[WSIS CS-Plenary] WSIS press statement on Summit
fortinp at club-internet.fr
fortinp at club-internet.fr
Sat Dec 13 19:16:16 GMT 2003
>This press statement was published on the official WSIS site yesterday. Take a
>look at the commercial partnerships that have been offered. No comment...
Does it mean we might have to reconsider the "PPP concept" ?
PF ;-).
>
>Sally
>
>------------
>
>Geneva, 12 December 2003 The World Summit on the Information Society closed
>on an optimistic note of consensus and commitment, but Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary-
>General of the International Telecommunication Union and Summit cautioned that
>the meeting was only the start of a long and complex process.
>
>"Telephones will not feed the poor, and computers will not replace textbooks.
>But ICTs can be used effectively as part of the toolbox for addressing global
>problems. The Summits successes now give us the necessary momentum to achieve
>this," he said.
>
>"Building the inclusive information society requires a multi-stakeholder
>approach. The challenges raised in areas like Internet governance, access,
>investment, security, the development of applications, intellectual property
>rights and privacy require a new commitment to work together if we are to
>realize the benefits of the information society."
>
>Seeing the fruits of todays powerful knowledge-based tools in the most
>impoverished economies will be the true test of an engaged, empowered and
>egalitarian information society, he added.
>
>Over 54 Heads of State, Prime Ministers, Presidents, Vice-Presidents and 83
>ministers and vice-ministers from 176 countries came together in Geneva to
>endorse a Declaration of Principles or a common vision of an information
>societys values and a Plan of Action which sets forth a road map to build on
>that vision and to bring the benefits of ICTs to underserved economies.
>
>The three-day Summit is the first multi-stakeholder global effort to share and
>shape the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) for a
>better world.
>
>But the Summit was groundbreaking in other ways too. It offered a
>genuine "venue of opportunity" in a unique meeting of leaders, policy-makers,
>ICT business people, voluntary and non-governmental organizations of every
>possible kind, and top-level thinkers and speakers. Alongside the three-days of
>Plenary meetings and high-level roundtables, nearly 300 side-events helped
>bring the dream of an inclusive information society one-step closer to becoming
>reality.
>
>Partnership announcements included a USD 400,000 grant by the US Government for
>ICT development in low-income countries. Cisco and ITU also signed a Memorandum
>of Understanding to open 20 more Internet Training Centres in developing
>countries. As well, Hewlett-Packard will provide low-cost products that will
>help overcome the illiteracy barrier to ICT. Handwritten texts for example will
>be recognized for e-mail transmission. Microsoft, working with UNDP, will
>provide a billion dollar programme over 5 years to bring ICT skills to
>underserved communities. One innovative initiative announced to bridge the
>digital divide is the Bhutan E-Post project. For faster, cheaper and more
>reliable communication to remote, mountainous areas of Bhutan, the Government
>of India will deliver e-post services to the Bhutanese Postal Service via a USD
>400,000 a V-satellite network and solar panels power system. The partners
>include ITU, Bhutan Telecom and Post, Worldspace and Encore India. And at the
>very close of the Summit, the cities of Geneva and Lyon and the Government of
>Senegal have announced contributions totaling about 1 million euros to fund
>information technology in developing countries. The contributions will
>represent the first three payments towards the Digital Solidarity Fund, the
>creation of which is to be considered by a UN working group for the Tunis phase.
>
>The second phase of the Summit takes place in Tunis in 2005 and will measure
>ambitious goals set this week. With WSIS phase I over, the hard work begins and
>hard work lies ahead in the two years before Tunis, to show that the
>information society is on the right path.
>
>The overarching goal of the Summit has been to gain the will and commitment of
>policy-makers to make ICTs a top priority, and to bring together public and
>private sector players to forge an inclusive dialogue based on the interests of
>all. In these two respects, the Summit has been heralded a success.
>
>United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan told delegates "technology has
>given birth to the information age. Now it is up to all of us to build an
>information society from trade to telemedicine, from education to environmental
>protection, we have in our hands, on our desktops and in the skies above, the
>ability to improve standards of living for millions upon millions of people.
>
>Top Summit targets now remain to be achieved, including connecting all schools,
>villages, governments and hospitals, and bringing half the worlds population
>within ICT reach, all by the year 2015.
>
>The Summit has clearly identified national e-strategies as the key vehicle to
>meet the targets. Connecting public places, revising school curricula,
>extending the reach of TV and radio broadcasting services and fostering rich
>multilingual content are all recognized as needing strong national-level
>governmental commitments. To encourage and assist national and local
>governments in this work, the Summit also foresees the development of
>international statistical indicators to provide yardsticks of progress;
>exchanges of experience to help develop "best practice" models, and the
>fostering of public-private partnerships internationally in the interests of
>sustainable ICT development.
>
>Indeed, collaboration across the complex information society chain from the
>scientists that create powerful ICT tools, to the governments that foster a
>culture of investment and rule of law, to the businesses that build
>infrastructure and supply services, to the media that create and disseminate
>content and above all human society which ultimately employs such tools and
>shapes their use lays the foundation for an inclusive knowledge-based world on
>which the riches of an information society can flourish.
>
>The Summits most notable achievement was across-the-board consensus earned for
>a Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action wording around several
>contentious issues, and the spirit of cooperation that permeated the Summit.
>
>Internet governance, and financing ICT investments in underserved economies
>were two of the issues which called for long negotiations. On the issue of
>Internet management, the involvement of all stakeholders and intergovernmental
>organizations to address both technical and public policy issues has been
>underscored although global Internet governance is set to be the subject of
>deeper talks up to Tunis in 2005. An open and inclusive working group will be
>set up on the topic, in order to review and make proposals for action by the
>2005 Summit.
>
>Similarly on the issue of financing for underserved economies, a task force
>will be established to undertake a review of existing ICT funding mechanisms
>and will also study the feasibility of an international voluntary Digital
>Solidarity Fund.
>
>On the areas of intellectual property rights and the need for enabling
>environments, universal access policies, and multilingual, diverse and
>culturally appropriate content to speed ICT adoption and use particularly in
>the worlds most underserved economies government-level commitment to follow
>a set of common values and principles has been attained.
>
>Although these achievements fuel hope and may stoke further collaboration, Mr.
>Utsumi, together with many world leaders, appealed to all stakeholders keep the
>spirit of cooperation alive well beyond the two years to Tunis, and to back up
>universally agreed principles with concrete actions to spark more peace and
>prosperity across the planet.
>
>"The realization of the Plan of Action is crucial to the long-term success of
>the Summit. We need imagination and creativity to develop projects and
>programmes that can really make a difference. We need commitment on the part
>of governments, the private sector and civil society to realistic targets and
>concrete actions. We need the mobilization of resources and investment," he
>said.
>
>"With the unique occasion of a World Summit, we have the chance to scale up our
>ambitions to the global level, which is equal to the size of the challenge. Let
>us not miss this opportunity."
>
>To access the Declaration and the Plan of Action go to:
>http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/listing-all-en-s|1.asp
>
>
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