The inter-regional co-ordination meeting for the upcoming November Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-06) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) was held on 6 March in Doha, Qatar.
The Secretariat presented two documents on the proposed structure of PP-06 and on the Time Management Plan, with the following aspects in focus, among others:
- Elections for the Council and for the Radio Regulation Board (RRB) should be held simultaneously;
- The need, regarding elections, to endeavour to reduce costs and save time;
- Elections should be held on the Monday of the second week of PP-06 (i.e., on the ninth day, halfway through the conference);
- In the first week it was proposed that the time dedicated to political and reception speeches should be shortened, bringing forward the start of work;
- Each election should take the estimated time of one hour, with three plenary sessions per day, right in the first week. As it was not reasonable, that possibility was rejected;
- Electronic voting is possible, according to the current rules;
- There will be three interpreting teams; and
- The need to set up a working group whose mission will be to implement the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was noted.
The Inter-American Telecommunications Commission (CITEL) noted that, regarding the election procedures and setting the contribution unit, same will have to wait for results of the ITU Council session to be held in April 2006.
Regarding the actions preparing for PP-06, CITEL indicated that the financial regulations will be one of the crucial points of PP-06. Other actions, already determined at the first meeting, held in Geneva on 12 December 2005, are:
- The elections;
- The ITU strategy and financial plans;
- Results of WSIS and impact of Resolution 1234 of the Council;
- Enhanced efficiency in ITU management (Decision 7);
- Cost recovery of the satellite notification system; and
- International telecommunications regulations (ITR).
The following topics were also considered priorities:
- The need to have a list of priorities by region;
- The need to adopt a discipline and a method in the most important matters; and
- The possible impact of WSIS on the ITU Convention and Constitution.
Syria protested this agenda point, in the context of an informal meeting: in Minneapolis there was heated discussion about what was in the scope of formal or informal meetings and the designation of PP priority issues cannot be made at an informal meeting, Syria asserted.
Various delegates asked for the next inter-regional PP co-ordination meetings to be scheduled in line with resolution 112 of the PP, to ensure that all the member States are informed and prepared, with a view to being able to reach formal positions at the start of the PP.
Regarding the Committees and working groups (WG) of the Council, the idea is to limit the number of committees, working groups and ad-hoc groups, and to have fewer committees and Council WGs. The structure of PP-06 will nevertheless have to be worked out beforehand. There was consensus about the need to choose committee chairs who are active and knowledgeable about the issues debated, so as to stimulate the work. For this reason the consultation of members was defended, along with the effort to achieve regional balance in that designation. The Secretary General suggested that there should be five or six committees. Some countries defended the creation of two WGs: one on WSIS and the other on the strategy plan.
WSIS includes the strategy plan, according to the understanding of France, which stated that it did not for the time being agree with an overly detailed discussion of the PP's structure.
The need for discipline when taking the floor and to have one speaker for each common proposal (and not by region) was once again discussed at this meeting. It was also recalled that not all the countries belong to regional organisations and that the smaller countries with fewer speaking opportunities should do so right at the start of the PP. Norway, as representative of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT), noted along with Canada that it will be difficult to reconcile the figure of regional spokesperson with the individual expression of support for proposals and with the gauging of the various interests and the ?temperature? of the hall, limiting the possibility of participation. Iran considered that the strategy adopted in Marrakech was good, with the president being firm about limiting discourse, but disagreed with having a spokesperson per region. Syria noted that the regional spokesperson rule, as set out in the ITU procedures, is only applicable for the presentation of proposals, and cannot limit participation in the subsequent discussion.
Regarding the electoral process, the proposal from the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT), already sent to the Secretariat, was to have the elections begin on the fourth (Thursday, 9 November) and not the ninth day of the PP. Syria held that if the elections were postponed to the second week, all the remaining work would be affected by election pressure.
The PP may adopt by a two-thirds majority the decision to move the elections forward, if so decided in a plenary meeting at the start of the Conference, France explained. Each region should thus inform and persuade its members about the need to move the elections forward, given the scenario of a shorter three-week PP. Canada agreed with the publication on the ITU website of a document with the Union's legal opinion on this issue.
Lastly, the question of whether to hold an additional Council before PP-06 was also considered. The intention was to have a Council lasting from one to three days in Turkey, before the start of the PP work. There was not enough time to conveniently discuss this matter, due to a parallel meeting of the Arab States Group.
The next meeting will be held during the 2006 ITU Council, scheduled for April 2006, preferably before the Arab States Group meeting is held.
