Standing Committee on Administration and Management (ADM)
The Standing Committee on Administration and Management (ADM) continued its work on Thursday afternoon, continuing to work on the basis of the time management plan
C15/TD3.
The Director of the Radiocommunication Bureau, François Rancy, took the floor to address the issues raised in the third plenary by several Councillors concerning the reduction in the number of posts in BR (see
Council Highlights #2). The Director explained that gradual staff reductions had been made of the order of around 10% over the past five years, and that at current levels BR was still able to fulfil its mandate; as such there are no further plans to reduce staffing levels at the present time. This may change in the future – if, for example, there are further improvements in the software being used in BR. The Councillor from Russia thanked the BR Director for the explanation, and made a number of further observations and clarifications.
Arrears and the special arrears account
The Secretariat presented the document on the Arrears and Special Arrears Account,
C15/11 (Rev. 1), thanking the United States once again for its help in recovering CHF 350,000 of unpaid revenue. The Council was requested to take note of the document; to authorize the Secretary-General to write off CHF 1,860,683.38 of interest on arrears and irrecoverable debts; and to adopt the draft decision attached in Annex B. Council duly agreed, after discussion.
In response to a question from a Councillor, the Secretariat clarified that the request from a Member State to reduce its contribution (see
Council Highlights #2) was not related to this document which only concerns the writing off of interest. In response to a request concerning the routine writing off of interest, the Secretariat agreed to prepare a report for Council 2016 in this regard.
Annual review of revenue and expenses
The Secretariat presented the document on the Annual Review of Revenue and Expenses,
C15/9, presents the key elements of the 2014-2015 budget implementation. Following a clarification of a number of small issues by the Secretariat, the document was endorsed by ADM.
CWG-FHR
The Chair of the Council Working Group on Financial and Human Resources, Bruce Gracie of Canada, presented the CWG-FHR report,
C15/27(Rev.1), detailing discussions concerning measures to reduce expenses, IMAC follow-up, opportunities for generating / increasing revenue, international numbering resources, MoUs, and other issues. ADM took note of the work of the CWG-FHR.
The United States presented its contribution on Document access policy,
C15/59, noting that the main objective of making documents publicly accessible is to enhance transparency of ITU decisions, improve decision-making, help ensure accountability, and make ITU practices more consistent with those of other UN agencies.
Several Councillors expressed their appreciation of the excellent contribution, advocating openness and transparency, reducing misconception, and increasing the value of the work of the Union, noting that exceptions must be clearly identified as to the documents which should be protected (such as working/temporary documents in study groups which have not yet been finalized, as well as information relating to intellectual property).
A dedicated group on Information/Document Access Policy was created to prepare a draft access policy to be submitted to the CWG-FHR for approval, under the leadership of Petko Kantchev of Bulgaria. A Councillor requested that academia training materials be considered in the access policy.
Argentina presented its contribution concerning the ITU Global ICT entrepreneurship initiative,
C15/79, commending and endorsing the initiative to bring together employers, SMEs, start-ups, innovation hubs, technology centres, high-tech parks, academia, venture capital, policy makers and regulatory agencies, markets and established companies, in a global network that will provide a networking platform for exchange of ideas giving access to investment and capital as well as to new markets.
It was proposed that SMEs be considered to join ITU as associates, and that a platform / network be developed to enable SMEs to share best practices and exchange ideas in a similar manner as academia. Argentina also proposed that it create, in collaboration with ITU, a regional 'chapter' for the Americas to optimize synergies between initiatives in neighbouring countries within the region, and to design training and innovation programmes, as well as to coordinate joint efforts of SMEs, centres of research, and academia to develop new products and standards.
A number of Councillors supported ITU's initiative and Argentina's contribution, and emphasized the importance of SMEs on ICTs.
Argentina also presented a contribution on supporting the integration of Argentine universities in ITU activities,
C15/80, with the main objective being to build high-level specialized capacity in telecommunications and ICTs.
The Deputy Secretary-General, Malcolm Johnson, on behalf of the Secretary-General, thanked Argentina for its support to the entrepreneurship initiative and welcomed the suggestions for its development, and for bringing 21 universities as ITU academia members who have shown considerable enthusiasm to contribute to ITU's work, and encouraged other Member States to follow Argentina's example, which would increase the region's participation in ITU.
Information session on SMEs
The fourth day of Council 2015 (Friday 15 May) started with an information session on 'Fostering SMEs in the ICT Sector: ITU Telecom World 2015 and Global Entrepreneurship Initiative'. The ITU Secretary-General, Houlin Zhao, opened the session, informing Councillors about the transformation of ITU Telecom this year to reflect the new reality of the ICT ecosystem – in particular recognizing the growing importance of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises, SMEs, in global ICT development and their huge potential for innovation, and as drivers of national and international economic development.
