vate Operating Agencies (RPOA). Over eighty arily any co-ordination between them. The Secretary General has no of these have been recognised by the ITU and consist of direct jurisdiction over them either. telecommunication operators. Examples of these are BT and Mercury in the UK and Nippon Telephone and Telegraph Cor- poration (NTT) in Japan. 22.3.1.4 The ITU General Secretariat Scientific and Industrial Organisations (SIO). There are over one hundred and fifty of these and examples are IBM, Northern Telecom and Siemens. The Secretary General, who is elected at the ITU Plenipotentiary 3. International Organisations (IO), of which there are over fifty conference, heads the General Secretariat. At the 1989 Plenipoten- tiary, held between 23 May 1989 and 30 June 1989, Mr. Pekka recognised. These are mainly trade organisations and user Tarjanne, Director General of the Finnish PTT, was elected to be groups, such as the International Telecommunications User Group (INTUG). Secretary General of the ITU for a six year term. The General Secretariat is responsible for carrying out the direc- RPOAs can be members of CCITT and CCIR and have voting tions of the Plenipotentiary Conference, for managing the finances rights, although SIOs and IOs can only be advisory members of of the ITU and for other administrative matters such as the organi- these bodies. sation of meetings and conferences. It is also responsible for co-or- dinating the work of the Union with other international organisations, and for all press contacts. 22.3.1.3 ITU structure The Secretary General is assisted by a co-ordination committee, which he chairs, comprising of the directors of the CCIs and the The ITU is funded by voluntary contributions from member coun- BDT, and the chairman of the IFRB. tries. (The 1990 budget for the ITU's operations was set at the 1989 Plenipotentiary at $77M.) The biggest contributors, providing over 40% of the funds, are USA, USSR, UK, France, Germany and 22.3.1.5 The ITU Administrative Council Japan. The structure of the IT