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Well-functioning Telecommunications Essential Prerequisite for Development
***The European Regional Telecommunication Development Conference (EU-RDC), begins in Prague today, Nov 19, to continue up to Nov 23.***
HERE is growing awareness of the fact that well functioning telecommunications is an essential prerequisite for socioeconomic development. The telecomrhunlcation sectors of most western European countries are being restructured along the lines of the "Green Paper on the development of the common market for telecommunications services and equipment' issued by the Commission of the European Community in 1987 to respond better to the ever increasing demand for more and more sophisticated tefoeommunicatipn services.
The Central and Eastern European countries tn transition suffer, generally speaking from very poor tclccommuni cation services. For example, whereas the average tclcphorie density in the OECD countries Is around 40 main lincs/inhabitant, the Central and Eastern European countries have an average telephone density of only some 10 main lincs/inhabitant. The investment required to achieve today's OECD countries' average telephone density in Central and Eastern Europe in the year 2000 has been estimated to USS 60 billion -USS 120 billion.
To attract such huge amounts the countries concerned must create a more favourable investment climate, which will require changes in current telecommunication policies and restructuring of the sector and the development of new financial strategies. To meet the challenging needs of telecommunications development in a competitive market economy, they must also improve productivity and efficiency of the organizations concerned. This will require considerable efforts in development of human resources which often could be done cost-effectively through regional or international cooperation.
The European Telecommu-' nication Development Conference (EU-RDC) will take place In Prague from today,
19-Novcmbcr to 23 November. It is ^expected that this conference will contribute to a coordinated harmonious development of telecommunications for the whole region and to finding ways of accelerating the development in the countries in Central and Eastern Europe in transition.
Thus the restructuring of the telecommunication sectors of these countries as well as the development and harmonization of their networks will be discussed. "Investment considerations" is another point on the agenda and the conference will also attempt to develop strategics for international cooperation and better define the roles of the various organizations and development partners Involved.
The Central and Eastern European (C&E) countries, as well as Cyprus, Greece, Portugal. Turkey and recently, Sweden participate in a UNDP/1TU project called "European Regional Telecommunication Development" (EUROTELDEV).
This Is one of the existing mechanisms for cooperation in the C&E European region and the conference will explore ways of developing this cooperative network further.
A Task Force composed of representatives of the E&C European countries, of the. Commission of European Economic Community (ECE), the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the florid Bank and the Bank of Reconstruction and Development (BERD) has been established by the ITU to assist In the preparation of the Conference. Representatives of potential development partners In industrialized countries in other regions of the world are invited to participate in this Task Force as observers.
Participation : The Conferences arc open to all parties concerned, including the private sector, in order to ensure transparency and complementarity. Thus.■ the Development Conferences arc to be attended by high-level representatives of governments. of the private sector as well as of bilateral and multilateral financing and developing agencies. In regional Development Conferences, the ITU members from other regions than the one concerned participate as observers, free of charge whereas private sector representatives pay participation fees.
Background : The Plenipotentiary Conference of the ITU (Nice, 1989), decided to create the Tclccommunicalion Development Bureau (BDT) on equal footing with the other permanent organs of the Union (CCITT, CC1R and IFRB). The Constitution stipulates that the BDT shall "work through Regional and World Telecommunication Development Conferences' which are to be organized by the ITU at a rate of one Regional Development Conference for each region and one World Development Conference between two consecutive Plenipotentiary Conferences.
These conferences will have a dual role to play—
1) To serve as fora for discussions and considerations of topics, programmes and projects relevant to telecommunication development and. hence, contribute to a coordinate harmonized development of telecommunications : Thus,
they should be used for exchange of experience and information on telecommunication development programmes with a view to ensuring that these programmes arc effectively coordinated and avoiding duplication of efforts and dispersion. of resources. To this end they should provide opportunities for financial agencies and other multilateral and bilateral development partners to inform about their programmes as well as of conditions and procedures applicable for submission of requests for assistance. They should also set goals for world and regional telecommunication de-
veiopment and provide a framework for consideration of relevant matter*, such a*, policy. regulatory, organizational, operational and financing ts-
2) To provide guidance to the BDT and supervise it* activities : FoF this purpose,the periodic world and regional development conferences are to define the scope of the activities and the programme of work of the BDT, to examine its report and to evaluate its work over a given period. The BDT is to provide the necessary support for the preparation. organization and folfow-up of these conference*.
As the ITU is now requested to have a catalytic and coordinating role in technical cooperation the conferences should also provide information that helps other multilateral and bilateral development
partners channelling resources to where they arc moil needed in a coordinated way.
The conference* may create “Development Study Group*" to study specific issue* and/or to produce guidelines and manuals or other tools in fields of relevance to telecommunications development In the concerned region or worldwide. In future, it is essential that the Development Conferences' decisions and recommendations, as well as the follow-up of these, are based on the work of such "Development Study Groups'. These Study Group* should have specific terms of references and should be created for a limited period of time. Task forces of 'Development Working Groups" could also be set up on specific questions to complement the work of the Study Groups with the assistance of the ITU and other development partners.
The African Telecommunication Development Conference (Harare. December 1990) was the first conference of this kind organized by the ITU.
— TTU Feature.