[WSIS CS-Plenary] Minutes of the WSIS Intergovernmental Bureau meeting, 30 Sept

[Rik Panganiban]

Ralf,

Thanks for this very interesting, if not very encouraging, information. 
  Just a quick summary of what we have lost:

1.  "Friends of the Chair" has no civil society participation, only the 
ability to address a small portion of 3 public meetings at the 
beginning.  Otherwise the Friends of the Chair are really the 
Governmental Friends of the Chair. This is a tremendous loss, since the 
Chair indicated his interest in including civil society in this 
drafting group.

2.  The TF on Financing Mechanisms has no civil society representation, 
with the exception of Anriette of APC and I guess the Grameen Bank 
representative.

3.  Civil Society can not organize WSIS Thematic or Regional Events.  
Only events sponsored by a UN agency or a government can qualify for 
being an official side event.  So don't put the logo on your event 
flyers if you are an NGO.

4. The Summit Framework Document has not been signed.  The document 
agreeing on the exact arrangements for the World Summit has not yet 
been finalized between the UN and the host country.  This seems to me 
quite late and worrying.

All in all, disheartening.

Rik Panganiban


On Oct 5, 2004, at 12:06 PM, Ralf Bendrath wrote:

> Interesting news on
> - the "Friends of the Chair" group (we're mostly out again)
> - the TF for Financial Mechanisms' members (many of them now confirmed,
> few of us there)
> - the discussion on stocktaking (US wants MDG reference out,...)
> - host country matters for WSIS 2005.
>
> I can't write about this at length now, but the multi-stakeholder
> approach is clearly failing with regards to the TFFM and the Friends of
> the Chair (the latter will draft the WSIS 2005 political document). The
> CS bureau should definitely work on this actively.
>
> Ralf
>
> -------------------------------------
>
> (undisclosed source)
>
>
> WSIS Bureau Meeting of Sept 30
>
> 1. Agenda/Summaries of Decisions of the last Bureau Meetings - Adopted
> as proposed by the Secretariat with minor modifications to improve the
> language of the summary.
>
> 2. Group of Friends - The Chair outlined his revised proposal noting
> that he had modified it to take into account concerns expressed
> previously by some regional groups. According to his new proposal, the
> Group will be composed of 6 countries per region plus regional
> coordinators and the two host countries. Each of those countries can be
> represented by two persons. The Secretary General of the ITU or his
> representative will also participate. Other States will be admitted at
> all meetings as
> observers (one person per del). The size of the Group was accepted.
> Most of the discussion focussed on modalities for non-state actors. It
> was agreed that non-state observers would be allowed to participate in
> some of the meetings at the beginning of which they will be given the
> floor. They will be allowed to participate to the following meetings:
> Oct.22 all day, Nov.15 p.m., and Jan. 10 all day. Non-state observers
> will not participate in other meetings or part of meetings on the
> schedule of activities which will be dedicated to drafting and
> negotiations among governments.
> Agreement was also reached to drop the reference to "no
> interpretation". The Chair will explore possibilities with UNOG.
> Regional groups may also provide an interpreter to facilitate full
> participation by their membership. The Chair does not wish to operate
> with ad hoc interpretation following interventions as this would slow
> down proceedings. With this deletion, the Chair's document was agreed
> along with the parallel understanding re observers (governments,
> stakeholders) to be reflected in the
> minutes of the Bureau meeting. The Chair requested that regional
> coordinators provide him with the list of participating countries from
> each region as soon as possible.
>
> 3. Stocktaking - Tim Kelly presented the new version of the
> questionnaire, stressing, among other things, that there would be a
> possibility for governments to provide more information through a
> separate questionnaire. Canada, further to a suggestion at the WEOG
> coordination mtg held prior to the Bureau meeting, suggested instead
> that the questionnaire be modified by creating a separate item where
> governments could present their policy initiatives (e.g. progress in
> mainstreaming ICT's and
> Information Society-related initiatives into general government
> policies (development, regulatory framework, e-government). The US 
> asked
> that references to the MDGs be replaced by "internationally agreed
> development goals" in the Millennium Declaration. Responding to a
> question by China, SG Utsumi indicated that the stakeholders to which
> the questionnaire was addressed were only those accredited to the WSIS
> process. Russia expressed ongoing reservations concerning the Annex
> which, in their view
> does not fully reflect the Geneva documents. France said that the new
> version was an improvement but that it was still not adequate to cover
> governments' actions. The Secretariat (Mr. Geiger) said that it was not
> their intent to change what had been agreed to in Geneva. He noted that
> reference to the MDGs were used frequently in the UN system. It was
> noted that the questionnaire did not require formal Bureau approval.
>
> 4. Task Force on Financial Mechanisms - The Chair informed the meeting
> that several members of the Task Force which will be chaired by Mark
> Malloch Brown, Administrator of UNDP, had been confirmed. The list
> follows:
> Members follow: Mr. Sérgio Amadeu da Silveira (Director-President, ITI 
> -
> Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia da Informação, Brazil), HE Ali Abbasov
> (Minister of Communication and Information Technologies, Azerbaijan),
> Mr. Owen Barder (representative of the European Union on behalf of the
