INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION Council Working Group for the Elaboration of the Draft Strategic Plan and the Draft Financial Plan, 2008-2011 Document: WG-SP-FP-06/20 12 April 2006 English Comments from ITU Membership UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ON THE DRAFT ITU STRATEGIC PLAN, 2008-2011 Introduction The United States of America continues to believe that the importance of the linkage between the Strategic Plan, Operational Plans and Financial Plan of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) cannot be overstated. The Financial Plan allocates and provides a mechanism for tracking expenditures and activities that are identified in the Operational Plans. The Operational Plans, in identifying the activities of the Union, provide a framework for the achievement of the priority goals and objectives of the Union, as identified in the Strategic Plan. Consequently, it is critical that the Strategic Plan be developed with these critical linkages in mind. The United States believes that the objectives for the three Sectors and the General Secretariat should be clearly tied to the purposes of the Union and should reflect the requirement of a balanced budget. The outputs for all three Sectors, as well as for the General Secretariat, should be concrete and crafted so as to lend themselves to performance indicators and results-based budgeting. We appreciate the attempt to incorporate the previous comments submitted by the United States in WGSP-FP-6/15 and offer the following further thoughts and edits, section by section, on the current Draft ITU Strategic Plan that was submitted to the ITU Council in C06/18. Part I – The Union and its membership • Section 2.2. The United States believes that text in the Strategic Plan that identifies the role of the ITU in WSIS implementation and follow up should be consistent with the WSIS documents. Proposal: Therefore, the text should read “Drawing upon its experience, the Union should take into account the outputs of the two phases of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), namely the Geneva Declaration, the Geneva Plan of Action, the Tunis Commitment, and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society. In particular special attention should be given to those action lines where ITU has been named as moderator and facilitator (i.e., information and communications infrastructure (C2) and building confidence and security in the use of ICTs (C5)), in addition to those action lines in which it has been named a partner” • Section 3.2, Goal 1. While the ITU role in the UN system is critical, it is one of many UN actors identified by the WSIS outcomes as having a role. The United States believes that the Strategic Plan should reflect this. Proposal: Therefore the text should read “Maintaining and extending international cooperation among all Member States and with relevant regional organizations for the improvement and rational use of information and communication infrastructure of all kinds, taking a leading role in United Nations system initiatives on information and communication technologies, as called for by the WSIS.” • Section 3.2 Goal 7. The United States believes that Proposal 1 more fully captures the appropriate role of the ITU with respect to helping Member States foster an enabling environment. To maximize the economic and social benefits of the ICTs, governments must focus on creating, within their own nations, the appropriate legal, regulatory, and policy environment that encourages privatization, competition, and liberalization. In particular, the role of the private sector and civil society as the driver of innovation and private investment in the development of ICTs is critical. Value is added at the edges of the network, in both developed and developing countries, when the domestic policy environment encourages investment and innovation. Proposal: For Goal 7, use proposal 1. Part II – Sectoral Objectives and Outputs General The United States continues to believe that the outputs for all three Sectors, as well as for the General Secretariat, should be concrete and crafted so as to lend themselves to performance indicators and results-based budgeting. It is of concern that in some instances general meetings (e.g. study groups) and/or programmatic headings are listed as outputs. We recommend that the outputs for all the Sectors, as well as the General Secretariat, be revisited in the appropriate manner so as to identify tangible outputs. For example, an output of the General Secretaries is not the Plenipotentiary Conference itself, but rather the results of the Conference which is the Final Acts. The same can be said for the World Radio Conference (WRC). The WRC is not a tangible output of the R-Sector, rather the Radio Regulations. Line items changes to the Financial and Operational Plans will need to be made to correspond to the new concrete objectives identified and agreed. Section 4 As currently presented, this section does not identify the priority outputs for the ITU-R. In addition, Table 4.1 lists meetings and/or events as outputs. The United States suggests sending this section to the BR Director so that he can facilitate a review by ITU-R members, including a discussion at the next Radiocommunications Advisory Group (RAG) meeting, and provide suggested revisions to the Council Working Group. Section 5 The objectives and corresponding outputs outlined for the ITU-T in