ITU Council 2010 - Highlights N. 4, 19 April

Council 2010 Highlights

Geneva, 19 April 2010

Not an official record

N°4

World Telecommunication Development Conference 2010

Preparations are going well for the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-10), to be held in Hyderabad, India, from 24 May to 4 June 2010. Yury Grin, Deputy to the Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), presented Document C10/29 giving a brief overview of
these preparations.

Following the successful completion of the six Regional Preparatory Meetings (RPM), held in 2009 and early 2010, a Coordination Meeting was organized on 22-23 February 2010 – just before the Telecommunication Development Advisory Group. The RPM Coordination Meeting, which marks the conclusion of the preparatory process for WTDC-10 was made up of the chairmen and vice-chairmen of all six RPMs. The meeting, Mr Grin said, achieved excellent results and unanimously agreed on the consolidation of the RPM outcomes. The conclusion of the regional preparatory process now provides a solid ground for members to put forward their proposals, Mr Grin commented and went on to highlight the following points:

Proposals and contributions for the work of the conference have now started to arrive. While the deadline to guarantee their availability in all six languages was 26 February 2010 (that is three months prior to the Conference), every effort will be made to accommodate late submissions. To this end, members are urged to submit their proposals and contributions as soon as possible to make them available to all participants at an early date with a view to facilitating adequate preparations.
Online pre-registration started on 25 January 2010 through designated focal points. To date, 509 delegates have registered from 78 Member States, from Palestine, from 28 ITU‑D Sector Members.
Within the financial resources available, fellowships will be granted in order to encourage participation from administrations of least developed countries (LDC) and countries with GDP per capita of less than USD 2000, with priority to LDCs. By the deadline of 5 April, 42 requests to receive application forms had been made. The deadline for returning the form fully approved by the administration has been set for 30 April 2010.
From an operational viewpoint, an inter-sectoral group has been set up to coordinate the secretariat preparations of WTDC-10, and a comprehensive work plan is being implemented to ensure efficient and effective preparations. Within BDT, a task force has also been set up to coordinate, on a daily basis, the preparations of WTDC-10.
Concerning the work of the conference, a High-Level Segment (HLS) is scheduled in the first two days of the conference to give participating high-ranking officials, for the most part ministers responsible for telecommunications and chief executives from the ITU-D Sector Member organizations, the opportunity to share their vision with delegates and thus contribute to the conference debates and outcomes. Invitations to speak at HLS were sent out in mid-March 2010. Speaking slots will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis and in line with established protocol.
Side events by the membership: members willing to present to conference participants, issues, projects or achievements of general interest related to the mandate of the Development Sector, are invited to do so. These side events can take the form of presentations, discussions, and so on.
BDT is also preparing a number of side events to promote some of its work in key areas of development, including a seminar and ministerial round table on Connect a School, Connect a Community flagship initiative, a briefing session on statistics, information sessions on policy and regulatory issues, e-health, the transition to digital broadcasting, the launch of the ITU Academy portal, as well as partnership announcements.

Commenting on the report, Malaysia highlighted the need to put greater reliance on regional preparatory meetings, and possibly emulate the current practice in organizing inter-regional coordination meetings for World Radiocommunication Conferences. No further comments were made on the document and on WTDC-10 preparations, which were noted with much appreciation.

Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid, Director of BDT, expressed his gratitude to the host country, India, for all their support and for making every effort to ensure that the conference will be a success.

The way forward for ITU TELECOM

ITU TELECOM is forging a new strategic direction to better respond to today’s fast-changing global ICT marketplace. Two documents were presented to the Council, with one highlighting this future direction (Document C10/66) and the other focusing on ITU TELECOM activities in 2010-2011 (Document C10/26).

Blaise Judja-Sato, Executive Manager of ITU TELECOM, informed the Council that building on the strengths and successes of the 2009 WORLD event, ITU TELECOM has been developing a new model for the 40th Anniversary Event that will take place in Geneva in October 2011. This new model, he said, also takes into account the measures recommended by the Council, as well as feedback from customers. The event will include high-level forums and summits, with a key focus on business networking, as well national and application-driven thematic pavilions showcasing different technologies and solutions to global challenges.

Changing the frequency of TELECOM events

ITU TELECOM 2009 - Highlights

Presenting Document C10/66, Mr Judja-Sato highlighted some of the challenges that ITU TELECOM events are facing. Factors such as intense competition, a reduction in customer spending, and the failure to date to implement necessary innovations in the light of market and technological trends have all hit ITU TELECOM’s business. In addition, Document C10/66 says that the traditional approach of organizing WORLD events every two to three years and regional events at different locations around the world is no longer sustainable. “Recent ITU TELECOM events have all experienced a sharp decrease of key indicators – for example the number of exhibitors, number of visitors, as well as the number of Forum passes and total net square metres sold,” according to this document.

But one thing is certain. The ICT industry still needs a “place to meet” – a “place” that enables it to engage on a regular basis. And this place must be ITU TELECOM. To this end, the document proposes a new format that would boost participation and a new frequency for WORLD events. “Industry feedback and comments have indicated to us that having an ITU TELECOM WORLD event as a regular, predictable feature on their calendar is important,” Mr Judja-Sato told the Council. He went on to propose a new frequency for ITU TELECOM events, with WORLD events to be held annually. These events would alternate as follows:

A fixed event in Geneva, taking place every two years, provided that a mutually beneficial agreement is concluded with the State of Geneva and the Federation of Switzerland to facilitate this arrangement.
A global event taking place in another venue, to be determined by a competitive bidding process, taking place every two years, in the years when the event is not held in Geneva. These events would be held in close collaboration with host countries and also with strategic partners, with demonstrable global capabilities.

