the Year 2000 problem; and the holding of regional development conferences for the years
2000 and 2001. The Council is also expected to set the guidelines for repayment schedules for countries in arrears to
settle their outstanding contributions to the Union.
The Editor
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