Mr. Chairman,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to begin my closing address to this 16^th Plenipotentiary Conference by extending my warmest thanks to the government of Morocco for providing us with outstanding facilities and support services at a time when most eyes seem to focus only on bottom lines. Because of its belief in the value of ITU and despite a difficult world economic climate and the challenges it poses for this country, Morocco, nonetheless, spent CHF 10.5 million on organizing this event. I think Morocco deserves a round of applause.

In addition to Morocco’s contribution, Member States put CHF 4.9 million of their collective contribution to the Union into this Conference. To this, we need to add 11.2 million CHF or so that it cost individual delegations for their travel and stay. This does not include the cost of the receptions and other social events prior to the elections, which I would estimate to be at least CHF 1 million.

Yet, what has been achieved?

I cannot refrain from thinking that with that much money, nearly 8 000 phone lines could have been built to link hundreds of villages to our Information Society. These phone lines could have brought the benefits of access to millions of people. We could have directly and positively contributed to transforming the lives of these people.

Of course, had this conference come up with the type of outcome that would have made our organization stronger and better equipped to carry out its mission, this too could have had a direct and positive impact on people’s lives.

I think we all need to be reminded of the vision of two men whose work shaped our world of telecommunication.

Marconi’s vision was not just to overcome the hurdle of sending electrical pulses across the Atlantic. He said he was inspired by the hope that the telegram would make the world a smaller and more peaceful place.

Alexander Graham Bell’s inspiration was simple. He wanted to overcome a human handicap: the deafness of his wife. These were great men whose visions led to revolutionary concepts. Ideas that changed the face of the world forever.

Four years ago, when I was first elected to the helm of this Union, I also had a dream. The dream of making ITU a stronger, more vibrant organization. One that would truly be relevant, responsive and effective. An organization that would address the needs of our constituencies more broadly, and not just from a narrow technical perspective. This policy dimension was enshrined in the first strategic plan which all Members approved in Kyoto and reaffirmed in Minneapolis.

My staff and I worked very hard to this end and we achieved considerable progress. For the first time in ITU history a Secretary-General was able to address the United Nations General Assembly. And for many of the top policy makers in the room this may have been the first time they had heard of ITU. Not only was our organization put on the radar screens of the world’s leaders, but also we started to regain ground as a leading organization capable of taking up the cause of countries that find themselves on the wrong side of the Digital Divide. This recognition of the pre-eminent role of ITU in ICTs led to the endorsement by the UN General Assembly of the Word Summit on the Information Society with ITU as the lead agency.

We have also developed and delivered a number of activities focused on top-priority regulatory issues. Through these efforts, regulators around the world are starting to look at ITU as a reference organization, an organization that brings direct value to their mission.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

When this conference opened, I was hopeful that together we would define and build a credible and effective future for ITU and build on what we have achieved in recent years, despite an environment of considerable uncertainty. This clearly needed courage in order to push ahead with some of the more radical proposals.

Four weeks later, the disappointing results are shattering my dream. The lack of major decisions by this Conference will send a signal of weakness to the world, and implementing the financial plan it adopted will, to my regret, simply not be feasible.

To ask only the secretariat, particularly the staff, to bear such a big reduction of financial contributions by the Member States will paralyze the Secretariat.

This will not only represent a big step back in our policy and regulatory initiatives but it will also affect the traditional technical functions of the Union. If the Members wish to reduce their financial contributions, they must also share the burden by prioritizing the activities and programmes and by taking the responsibility of introducing more efficient working methods. Delegation of authority from the Plenipotentiary Conference to the Council must be made. The structure of the Union, namely the General Secretariat and three Sectors should also be reviewed. It is the responsibility of Member states.

Many ministers expressed their conviction in the importance of ITU work in this Conference. They acknowledged the value of ITU work in the policy arena and applauded the leadership role taken by the Union in the organization of the World Summit on the Information Society. Many stressed how much they were counting on ITU’s guidance to help them cross the Digital Divide. How will ITU be able to live up to those expectations when drastic cuts will be applied throughout the organization?

The next Plenipotentiary Conference will not be held until 2006 and then we will even have less time to accomplish more work. Four years in an industry that works in nanoseconds is a very long time. ITU is already weak: by 2006 ITU could be paralyzed. We cannot afford to wait that long. It must act swiftly before it is too late.

It may be time to consider carrying out the long awaited reform of ITU through an extraordinary Plenipotentiary Conference limited in scope whose sole purpose would be to complete the work initiated since the Kyoto Conference. A Conference where it would be possible to focus only on the fundamental structural changes needed to re-engineer and revitalize ITU. Failing that, the problem of efficiency and therefore relevance will remain unresolved and the future of ITU really be questioned.

In the meantime, I will make every effort to steer the Union in these very difficult moments. I would like at this point to pay tribute to the ITU staff both here in Marrakesh and in Geneva who have spared no efforts to provide smooth and extremely efficient services throughout the Conference despite the uncertainty on the fate of many of them. They deserve our gratitude for their unfailing dedication to get the job done to the best of their ability. I wish to thank them personally and acknowledge my appreciation publicly. I do express the hope, for their sake as well as for the sake of this organization which I value so much, that the coming months will bring better news and that the income side of the ledger will improve to ease the situation.

I would also like to thank our Chairman Mr. Hajji, as well as Mr. Bennani, Mr. Lebbadi and the many other Moroccans that worked with him in hosting the Conference. I would also like to pay tribute to Mr. Berrada for whom this will be the last Plenipotentiary Conference. It is therefore with pleasure that I present, as a token of our esteem to the people of Morocco, the ITU Silver Medal to His Excellency Mr. Nasr Hajji.

In closing this 16^th Plenipotentiary Conference, it only remains to wish all delegates a safe journey home.

Thank you.