VZCZCXYZ0017
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAK #6480/01 3261249
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 221249Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0029
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1514
RUEAFCC/FCC WASHDC
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 1667

UNCLAS ANKARA 006480 
 
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STATE FOR EB, EB/CIP, IO, IO/T, L/EB 
 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECPS AORC TU
SUBJECT: ITU PLENIPOTENTIARY: REQUEST FOR PERMISSION TO SIGN THE 
FINAL ACTS 
 
 
¶1.  This is an action message.  See paragraph 3.  Post is 
transmitting this on behalf of the U.S. delegation to the ITU 
meeting in Antalya. 
 
¶2.  Summary and Action Request:  The U.S. Delegation to the 2006 
Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication 
Union has achieved its objectives at this conference held in 
Antalya, Turkey.  The ITU, the UN specialized agency for 
telecommunications, will conclude its Plenipotentiary Conference on 
Friday, November 24.  The United States has satisfied virtually all 
of the objectives set forth in the scope paper on this conference, 
which established the following: 
 
-Re-elect the United States to the ITU Council and elect Julie 
Zoller to the Radio Regulations Board; 
-Maintain the current organizational structure of the ITU; 
-Enhance Member State oversight of ITU activities by strengthening 
the role of the ITU Council in the management of ITU resources; 
-Maintain a budget ceiling reflecting zero nominal growth, promote 
transparency in ITU budget processes, advocate prioritization of ITU 
activities and support a balanced budget for the Union; and 
-Preserve the stability and security of the Internet while promoting 
private sector leadership in the technical development and 
management of the Internet, in particular, in relation to the 
Internet's domain name and addressing system (DNS). 
 
¶3.  Action Request:  In light of these results, Ambassador David A. 
Gross, head of the U.S. delegation, requests Department approval to 
sign the Final Acts of this ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, with 
appropriate reservations and protocol statements as necessary. 
Other agencies - Department of Commerce's National 
Telecommunications and Information Administration, Department of 
Defense, and the Federal Communications Commission, participating on 
the delegation have cleared this cable and recommend authorization 
to sign the Final Acts.  End summary and action request. 
 
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Elections 
--------- 
 
¶4.  The United States was successful in its campaign to be 
re-elected to the 46-member ITU Council.  The U.S. candidate for the 
Radio Regulations Board, Julie Zoller, was elected by the largest 
number of votes in the region.  She is the first woman to be elected 
to an ITU post. 
 
¶5.  Member States elected Hamadoun Toure of Mali to the post of 
Secretary-General, defeating Matthias Kurth , Germany; Marc Furrer, 
 
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Switzerland; Roberto Blois, Brazil (the current Deputy 
Secretary-General); Montasser Ouaili, Tunisia; and Muna Nijem, 
 
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Jordan.  Mr. Toure is well known in the ITU, having served two terms 
as Director of the Telecommunications Development Sector.  For 
Deputy Secretary-General, another ITU insider, Houlin Zhao was 
elected to the post on the first ballot.  Mr. Zhao of China is 
currently the Director of the Telecommunication Standardization 
Sector.  Other candidates included: Dr. Ayhan Beydogan, Turkey; Maj. 
General John Tandoh, Ghana; and Carlos Sanchez, Spain.  Mr. Valery 
Timofeev, Russia, the current Director of the Radiocommunication 
Sector, was re-elected without opposition. 
 
¶6.  There was competition for the Director of the Telecommunications 
Standardization Sector.  There were four candidates: Fabio Bigi, 
Italy; Dr.Yuji Inoue, Japan; Dr. Kishik Park, Korea; and Malcolm 
Johnson, UK.   Malcolm Johnson, who is well known in ITU circles as 
Head or Deputy Head of UK delegations, was elected by Member States 
on the third ballot.  There were also four candidates for the 
Telecommunication Development Sector: Abdelkrim Boussaid, Algeria; 
Najat Rochdi, Morocco; Sami Al-Basheer, Saudi Arabia; and Patrick 
Masambu, Uganda.  Again, it took two ballots to elect the new 
Director - Sami Al Basheer.  He is General Manager, International 
Affairs with the Communication and Information Technology Commission 
of Saudi Arabia. 
 
¶7.  After election of the ITU's senior management officials, the 
conference held elections for the Radio Regulations Board (RRB), a 
twelve-member body that meets in Geneva several times a year.  The 
U.S. candidate, Julie Zoller, received the largest number of votes 
in the Amercas Region, a real tribute to her qualification and her 
effective campaign.  Also elected frm the region was Bob Jones from 
Canada, the frmer Director of the ITU's Radiocommunication Sector. 
Candidates from Honduras and Venezuela were defeated. 
 