Rwanda's Minister of Youth & ICT, HE Jean Philbert Nsengimana, discussed the importance of SMEs, especially in the technology sector, noting that SMEs in Rwanda SMEs create 90% of all new jobs, and enable the transition from the informal to formal sector, generating up to 70% of tax revenues. SMEs are owned by young people, especially women, and therefore represent the future. The Minister said he was very pleased to see ITU supporting this initiative and giving it special consideration at ITU Telecom, and was looking forward to championing the initiative at ITU Telecom in Budapest.
The Secretariat gave presentations on the ITU Global ICT entrepreneurship initiative and the ITU Telecom World 2015 event, which will be taking place in Budapest, Hungary, from 12 to 15 October, reiterating the excellent opportunity this offers for Member States to showcase their initiatives aimed at promoting ICT SMEs.
Sixth Plenary Meeting
The sixth Plenary Meeting took place in the morning of Friday 15 May. The Chair started by congratulating Vladimir Minkin of Russia, who led the ad hoc group on WSIS (see
Issue 3 of the Council Highlights) to its successful conclusion yesterday (Thursday).
ITU 150
The next item on the agenda was the ITU 150 anniversary. The Chair reminded Council that as part of the celebration of the anniversary, ITU invited all member states to bring historic equipment for a temporary exhibition in ITU premises, mainly in the ICT Discovery, and announced that Sector Member, Orange, had brought some material, covering the telecommunications history of the last 150 years. The Chair invited Councillors to visit the ICT Discovery and see the material exposed there, and thanked the French delegation.
The Chair of the Council Committee on the preparations for ITU's 150th anniversary, Nasser Bin Hammad, presented the Committee's report (R 1367, D 575),
C15/23, summarizing the conclusions of the Committee, as well as the activities and events planned for the celebration by the secretariat, the Sectors and the ITU membership. The Chair of Council noted the report and congratulated the Committee which was given a round of applause by Councillors.
The Secretariat gave a presentation on the events and celebrations surrounding the ITU 150 anniversary, including over 110 activities including conferences, competitions and other events. Special events have already taken place in: Paris, where the original signing of the First International Telegraph Convention was signed in 1865; Madrid, where the name of ITU was changed from Telegraph to Telecommunication in 1932; and St Petersburg, where Alexander Popov first demonstrated his radio device in 1895. ITU's main celebrations will be taking place on Sunday 17 May at the CICG in Geneva.
The Deputy Secretary-General, Malcolm Johnson, presented a number of ITU 150 souvenirs and memorabilia for sale at the ITU bookshop (currently relocated, during Council, outside the Popov room).
Two information documents (INF/15 and
INF/16) from Argentina (CITEL) and Brazil were also presented, with special wishes to ITU for its longstanding history and its outstanding record of contributions to the development of ICTs.
A number of Councillors congratulated the Committee for its work and gave details of their own national ITU 150 activities and initiatives.
Creation and management of CWGs
The Councillor from Lithuania presented a contribution from a number of European countries containing proposals to increase the efficiency of ITU's work through amendments to Resolution 1333,
C15/71+C1. The Councillor from the United States presented a contribution proposing changes to the guiding principles for the creation, management and termination of Council Working Groups,
C15/83.
The Councillor from Brazil presented a contribution from Brazil and UAE proposing a new Council Working Group on Strategic, Financial and Operational Planning, CWG-SFOP,
C15/56. In response to this contribution, the Secretariat presented a document covering cost estimates for the proposed CWG-SFOP,
DT/4(Rev.1).
Concerning the first two contributions (C15/71+C1 and
C15/83), Councillors expressed their support for improved efficiency concerning Council Working Groups, including reducing their number and reducing the frequency of meetings, if possible. Regarding the chairs of the Council Working Groups, there was considerable discussion concerning the term durations and the need to retain experience. Support was expressed for the principles of geographical rotation and gender balance. An ad hoc group was created to discuss the matter further, under the leadership of the Councillor from Lithuania.
Concerning the third contribution (C15/56), support was expressed for the proposal, noting that this would improve the planning process and would result in better linkages between the strategic, financial and operational plans of the Union. At the same time, issues were raised concerning the costs of creating a new CWG, and questions were raised about it perhaps being more appropriate to merge other Council Working Groups instead.
Council agreed with the Chair's proposal that the Secretary-General be instructed to prepare a report on the current mandate and work of the Council Working Groups, taking into account any duplication with other CWGs, Advisory Groups and oversight bodies, with the document circulated to Member States at least four months prior to the next session of Council in 2016.
Plenary session close
The Chair closed the plenary session after seeking agreement from Council on the way forward concerning the submission of the Internet activities report (C15/33) to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, having consulted with several Council Member States. The Chair proposed that following the noting of the document by Council yesterday (Thursday 14 May), Council Member States could submit their views on the Report by Monday, 18 May 5:30pm. A compilation of the views submitted by Council Member States could then be included in a separate document. The noted Report, along with the document containing the compilation of views of Council Member States, as well as the official Council summary record of the discussions related to the report, could then be submitted to the UN Secretary-General as a package. Council was not asked to endorse the Report itself but to endorse the transmission of the Report with the attached compilation of views of Council Member States and the related summary records as a package. Council endorsed the proposal.
1 Three Letter Acronyms
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