Information and Communications Technology in Geneva
The preparatory process for the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS), to be held in Tunis from 16 to 18 November 2005, has proceeded to its final phase.
During the third meeting of the Preparatory Committee in Geneva from 19 to 30 September, officials representing the UN member states continued talks about the content of the final documents of the summit. The preparatory round was followed by a number of civil society and business life representatives, accredited to the event as observers.
The WSIS process aims at the promotion of information and communications technology development and use, with a view to bringing about worldwide social and economic development in accordance with the UN Millennium Development Goals. The process seeks to narrow the so-called digital gap and to develop the information society in a more people-centred, development-oriented and equitable direction, taking note of the needs of the developing countries and the most underprivileged and marginalized groups in society in particular.
The two-week round of meetings focused on issues ranging from the political introduction, implementation and follow-up of the documents to financing mechanisms and Internet governance. The original idea was that the documents of the first WSIS Summit in Geneva in 2003 would not be reopened but the second phase would be devoted to efforts to complement the previous decisions and make more sustained plans to meet the objectives established in the Geneva Summit.
The third Preparatory Committee managed to reach agreement on a host of text entities, but the negotiations will be continued in Geneva in October under the chairmanship of Ambassador Janis Karklins from Latvia. The group has to deal with such questions as the details concerning the implementation and follow-up of the information society process; who or what institution will take responsibility for the overall coordination; and which of the suggested models of Internet governance will be used. It is possible that the negotiations need to be finalised also in Tunis a few days before the start of the actual Summit.
The Finnish delegation to the WSIS Summit in Tunis consists of representatives of various sectors of administration, NGOs and business life. The overall coordination of the Finnish preparations is taken care of by the Department for Global Affairs of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Counsellor Yrjö Länsipuro has acted as the head of the preparatory group as from 1 October.