¶8.  Last were the elections to the ITU Council, which consists of 46 
Member States, one quarter of the ITU membership.    Member States 
re-elected the United States to Council with a substantial increase 
in its number of votes from previous years.  With a few exceptions, 
most of the members of Council were re-elected for another term. 
 
Notably, Iran was soundly defeated in its bid for re-election., and 
the UK, which lost its Council seat in 2002, was also among the 
unsuccessful candidates.   Iran's candidate for the RRB also lost. 
 
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Political Issues 
---------------- 
 
¶9.  Cuba:  Cuba initially introduced a resolution condemning U.S. 
broadcasts into Cuba.  The Conference Chair moved the issue to a 
small group, including the U.S. and Cuban delegations, to develop a 
Chair's statement.  A statement was worked out explaining that the 
dispute over reported harmful interference would be referred to the 
World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) in 2007. That statement, 
coordinated with Washington, fully achieved all U.S. objectives. 
The Chair read that statement into the record of the Plenary on 
November 22, and no further action will be taken on the Cuban 
resolution. 
 
¶10.  Lebanon:  An Arab group resolution on assistance to rebuild 
Lebanon's telecommunications infrastructure initially contained 
objectionable references to Israeli aggression.  The U.S. 
successfully encouraged Lebanon to revise the resolution to focus 
exclusively on technical assistance and to remove all references to 
Israel.  That resolution is fully acceptable to all parties 
including the U.S. 
 
¶11.  Palestine:  The Palestine issue was resolved by permitting the 
Palestinian private sector to become ITU Sector Members (with 
somewhat fewer rights than normal) or Associate members. It is 
notable that the Palestinian Authority does not play a role in 
approving the entities for membership; that function will be done by 
the ITU Secretary-General.  In addition, the PA will receive 
slightly enhanced rights at the ITU that are consistent with its 
rights at the UNGA.  The resolution of this matter is fully 
supported by Israel and meets U.S. requirements. 
 
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Budget and Management 
--------------------- 
 
¶12.  The ITU Plenipotentiary decided on a contributory unit (CU) of 
318,000 Swiss francs (CHF) for the 2008-2009 budgetary period, which 
represents zero nominal growth.  The upper limit for the quadrennial 
period 2008-2011 was set at 330,000 CHF.  Any increase in the 
contributory unit for 2010-11 would have to be approved by the 2009 
Council.  The upper limit is the same one established four years ago 
in Marrakesh, which was never reached. 
 
¶13.  The U.S. introduced a resolution accepted by the 
Plenipotentiary to create a new Management and Budget Group (MBG) of 
the Council.  The MBG will provide oversight of the implementation 
of the Strategic and Operational Plans, biennial budgets, and the 
decisions of Council between annual Council sessions. 
 
¶14.  The ITU joined other UN organizations in adopting a resolution 
to introduce results based management. This system introduces two 
new management processes: delegation of authority and accountability 
intended to foster more efficient use of all resources and to 
establish more agile and responsive organizations;.and contractual 
arrangements (i.e. outsourcing)  which is linked to levels of 
compensation and  cost savings. 
 
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Internet Issues 
--------------- 
 
¶15.  It appears that the resolution on the ITU's role regarding 
Internet issues, including "Internet governance issues" are being 
successfully resolved consistent with U.S. objectives.  For example, 
the United States was able to push out any revision of the current 
International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) until 2012, and 
then only after appropriate review and consideration.  This is a 
major victory for the United States, as many ITU Member States, 
especially from the Middle East and Africa, wanted an immediately 
revised and expanded treaty to include Internet matters.  The United 
States strongly opposed any revision of the ITRs, in particular any 
expansion of the treaty to cover the Internet. 
 
¶16.  With respect to the WSIS, the Plenipotentiary Conference 
confirmed a role for the ITU on Information Society issues related 
to infrastructure development and cybersecurity, consistent with the 
existing mandate of the ITU.   These tasks do not represent an 
expansion of the ITU's role in Information Society matters, but 
rather an affirmation of the agreements of the WSIS.  The USG and 
its private sector support and actively contribute to ITU activities 
in these two areas and consider the Plenipotentiary Conference 
 
results with respect to the WSIS to be constructive in facilitating 
further dialogue and activities amongst the ITU Members (governments 
and private sector members) on issues of global infrastructure 
development and cybersecurity issues. 
 
¶17.  A new resolution on the ITU's role in implementing the WSIS 
outcomes was approved. The resolution addresses the responsibilities 
of the Secretary-General and the three Sectors, requiring the 
Secretary-General to the coordinate ITU activities so as to avoid 
 
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duplication of effort. 
 
Wilson