C06/18 are broad and somewhat vague. The United States recommends that the ITU-T portion (Part II, Section 5) be sent to the TSB Director so that he can facilitate a review by ITU-T members, including a discussion at the next Telecommunications Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) meeting, and provide suggested revisions to the Council Working Group. Section 6 C06/29 contains a revision to the ITU-D relevant portion of the Strategic Plan that was developed at WTDC-06. The United States recommends that the Working Group replace Part II, Section 6 with the appropriate text contained in C06/29 as it relates to the objectives but that the outputs as identified be sent to the BDT Director so that he can facilitate a review by ITU-D members and provide suggested revisions to the Council Working Group. Part III – General Secretariat objectives and intersectoral outputs The United States does not support the “operationalization” of the General Secretariat into a fourth sector of the Union. Recognizing that the move to results-based budgeting necessitates a link between the Strategic, Operational and Financial Plans of the Union, we do, however, believe that the Strategic Plan should include a section on the General Secretariat, given that there is a corresponding operational plan for the Secretariat. We agree with other Member States that there seems to be duplication of activities when one compares the individual Sector outputs with the outputs of the General Secretariat. Therefore, we suggest that this section of the Strategic Plan be substantially revised so as to focus the outputs of the General Secretariat appropriately on the budget, Conference/meeting support, building and infrastructure issues, and intersectoral coordination. We note that in doing so, a series of policy related function currently preformed by the General Secretariat (i.e., ITU New Initiatives, GMPCS, Internet Policy, etc.) would be seen to be eliminated. While the United States believes that policy-related activities should be addressed in the three Sectors and be based on Membership contributions, we recognize the valuable work that has been done by the General Secretariat in this regard, often at the instruction of Resolutions adopted at the Plenipotentiary Conference, and would invite a discussion by the Membership on how best to resolve the issue. Proposal 1: The text below be considered by the Working Group to serves as the baseline text to replace the current Part III and Working Group members discuss how to best to include in the General Secretariat outputs items which are policy-oriented in nature. Part III – General Secretariat objectives and outputs 7.1 The mission of the ITU General Secretariat is to provide high quality, timely and efficient services to the membership of the Union, as identified in the Constitution and Convention, and/or to discharge other duties and responsibilities handed down in resolutions and decisions of the Plenipotentiary Conference, the Council, conferences and assemblies. 7.2 The General Secretariat has five main objectives: 7.2.1 Objective 1: To provide the membership, the Council and the Plenipotentiary Conference with accurate, timely, coherent and transparent information on the ITU budget, programs and activities and their financial implications, including the thorough application of the principle of cost-recovery and the identification of new sources of funding, as required. 7.2.2 Objective 2: To progressively improve the efficiency of the operation of the Union, by proposing to Council a sound and balanced budget, by ensuring financial accountability, including the implementation of results-based budgeting, effective and efficient management of conferences and meetings, provision of cost-effective information services, enhanced security, effective management of human resources, and, where appropriate, outsourcing. 7.2.3 Objective 3: To facilitate the internal coordination of activities among the three Sectors where work programs are overlapping or are related so as to ensure that the membership benefits from the full complement of expertise available within the Union. 7.2.4 Objective 4: To further enhance international cooperation, and, where agreed by the membership, to develop innovative mechanisms for such cooperation, and to act as the depository of international treaties and agreements, consistent with the purposes of the Union. 7.2.5 Objective 5: To improve the exchange of information among the membership and to promote the activities of the Union in order to increase membership, encourage the use of ITU products and services, and raise the overall visibility of the Union within the ICT industry and the international community as a whole. 7.3 In line with the results-based budgeting approach, these objectives are linked to the outputs of the Union as set out in Table 7.1 that follows. The three high priority outputs have been identified as: ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, Council and its Working Groups, and the Budget. Objective 1: Information distribution to members Objective 2: Effective operation of the Union ITU Budget X X X Plenipotentiary Conference – Final Acts X X X Council and Working Group – Membership decisions and guidance X X ITU Buildings and Infrastructure Intersectoral Coordination Objective 3: Efficient internal cooperation X X Objective 4: International cooperation and agreements X Objective 5: Information exchange and ITU promotion