Your excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Recommendations in favor of "Open Access" to Scientific Information are now included in the Declaration of Principles and the Plan of Action. On behalf of the Civil Society working group on Scientific Information, and the world Open Access movement, we thank all the states for their appreciation, and specifically the states that at various stages of the negotiations took care of our propositions on the floor: Fiji, Australia, Croatia and Kenya. Open Access has now been clearly identified as a win/win proposition to bridge the digital divide.

Industrialized countries are expected to make significant savings while developing countries may access their vast body of knowledge.

Conversely, Open Access academic journals in transition countries would become more known and visible. Since the Berlin declaration, last October, more and more scientific organizations and agencies are supporting officially Open Access.

Adhesion to Open Access is now spreading over traditional boundaries, as the World Federation of Engineering Organization is now also supporting Open Access.

It is clear that Open Access is going have a significant long termpositive impact on technological development everywhere.

We expect that the Summit recommendations are going to substantially accelerate this trend, over all the spectrum of the society, all over the world.

A first action, within the spirit of the next phase of this Summit, is to call all states, research agencies, philanthropic foundations, private companies, all those who are funding research that is reported in scientific journals to ensure that authors effectively publish their works in Open Access journals. As a matter of fact, why should they subsidize indirectly subscription-based publishers ?

Another action is to implement practical programs and mechanisms to provide financial supports to Open Access and Open Archives initiatives and to build up Open Access infrastructures.

Last but not least, we would appreciate moral support at the highest possible level to make a call to the conscience of all scientists for the benefits of all humanity. We look forward for your support in Tunis.