It is believed that changing the frequency would enable ITU TELECOM to serve a number of important purposes, including better meeting the needs of customers, optimizing the use of its resources and capacity, as well as being able to forge beneficial, long-term partnerships with many other event stakeholders.

Mr Judja-Sato also proposed a revitalization of the ITU TELECOM brand to ensure its continued validity and relevance in today’s marketplace. He went on to highlight a number of measures which ITU TELECOM could take to continue engaging its community in the interval between events. He underlined that through this new direction, format and frequency of events, ITU TELECOM is confident that it will provide events that best serve the varied needs of ITU’s membership, whilst at the same time providing extra value and support for ITU itself.

To enable ITU TELECOM to forge ahead with this vision, the Council was requested to examine Resolution 11 (Rev. Antalya 2006) contained in Annex 1 Document C10/66 and to propose amendments to PP-10.

Comments from the floor
Reflecting on the sharp drop in the number of visitors and exhibitors to ITU TELECOM events, a number of councillors commented that the economic crisis cannot be blamed for everything. For some, these events are no longer attractive, and ITU needs to investigate why, underlining that the Union cannot sustain loss, but must focus on gains.

In this regard, many delegations supported the concept of reforming TELECOM events. The United States noted that there is still an appetite for industry leaders to come together to discuss. The idea of developing a model agreement for hosting TELECOM events was also supported. Such an agreement, the United Stated specified, would be prepared by the ITU secretariat, negotiated by the potential host country and then submitted to the Council for review and approval.

Conclusion
The Council noted the report on the activities contained in Document C10/26. As for Document C10/66, the comments made by councillors, especially those on strategies to improve ITU TELECOM, and the need for a model host country agreement will be taken into account and reflected in the summary record. A drafting group was set up under the chairmanship of Tanzania. It will meet on Tuesday evening (20 April) to review the proposed amendments to Resolution 11 (Rev. Antalya 2006) taking on board the specific comments made by the Council in this regard and report back to the Plenary.

Schedule of conferences, assemblies and meetings of the Union for the period 2010-2012

Idrissa Samaké, Chief of ITU’s Conferences and Publications Department presented a planned schedule of future events to be organized by ITU in the period 2010-2012. The schedule (see Document C10/19 Rev.1) was presented for general information. It takes due account of the relevant resolutions of the Plenipotentiary Conference, in particular Resolution 77 (Rev. Antalya, 2006), as well as the principles contained in Resolution 111 (Rev. Antalya, 2006).

Saudi Arabia pointed out that Islamic holidays should be taken into account when planning conferences and meetings. The delegation said that the dates between 17 and 26 October 2012 should be avoided, as they fall during the Hajj period for Muslims.

Conclusion
The Council noted the document with appreciation, and reminded the secretariat to avoid planning any events during religious holidays.

Scheduling of Council sessions and Plenipotentiary Conferences

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) proposed that future Plenipotentiary Conferences should be held in the last quarter of the year. It also underlined that Council sessions should be held in the last quarter of every year as instructed in resolves 2 of Resolution 153 (Antalya, 2006) – except during a Plenipotentiary year. In the Plenipotentiary year, the Council shall be held in the second quarter. UAE further proposed that WTDC should be held preferably five to six months before a Plenipotentiary Conference.

The UAE's proposals are based on Resolution 153 on “Scheduling of Council Sessions and Plenipotentiary Conferences”. This resolution says that:

the Plenipotentiary Conference shall, in principle, be scheduled between April and June of the year preceding the start of the financial planning periods to be agreed by those conferences;
the Council shall, in principle, hold its ordinary session in the final quarter of each year.

Presenting its proposals to the Council (see Document C10/47), UAE noted that “after PP-06, the ITU Council sessions have been held in the last quarter of 2008 and 2009 respectively, which is very much in line with resolves 2 of Resolution 153”. However, in 2007 the Council session was held in September, and this year, the session is being held during April 2010. “This clearly shows the contradictions in implementing Resolution 153,” the UAE commented.

There was unanimous support for the UAE’s proposal to hold Council sessions in the second quarter and Plenipotentiary Conferences in the last quarter. South Africa, supported by many other countries, underlined that a three-month window between PP and WTDC was inadequate for such important conferences. “A six‑month window would be much more appropriate as is proposed by UAE,” South Africa said. Developing countries need to have ample time to prepare for these events. The United States also favoured a six-month interval between a WTDC and a PP, noting that sometimes experience should be considered above theory.

Conclusion
The Council agreed to transmit the UAE’s proposals in Document C10/47 to PP10. Meanwhile, the Secretary-General proposed that the date for the transition of the newly elected team should be set as 1 January. This was supported by Bulgaria and Egypt, and will be noted in the summary record.

Date and duration of Council 2011

The Council has the statutory responsibility to fix the dates of its own meetings. In line with established practice, the secretariat proposed dates for the 2011 session of the Council. Introducing Document C10/5, Marie-Odile Beau, Head of ITU’s Membership Division, said that the proposed dates are for a period of 9 working days (from 11 to 21 October 2011) instead of 8, as this will be the first Council session after PP-10, and will have on its agenda the adoption of the budget for 2012-2013. These dates were selected taking into account other meetings already planned in the fall of 2011, notably the celebration of the ITU TELECOM 40th Anniversary in October 2011.

Conclusion
Council noted Document C10/5. However, in view of the comments from several delegations, in particular the United States which proposed that Council sessions be organized in the second quarter of each year, between April and June, the Council decided that a final decision on the dates of the 2011 session would be taken at its Extraordinary Session. This session will be organized at the end of PP-10, and will take into account possible revision of Resolution 153 on scheduling of Council sessions and Plenipotentiary Conferences.