> Netherlands EU-Presidency), Mr.
> Jim Crowe (Deputy Director, Foreign Affairs/United Nations and
> Commonwealth Division Canada), HE Mamadou Diop Decroix (Minister of
> Communications, Senegal), Ms. Anriette
> Esterhuysen (Executive Director, Association for Progressive
> Communications), Mr. Nissim Ezekiel (Executive Director, Commission on
> Private Sector and Development), Mr. Elhar Ehandi (CEO, Look at World
> <mailto:Look at World> Foundation, Estonia), Mr. Jonathan Fiske (Senior
> Manager, Group Public Policy, Vodafone Group Services Ltd), Ms.Ayesha
> Hassan (Senior Policy Manager Electronic Business, Telecommunications
> and IT, International Chamber of Commerce), Mr.Mohsen Khalil (Director,
> Global Information
> and Communication, Technologies, The World Bank Group), Mr. Sarbuland
> Khan (Director, Office of ECOSOC Support and Coordination, Department 
> of
> Economic & Social Affairs, United Nations), Mr. Ayisi Makatiani
> (Chairman Gallium Venture Capital and CEO and Managing Director, 
> African
> Management Services Company), Mr. Zouhair Masmoudi (Director General,
> Ministry of Communication Technologies and Transport, Tunisia), Mr.
> Rajendra Pawar (CEO, NIIT, India) Ms. Fuatai Purcell (ICT secretary, 
> ICT
> commission, Samoa), Mr. Daniel Stauffacher (Ambassador of Switzerland,
> Geneva, Swiss Executive Secretariat for WSIS), Mr. Ichiro Tambo 
> (Advisor
> on Science & Technology, Development Co-operation Directorate, OECD),
> Mr. Hamadoun Toure (Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau,
> ITU), Mr. Pedro Urra Gonzàlez (Director, Infomed, Cuba), Mr. George
> Vradenburg (President, Vradenburg Foundation, USA), Mr.Yoichiro Yamada
> (Director, Specialized Agencies Division, MOFA, Japan), Mr. Mohamed
> Yunus
> (Managing Director, Grameen Bank, Bangladesh). Other members have not
> yet been confirmed but should be announced in the near future.
>
> 5.Criteria for WSIS thematic or regional meetings - It will be
> generally left to the Secretariat to decide which meetings may bear the
> WSIS logo. Basically, all regional meetings can use the WSIS label if
> the agenda is WSIS-related and if they are organized by a Member State
> or international organization. Thematic meetings may use the logo if
> related to WSIS topics and organized by UN organization or Member 
> State.
> It was stressed that there would be no formal link between the outcome
> of those meetings and the final product of the WSIS negotiating 
> process.
> Canada
> reiterated that WSIS events should be on multi-stakeholders basis. It
> should also be made clear that acceptance of the logo did not imply any
> financial implications for the Secretariat. Sec. Gen. Utsumi intervened
> to say that guidelines had been issued for regional meetings during
> phase one and that he thought they should still be applicable. He
> stressed the role of UN Regional Economic Commissions which, as in 
> phase
> one, were encouraged to support or co-organize regional meetings. He
> mentioned that while the WSIS logo was not owned by the ITU and was in
> the public domain, his organization exercised practical control over it
> and that use would only be allowed where criteria were met. Pakistan
> indicated that there should not be automatic approval of the logo. 
> Spain
> requested that sensitive issues be resolved in consultation with those
> affected. Egypt asked that a disclaimer be issued in case of abusive 
> use
> of the logo.
>
> 6. Financial situation of the WSIS - Mr. Chris Clarke presented a paper
> providing the detail of contributions received to date (see 
> attachment).
> S.G. Utsumi confirmed that, in addition to the contributions already
> announced, others were expected in the near future. He assured the
> Bureau that enough money was already available for PrepCom 2. S.G.
> Utsumi indicated that it was not possible at this stage to issue an
> interim report on expenditures. The minutes will record the 
> appreciation
> of the Bureau for contributions received.
>
> 7. Other business -
> *	Host Country Arrangements: S.G. Utsumi informed the Group that
> he travelled to Tunisia recently to discuss the preparations for the
> Summit. An organizing committee has been set-up which is dealing with
> logistic issues. It includes volunteer entrepreneurs from the private
> sector. The organizers have yet to decide upon facilities to 
> accommodate
> the expected great number of side events, and further discussions will
> be needed. A framework document with information on how to participate
> and an invitation for the exhibition is required from the host country.
> The
> framework document will have to be issued as early as possible as well
> as a schedule of events, details for VIP procedure etc... Mr. Utsumi
> said that he had met with President Ben Ali who assured him of his
> personal commitment to the success of the process and said that
> preparations were well advanced. Tunisia confirmed the personal
> involvement of their president.
> *	Other Summit Dates: Tunisia said that high level contacts had
> been made in New York (with Mexico) and Seoul to try to avoid any
> overlap of dates with the APEC meeting.
> *	TFFM: The Chair informed the Group that he would travel to NY to
> participate in the meeting of the Task Force on Financial Mechanisms as
> an observer. He would also meet with senior UN officials during his
> visit.
>
> 8 Next meeting - No date was set for the next meeting which should
> occur sometime in November.
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===============================================
RIK PANGANIBAN       Communications Coordinator

Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship
with the United Nations (CONGO)
web: http://www.ngocongo.org
email: rik.panganiban at ngocongo.org
mobile: (+1) 917-710-5524
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