Council Working Group for the
Elaboration of the Draft Strategic Plan
and the Draft Financial Plan, 2008-2011
Document: WG-SP-FP-06/44
11 September 2006
English
6TH MEETING, GENEVA, 14 - 15 SEPTEMBER 2006
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
COMMENTS ON THE DRAFT ITU FINANCIAL PLAN, 2008-2011
Introduction
The United States of America has carefully examined the report of the Council Working
Group of June 27-28, 2006 and WG-SP-FP-06/35 (Rev. 1) as well as WG-SP-FP-06/41
and Annexes and provides the following comments on the information contained within
those documents. In addition, the United States is providing a supplemental list of areas
of efficiencies that we propose be considered in elaborating the Financial Plan 2008-2011
based on balanced budget principles.
The Council, based on the Summary Record of the Tenth and Last Plenary Meeting
(C06/86-E), set the provisional amount of the contributory unit at CHF 318 000.
Therefore, the Secretariat should develop a new draft balanced budget based on the CHF
318 000 and distribute it to the membership well in advance of the Plenipotentiary
Conference. We believe the Financial Plan as presented by the Union’s management
continues to provide unrealistic projections of expenditures, without adequately
rationalizing such expenses with realistic expectations of income. The Financial Plan
must be designed to realistically reflect the objectives and goals of the Union for the
quadrennial period within available resources. In order to do so, it is vital that financial
resource figures be provided by the Secretariat that reflect the level of contributory unit
which the Member States have indicated. Funding of core functions should be included
first, with additional activities prioritized to be undertaken as resources become available.
Full implementation of the Group of Specialists near term recommendation on
prioritization has clearly not been applied and must be done in order to provide Member
States with sufficient information to make appropriate policy and fiscal decisions.
Identification of priorities should be included in the current draft Strategic Plans for all
sectors, following the example of the D sector.
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Regarding document WG-SP-FP-06/35 (Rev. 1)
I. The United States agrees with the principles elaborated here as the basis for
preparation of the financial plan. Income and expenditures must be balanced and a global
cut avoided if possible.
II. Options for Reducing Expenditures – Elaboration of the Draft Financial Plan
document WG-SP-FP-06/41.
In general the United States agrees with the items listed in this section. We provide
additional comments on some points below as well as suggestions of additional areas for
possible savings.
Item 2: Coordination and harmonization of seminars and workshops in order to avoid
duplication of the subjects covered and to optimize the Secretariat attendance. The ITU
noted that it could not identify any duplication. We note, however, that the sectors and
the SPU have all held workshops and seminars on similar topics and request a further
review of activities to identify duplication and maximize coordination to reduce costs.
Item 3: We agree with the ITU’s assessment. The ITU should continue to seek
opportunities that would result from sharing of resources (including offices and staff)
with regional and sub-regional organizations.
Item 4: While we agree with the ITU’s assessment, if an agreement cannot be reached on
priorities for the Union, staff cuts, in addition to natural attrition of staff, could be
included in order to balance the budget.
Item 5: While we agree with the need to streamline and limit document reproduction,
based on experiences at WTDC-06, a more concerted effort must be made to ensure that
all Conference documents will be available online prior to discussion, including DLs,
DTs, agendas, etc.
Item 6: After reviewing tables 4, 5, and 6, it may be more advantageous for the ITU to
keep a limited amount of publication stock on hand in all languages and, once the stock is
depleted, stock should only be reordered upon demand. This savings will not be realized
now but in the future.
Item 7: It is the United States’ view that the implementation of WSIS activities relevant
to the ITU’s core mission should be absorbed within the existing resources of the Union.
Additionally, the ITU should focus on those areas where the ITU has clear leadership
responsibilities, specifically Action Lines C2 and C5, in which ITU is identified as a
moderator/facilitator.
Item 8: Each Sector should be instructed to consolidate or eliminate study questions that
have limited interest/participants wherever possible. This principle could also be applied
to cross-sectoral issues. Tables 8-10 provided by the Secretariat in WG-SP-FP-06/41 are
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incomplete, lacking attendance figures or number of days in some cases. In addition, the
tables are not prepared using a standard format, again making comparisons difficult.
