Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

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THE HISTORY OF SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS
approved during the initial plenary meeting. Its members were Ireland, Norway, Panama,
Philippines and Turkey. The Committee elected the representative of Turkey Chairman.
The Committee found all credentials to be in order and its report was accepted without
discussion by the Conference.
The Editorial Committee
The Editorial Committee was nominated by the Conference Chairman and approved
by the plenary. Its members are Belgium, Canada, Colombia, France, Jamaica, Mexico,
Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. There being no work to be done on
final texts, the Editorial Committee did not meet or function at the first session of the
Conference.
[18] The Steering Committee
Composition of the Steering Committee was provided for in the Conference Rules of
Procedure as follows: Chairman—Conference Chairman (USA); members—the four
regional Vice Chairmen (Netherlands, Venezuela, India and Algeria; but the
Representative of The Netherlands left and was replaced by the Swiss Representative in
the fourth week) and the Chairmen of the four Working Committees (Argentina, Japan,
Australia and Italy). The Steering Committee met regularly throughout the first session,
coordinating the program of the Conference. This Committee prepared the proposal
adopted by the Conference to establish an intersessional Preparatory Committee (Annex
G) which is discussed in detail in Section VII below.
VI. Plenary Session of the Conference
The Conference met in five plenary sessions. At the initial plenary the agenda was
adopted, committees were formed, and conference officers were elected. There were four
plenary sessions during the final week to receive and consider the Working Committee
reports.
The opening session proceeded thorough the agenda as planned without any difficulties.
Prior to adoption of the Conference Rules of Procedure, representatives from
Italy, Nigeria and India sought assurances, which were given by the Conference Chairman,
that the rules with regard to statements of observers would be interpreted liberally to
ensure the fullest possible exchange of views. The United Kingdom suggested and was
assured that maximum opportunity would be made available to achieve consensus on all
matters.
Sweden introduced a comprehensive and novel set of draft definitive arrangements
(Doc. 8). This draft was not given much direct attention by the Conference. The only
other comprehensive draft agreements submitted were tabled by the United States at the
end of the first week of the Conference (Doc. 10). These drafts were not discussed as such,
but various articles were considered by the Conference Committees.
[19] At the four plenary sessions held during the final week, reports were received from
the Working Committees and were discussed. Because of the number of unresolved issues
and the general complexity of definitive arrangements, it became obvious that substantially
more time would be required to develop final texts. It was decided, on the recommendation
of the Steering Committee, to recess the Conference March 21, 1969 and to
refer the Committee reports and all other relevant Conference documents to an intersessional
Preparatory Committee for study and work. A proposal to provide for interim work
was discussed at some length during the fourth plenary session and the Steering
Committee was requested to revise the proposal to reflect the views expressed. A revised
paper was submitted to the fifth and final plenary and was adopted unanimously without
discussion (Annex G).