Geneva hosted last 26-27 March the second meeting of the CEPT project team in charge of preparing for the 2010 ITU World Telecommunications Development Conference (PT WTDC-10).
The meeting above all sought to examine relevant information within the scope of the ITU Telecommunications Development Sector (ITU-D), in order to identify material that can be used for European common proposals (ECPs). In this regard, it was decided that the Russian Federation's proposal about the nomination and mandate of the chairs and vice-chairs of the Study Groups and the Telecommunications Development Advisory Group (TDAG) will be an ECP. This proposal seeks definition of the procedure for nominating chairs and vice-chairs, basically bearing on candidate qualifications. As for the mandates, it proposes that they be limited so as to expire at the end of the WTDC during which they will have served for a period of more than seven years, and that the mandate for one position should not count for the mandate of another.
Agreement was also reached not to move forward with the document on the importance of the financial impact of the proposals submitted to WTDC-10 as ECPs, although CEPT will not abandon this position, which should be defended at the conference whenever appropriate. Also, the nomination of Bruce Gracie of Canada as chairman of the WTDC-10 Budget Committee should be supported, given that he shares the CEPT position, besides being well versed in these matters.
An ITU-D representative also reported that the WTDC Regional Preparatory Meetings (RPMs) have changed designation and are now to be called Regional Telecommunications Development Conferences (RTDCs). This is meant to reduce the phase lag between participation in the preparation and in the conference itself, which made discussions and decision-making difficult.
This PT also studied documents associated to its activity such as the Doha Action Plan (main result of the last WTDC) and results of the ECPs presented at the 2002 and 2006 conferences.
Plans call for the next PT WTDC-10 meeting to be held this coming 6-7 July, most likely in Copenhagen.