Statistics are needed for all Study Group and Working Group meetings per meeting to
determine possible areas of economy. It would be helpful if all the tables were formatted
similar to Table 8, which offers membership a more complete picture of the Study Group
and Working Party meeting data. For the Radiocommunication Sector, it would be useful
to know the non study group costs of preparations for the WRC, the cost of the CPMs,
the conference itself and implementation cost.
Item 9: Study Groups and Working Parties should explore scheduling joint sessions or
partially overlapping meeting dates to allow the efficient consideration of issues that fall
within the purview of multiple Study Groups or Working Parties. Less attended meetings
should be eliminated or merged with similar activities. A floor of a minimum number of
participants should be considered to maximize use of limited resources. Consolidation of
Study Groups and Working Parties with low participation should be considered. Each
study and working group meeting time should be reduced and/or consolidated with other
relevant meetings to the full extent possible. For example, the Study Group and Working
Parties should be held in a block of meetings in Geneva with other Study Group and
Working Party meetings.
Item 10: We agree with limiting the number of days of Advisory group meetings to 3
days per year. As an additional cost saving, we suggest holding the advisory group
meetings with interpretation on an “as requested” basis.
Item 12: The total time of the RA and the WRC should not exceed four weeks. The
frequency of the WRCs should also be established at a minimum of every four years,
with the agenda appropriately streamlined and refocused on actions only a WRC can
take. The first CPM and C/VC meeting that normally follow the WRC could possibly be
combined with the working group of the plenary on future conferences in the last week.
The second CPM, including CPM-07, should be limited to one week in duration.
Item 14: This goes to the heart of the need for the entire organization to prioritize its
activities. No new programs should be undertaken until those that are completed, of
lower priority or can be consolidated are identified. This applies to all activities,
including those in the Doha Action Plan. While the Doha Action Plan provides Member
State priorities, it needs to be considered within the context of the Union’s priorities as a
whole and within limited budgetary resources. It also does not imply or assume that all
previous activities, for example from the Istanbul Action Plan, must also continue. Such
multiplication is unrealistic and impractical. In addition, as the Member States pass
resolutions and initiatives without full budget information at hand, the Union must
analyze its ability to implement such actions taking into account the budgetary
information and not operate on the assumption that all activities must be implemented
regardless of fiscal realities.
Item 15: Such a value-added impact statement would facilitate the prioritization process
that must be done before new programs can be implemented.
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Item 17: As noted in # 14 above, not all initiatives and programs need be continued.
Those of highest priority should be identified and implemented first. A list of lower
priority projects could be maintained from which additional work could be undertaken as
resources become available.
Item 18: No new regional presence should be established until a full analysis of the use
of the regional offices and their staffing levels is carried out and appropriate adjustments
made. The regional offices need to be fully utilized, thus ultimately freeing staff in
Geneva to focus on other tasks and saving costs in terms of human resources and travel.
Item 20: Stricter controls on the amount of travel and costs need to be in place. Revise
the travel regulations related to business travel to lengthen the time of the trip needed to
receive this upgrade.
Additional areas of economies:
1. Documentation: Tables 2 and 3 of 06/41 seem to indicate that the number of pages of
documentation as well as the cost of typing, translation etc. continue to rise. Limits
should be imposed on the number of pages and enforced. The use of abstracts should be
instituted where appropriate. Electronic publishing should be increased and expanded in
scope.
2. Publications: There appears to be little correlation between demand for publications
and the numbers produced. Historical data should be used to better predict how many
copies of a publication would be needed. The ITU should consider instituting a system
whereby certain publications are not translated or printed until a demand for them is
expressed. Table 4 of 06/41 does not provide publication costs, thus making it difficult to
determine if true cost recovery is taking place. It also indicates that many of the ITU
publications generate little or no income, as many are provided free of charge. The entire
publication policy and guidelines should be reviewed and revised (see Item 6 above).
3. SPU: Review the activities of this unit with the view to dividing its functions among
the Sectors. A small permanent staff could be retained for policy advice, with
recommendations being reviewed by the Council or an advisory body such as the NCOG.
4. Building renovations should be carefully reviewed as to need, for example the need to
maintain two cafeterias.