The Arab regional group of countries has opposed a WRC-12...

in the corridors of the this week’s Radiocommunication Assembly. Meens works for the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, the government agency responsible for shaping and implementing France’s space policy in Europe. The agenda item is a “major issue of interest to NASA” and will create the framework for the post-shuttle era of manned and robotic flight, Decker Anstrom, the U.S. ambassador to the conference, said in July (CD July 29 p12). Separately, Tariq Al Awadhi of the United Arab Emirates will “most likely” be WRC-12 chairman, Naser Al Rashedi, manager of ITU affairs told us, referring to “rumors.” Al Awadhi is also chairman of the regional group the Arab Spectrum Management Group. Al Awadhi, Kavouss Arasteh of Iran, and Valery Timofeev, the former Radiocommunication Bureau director from Russia, had been under consideration for WRC-12 chairman. An ITU spokesman did not know if the secretary-general had reached a decision on the nominee. The nominee’s name is expected to be floated at a heads of delegation meeting Sunday and will be up for confirmation at the conference the following day. Officials said the secretary-general would have talked with each administration about the nominee. One concern with a nominee from the UAE is that the country will host two other conferences this year, namely the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly and the World Conference on International Telecommunications, officials said. UAE officials will chair those conferences. If there is obvious disagreement on the nominee, the secretary-general would have an alternative in mind, an official said, referring to the likelihood that administrations wouldn’t oppose a good candidate from an African country because no official from that continent has chaired a WRC.