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Plenipotentiary Conference |
The last Plenipotentiary Conference was held in Marrakech in September 2002. This conference dealt with the election of members of the council and elected officials of the ITU. A major issue at the Conference was the approval of the Financial Plan for 2004-07. The downturn in the economy that has affected the telecommunications industry resulting in reduced funding for the ITU and requiring a substantial review of activities to identify cost savings.
The conference also considered a number of amendments to the Constitution and
Convention, in particular to implement reforms to the organisation. The ITU
Reform Group, in preparation for the Plenipotentiary Conference had identified
several ways of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the ITU's management
and structure, taking account of the developments that have taken place in the
field of telecommunications in recent years. However, apart from management
reform issues like increasing delegation of authority within the ITU and the
establishment of a Group of Specialists to conduct an audit of the management
of the Union, many issues have been deferred for consideration by new Council
Working Groups in the period up to PP-06. The CEPT
report on PP-02 containing the European views on the Conference results,
provides a similarly downbeat assessment.
The UK played a key role in the agreement on delegation of authority and the
setting up of the Group of Specialists conducting the audit. The report prepared
by the Group of Specialists will be presented for consideration at Council-03.
Issues to be studied by Council
Introduction
The following list of issues that will be studied by Council in addition to
its responsibilities on administration and management of the Union:
| 1. | Group of Specialists on the audit relating to the effectiveness, efficiency and economy of the management and administration of the Union as a whole. |
| 2. | Preparation for the World Summit on the Information Society. |
| 3. | Review of the International Telecommunication Regulations. |
| 4. | Review and consolidation of provisions regarding observers. |
| 5. | Improvement of the functioning of the Coordination Committee, including the tasks of the Deputy Secretary-General and the role of the other elected officials. |
| 6. | Review of the functions of the three ITU Sectors in the light of the changes that have occurred in the operation and regulation of the telecommunication sector at the national level, and define the respective roles of the ITU constituents. |
| 7. | Improvements to the management and functioning of ITU relating to the planning framework in ITU by enhancing in particular, the methodology for prioritising ITU activities and by implementing evaluation mechanisms. |
| 8. | Review of the contribution of Sector Members towards defraying the expenses of the International Telecommunication Union. |
| 9. | Improving human resources management in ITU. |
| 10. | Eliminating the backlog in satellite network filings (SAT-BAG). |
| 11. | The application of cost recovery to satellite network filings. |
| 12. | The revision and maintenance of the Strategic Plan. |
Council will need to form a number of new working groups to address these issues and although the UK was not re-elected to the Council, the working groups will be open to the full membership and the UK intends to participate in these groups.
UK contact for ITU Council and Reform issues is David Barrett: Dave.Barrett@ra.gsi.gov.uk
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