United States puts out call for more collaboration in preparation for next WRC

The U.S. ambassador to this year’s World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) is pushing for greater cooperation between countries in North and South America in hopes of creating a hemispheric voting block comparable in power to Europe and Asia. In a keynote address July 10 to delegates at the Wireless Communications Association International conference (WCAI) in New Orleans, Gail Schoettler says it’s critical that planning begin now for the next WRC, scheduled for 2003 in Geneva, and that high-level officials from government and industry be involved in the early stages. "We’re pushing very hard for that (type of organization)," she told Report on Wireless in an interview following her address. Despite its market power and influence, the U.S. is often at a disadvantage in international forums. All countries – from the largest to the smallest – each have one vote at the WRC. As a result, regions that have dozens of countries can often come out on top at these international forums by voting in blocks. The U.S. wants to do the same by creating closer ties with its neighbours in the Americas and with strategic countries abroad. Morocco and Syria are particularly important, she noted, because they have expert delegates who are able to influence other countries. "These countries are important because they each have a spokesperson who knows this stuff cold, so they can dominate a conference," she told delegates. Countries like Papua New Guinea are also important because they register satellite systems. Schoettler’s recommendations for creating a stronger U.S. voice at future WRCs are contained in a report released at the WCAI conference. In it she stresses the importance of appointing a permanent deputy to head the U.S. delegation and to oversee the process on an ongoing basis. "In order to be effective, the permanent deputy should be not only a high-level government official, but a regular ITU (International Telecommunication Union) participant and acknowledged ITU leader with credibility and knowledge among other participants," her recommendations cite. She also singled out senior bureaucrats from Canada (Bruce Gracie and Veena Rawat), the UK (Mike Goddard) and Germany (Eberhard George) as being instrumental in providing lead negotiators with the technical and analytical information they need to present a strong case at the WRC. "It is astounding how the United States handicaps all of its immense WRC preparatory efforts and interests at stake by reinventing the process each cycle and then bringing in, too late, a complete neophyte on these amazingly technical and arcane issues to lead the process," she writes in Recommendations to Improve United States Participation in World Radiocommunication Conferences. Common front needed at WRC Countering the voting blocks from Asia, Europe and the newly formed Arab country alliance is a formidable task that will take much preparation. Countries in North and South America are all part of the Inter-American Telecommunications Commission (CITEL) which meets regularly to discuss proposals and ultimately to form common positions to take into WRC. While the countries in the Americas meet on a regional basis prior to heading to WRC, all delegates have to be on side or the results of the preparatory meetings are laid to waste on the negotiating table. "If we go by ourselves, we’re up against the Asians and the Europeans," she told RoW. "So we want to go with strength as much as we can, with strength of our regions behind us, just like the others are going in with the strength (of their regions behind them)." While Schoettler won’t lead the delegation at the next WRC, she says the State Department has to take the lead in negotiations that will help facilitate a voting block. "If we reached out a lot more and listened to what people (of neighbouring countries) had to say, incorporate what we could into our proposals and then go (to the next WRC), it should make a (big) difference (in defending proposals and then getting them adopted)," she said.

United States puts out call for more collaboration in preparation for next WRC

News | July 24, 2000

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